Fear is why I am here with you today.
Some of you may have read one of my previous posts about Declaring Me, where I wrote about my career path as a Career and Life coach…. which I started just a few short months ago.
And WoW, what a journey it has been so far…. as one can imagine.
But what I want to share now is about what I didn’t Tell you before.
You see, I have never been more afraid of anything in all my life, as I have been in starting my own business.
Me, LeeLee someone who hitchhiked through Turkey near the border of Syria after the Arab spring.
Someone who craves extreme sports and would try… probably anything once.
I... had... never... experienced... fear... like... this… Ever!
But, does it do any good to live in that fear? ~ No or no?
Sure, it took some time to get my head around the fear.
And it continues to be a work in progress as fear never really goes away, right?
But we can work at dealing with fearing fear less.
Now, we know there are countless ways one could start fearing fear less..
Here, I want to share with you the THREE KEY STRATEGIES that have helped me get past this initial fear of starting my own business.
I call it...
The NPR approach to dealing with Fear!
1. The N in NPR signifies noticing.
If we notice our fear we can get closer to controlling it. We can normalize it, put it into perspective and reality check our expectations of it. This is a variation of an idea
Brené Brown uses when speaking about the first time effect.
I find it can be equally beneficial to implement when facing our fears.
Noticing can lead us to getting to the root of where fear comes from and what we want it to become.
With that idea in mind, it comes down to a brief moment of decision when we get to decide whether we allow the thought of fear to become an emotion then a behavior and further to an actual belief, and a continued cycle, OR we can choose to reframe it as an opportunity for growth and improvement.
For instance in my journey to start my business. I had so many doubts, some of which I am still working through. Such as can I do this. I knew nothing about marketing, business, all the things.. and I was now going to be ALL the things. As an entrepreneur, one is everything.
Understanding where that fear comes from helped guide me to a path of growth…
Growth leads us to...
#2. the P in NPR, growth in the form of Practice.
Now this may seem like an obvious concept.
But we are talking about practicing the noticing and the practice of awareness in the things we tell ourselves daily.
It is true that what we tell ourselves literally becomes our reality.
This is linked to the noticing.
Awareness of what we are telling ourselves, especially subconsciously takes work, it takes practice.
One practice I have taken up recently is noticing the things I tell myself daily, this awareness and attention has helped me to better control where my mindset is.
3. The third thing that has been extremely powerful for me is the R in NPR.
Remembering.
Just being where I am today and thinking back to the first day, the first week, the first month of diving into an entirely new life, I remember feeling sick to my stomach afraid.
Don't get me wrong, I was excited, as I knew this was the right path for me.
But the fear was a lot stronger at that point.
I can’t even describe it and I almost don’t want to revisit it completely.
But, we shouldn't waste that growth by forgetting how far we've come.
So, steal from your past experiences, let them remind you of how you stood up to your fears, you pushed past them and were stronger and further aligned with your goals and dreams because of doing just that.
This can surely help lesson the fear and allows us to find a way to instead reframe the fear as excitement or pride.
Nurturing the focus, the courage, and the confidence to continue on any growth journey can come from remembering and reminding ourselves of all the things we have accomplished and improved on along the way.
So Never forget the progress made through your experiences and efforts.
Building a business has been quite a journey so far.
But, I have learned that by Noticing the fear and paying attention to how we frame it, giving it an honest effort to Practice it and Remembering how far we have come.... we can truly find focus on fearing fear less and getting on with what we want to accomplish in life.
Yes, there are many ways we can approach dealing with fear, but these strategies are three of the top ways I have found that help me.
What works for you?
Share in the comments the strategies you use to deal with fear.
If you are interested in discussing this important subject further, let me know and we can chat more about it.
Cheers either way and all the best with Fearing Fear Less.
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