Fear as a Tool for Taking Action
You Get Results When You Start Taking Action
The biggest obstacle that stands in the way of anyone working on any task, project, or idea is fear. Just the thought of trying something you dislike or have never tried before automatically sets off all of the alarm bells in the brain. In reality, you don’t have to keep thinking or feeling this way.
Do you ever feel like fear is holding you back? Fear has the power to hold you back from taking action. It has the power to prevent you from accomplishing the ideas/tasks/ projects you really want to. Too many people quit after fear causes a failure or two. You never know how close to success you really are.
“Success often has as much to do with finding what's standing in your way as it does with talent or persistence.” ~ Gregg Levoy
Since fear can be a deterrent instead of a the tool of the trade, people will not pursue anything new or embarrassing. It feels too awkward to take action for progress that moves you closer to your end-goal.
“The fears we don’t face become our limits.” ~ Robin Sharma
What Is Fear?
“Fears are nothing more than a state of mind.” ~ Napoleon Hill
If you are letting fear rule your life, then your thinking capacity to create an idea will most likely hold you back from moving forward. The majority of people will wait for something, or someone, to come around and motivate them before they can get up and take action to motivate themselves.
Procrastination is very often a result of fear of what might or will happen when we take the action. By facing your fears head on, your fears will actually get smaller, and your confidence will soar. By taking action, starting with small ones, and facing your fears, your fears will lose their control over you.
One reason you may hesitate is being afraid to do things because you think only of the end result and likely feel incapable of getting beyond where you are now. The more you focus on all of the actions you have to take to get to the end result, the less likely you are to actually take any steps. So just focus on the first step and start there.
Each action step doesn’t have to be big. It’s not how you feel; it’s what you do. Don’t think about any obstacles getting in your way. You don’t need to focus on those things until they take place, if at all. Forget about the end result, or at least take your laser focus off of it long enough to determine what the first step might be.
What consumes your attention maybe that of taking action on something that is new to you. Taking action is often uncomfortable and requires persistence. Procrastinators are usually fearful of making mistakes and don’t want to embarrass themselves. Yet, this is how you learn, and it is expected that this will happen.
Action Leads to Motivation
“Nothing in life is to be feared. It is to be understood.” ~ Marie Curie
Everyone has the ability to take action. It doesn’t take experience. It does have to do with experimenting and many people don’t want to deal with the unknown results. The motivation you have is due to the actions you take. Many people are always on the go doing things. This doesn’t mean you are necessarily productive in what you do.
The more you take action and you become successful in doing so the more confident you become to take more action. This can lead to taking action on more challenging tasks.
The Importance of Taking Action
“The antidote to fear is action.” ~ Christy Wright
Some people don’t know what they want to do, so they do nothing. Some people know what they want to do, but still do nothing. Some people know what to do and actually get things done. Before you take action on a task, project or idea, find out what’s working and what’s not working. This will help you to move forward to complete the next piece of your puzzle.
By facing your fears head on, your fears will actually get smaller, and your confidence will soar. By taking action and facing your fears, your fears will lose their control over you.
When You Start at the Beginning
“Action cures fear. Indecision, postponement, on the other hand, fuel fear.” ~ David J. Schwartz
At times, it’s a good thing to leave your comfort zone to test things out. Taking action fixes all that negative self-talk. Whether it’s the fear of success or the fear of failure, you need to take a risk in either direction. Staying still is not the answer as it will neither lead to failure, a learning experience, nor will it lead to success.
Starting to take action and/or learning a new skill can start to build your confidence. Reasons for starting include:
• It Stops You from Saying, ‘I should have’.
There are opportunities for you to actually take advantage of instead of focusing (which – take advantage of or focus on?) on instead of fear.
• It Gets You Results
Unless you take action, you’ll never get the results you want because the action you take will determine the results you get. Taking no action definitely yields no results.
• Fear Can Hold You Back from Doing Things
From time-to-time, you need to get out of your comfort zone and try new things. As the world is changing, what you are doing now may not be accepted down the road. At times, it’s a good thing to leave your comfort zone to test things out. Taking action fixes all that negative self-talk.
• It Helps You Develop New Skills
You already have specific skills and talents. As innovative technology expands into other new areas you will want to increase and improve on what you already have.
Reframe the Challenge: Creative Courage
“We have to practice creative courage in all things.” ~ Margo Jefferson
Practicing creative courage opens up your mind to new approaches, new ideas, and seeing things differently. Taking action is a habit that you learn. Habits become easier with repetition. True courage is what matters most. How does creative courage influence what you do?
Taking action is hard. You need to be motivated by accountability. Creative courage can also involve acknowledging that it’s okay to make mistakes. Creative courage is primarily the idea of creating what you want and not letting anyone tell you otherwise.
What’s the Next Action?
"Success seems to be connected with action. Successful people keep moving. They make mistakes, but they don't quit." ~ Conrad Hilton
Try re-framing your fear in order to make it work for you to increase your action toward greater success. What you actually fear is the imaginary event or outcome that might happen in the future, not the action that you must face in this present moment. Once you accept fear for what it is, an imaginary projection, it becomes easier to move forward to take action on the things that matter most.
How do you take action in the face of fear? Identify 3-5 ways you can take action and not let fear impact what you think and do. You constantly have the chance to demonstrate courage.
“Fear doesn’t exist anywhere except in the mind.” ~ Dale Carnegie