Several years ago, I believed I was ready to step out of my comfort zone. I knew I needed to take some risks, but something was holding me back. I think what was keeping me from trying new experiences was fear.
- Fear of not having enough money so I kept taking jobs that were comfortable but not what I loved doing.
- Fear of looking foolish so I kept doing the same presentations and not pushing myself.
- Fear of letting my family and friends down if I made a mistake.
I had a fixed mindset of not believing in myself that was holding me back.
I decided to rethink what I was doing with my life. I found that going out of my comfort zone was what I needed to do. I reflected on the following six tips to help me tackle my fears as I went on this journey.
1 — Know Your Fears
Fear is a valuable thing. It keeps you safe and encourages you to be cautious when you need to be. But fear also limits you. Not everything you’re afraid of deserves fear or caution. Sometimes, courage and bravery are needed to make your life better. First, review your fears and if they are real. I had no idea I was holding myself back when I didn’t have to. So I took time to address each fear one at a time and talk about that fear. I needed to figure out on a scale of one to ten how real that fear really was. There were no fears in my work that were 10s. I made the fears bigger than they really were. I used the quote below from Zig Ziglar to Face Everything and Rise.
2- Challenge Yourself with Small Activities
One of my fears was changing the direction of my work. Before I jumped straight in, I needed to identify the direction I wanted to go. I had been blogging as Rethinking Learning since 2004. I really love to write and share. I’ve writte three books and want to write more. I figured the easiest thing to do was to start blogging again around passion, purpose, kindness, and agency. So I did. I’m loving the stories and writing every day. I plan to write more often now on Medium so watch out world. Yet, I’m…
