The four step formula to conquer your fears.
You know that heart pumping, sweaty palms, short breath, tightness in your chest kind of feeling. Your brain is fuzzy, your stress levels are high and you’re in flight or fight mode.
You just want to run for the hills, duck for cover and hide out until the situation is over. You don’t want to face it or deal with it. Maybe ignorance really is bliss, and you can just ignore the problem and it’ll go away.
Wrong. Dead wrong.
As a small business owner, you wear all the hats. Every single one of them. From a swanky fedora to a well-worn Akubra, you have no choice but to face the fear and do it anyway. Fears manifest in so many ways and for many different reasons. I’ve felt a lot of fear this year, and here’s why.
My business has grown a lot quicker than I expected. I’ve taken on bigger projects and more invested clients which leads to more collaborative efforts, higher expectations and an increased risk of failure.
I’ve spent a lot of money on educating myself and learning from experts, and there’s always that fear that my investment won’t be worth it, or I’m not capable of executing the learnings.
Thinking about the next few years and setting big goals that are confronting and literally scare the pants off me.
I’m always fearful that I’m not doing a good enough job for my clients, or delivering on their expectations, because I hold myself and my work to such a high standard.
Fear, while it feels horrible, is a powerful emotion and can be quite motivating, if harnessed positively. If there’s one thing you take away from this post, please let it be this:
Welcome the fear!
Open the door to it, greet it with a big hug, cook it a nice meal, maybe a glass of wine and just be okay with it sitting there. The more you acknowledge your fears, understand why they are there and try to conquer them, the easier it’ll get.
Learning to be a fearless business owner
You’ll never be totally fearless – and that’s ok! But what you can do, is really harness the way you react to the emotion. Here’s our 4-step formula to conquering the fear as a small business owner.
Recognise your fear “name it to tame it”
Get out of your own head – trust the process and yourself
Talk about it! Share how you’re feeling with someone you trust
Distance yourself from the outcome – it’s okay if it does or doesn’t work
Without conquering your fears, nothing will be worth it.
Once you’ve mastered conquering your fear and it ceases to control you, you’ll feel liberated and free and more importantly, so incredibly capable of achieving anything, that nothing will stop you. Good luck!