Often you know what to do so … why don’t you do it? What’s stopping you? How do you overcome fear?
From working with hundreds of Solopreneurs and small business owners over the years, one of the things often show up when I ask them what’s stopping them is fear.
Sometimes is fear of success, fear of failure or fear that it won’t work out…
To be truly successful we need to learn how to overcome fear, so we can get on with doing more of the things we really want to do!
Did you know?
Fear is actually something we learn. We are born with only two fears and that’s the fear of falling and fear of loud noises. All the others fears are learned fears. The good news is if we learnt so you can also unlearn our fears.
When we feel fear, we have usually displayed the fear in our mind first. Just by thinking about something we are scared. Safely sitting on our armchair at home imagining thinking the worst we can experience physical reactions , like rapid heartbeat, dry mouth, shaking or sweating, as if it was real situation . Which isn’t very helpful …is it?
We can change this…
Remember any time you feel anything is down to two things , the picture you make in your head and words you say to yourself , we feel our thinking. So…
Change the picture , change what you say to yourself,
Simply change what you think about and you can change how you feel
Create a different picture …
Our brains don’t know the difference between reality and imagination. Which hold us back in many ways..
e.g thinking the worst or worrying about what hasn’t even happened
Stop it!
Change your thinking and Feel Good
If our brain don’t know the difference between real or imagined experience, it can be very helpful. For example, we can practise the art of successful presenting from our home/ office.
Of course you need good content, but it’s usually thinking about presenting that puts most people off.
Build your confidence by thinking / imagining all worked out well in your mind, see it, hear it and feel it all working out well.
Next time you have a difficult call to make or you’re presenting on stage, first run through it in your mind, see yourself doing it perfectly and imagine it all working out well.
Just as athletes mentally prepare themselves to run through the ‘obstacles’ they imagine and picture themselves running , with strength , stamina and ease, they see themselves running past the finishing line.
Build new neural pathways and when the time comes to do the thing you dream of, your brain will know exactly what you want to do, and help you get there.
Train your brain before you perform
Try it for yourself ! Take time to practise. Visualisation is an excellent technique. Some time ago I worked with a client while he was preparing to give a talk to over a hundred people. With his content written and rehearsed, he then visually practised: seeing himself on stage, being confident, seeing himself enjoying it and everyone clapping at the end! On our next session he told me,he had forgotten about his nerves and loved presenting. He found the visualisation technique very empowering, and relaxing. Within 48 hours of his talk, he had booked in an extra 6 private clients. Great result!
So, today I ask you, what do you want to see yourself doing, that you’re not doing yet?
Picture it and imagine it, feel it all working out well
Overcoming fear will give you the ability to focus on what you really want to be and do. Imagine the rewards 🙂
As well as helping solopreneurs to get over the fear of e.g. “selling” or “public speaking “, I have helped people to get over the fear of driving so they can be more independent.
