[[:encoded, "Today we are going to talk about 4 Steps to Conquer Fears and Start Living Life On Your Terms.\n\nWe’ve all been afraid to try something new at one time or another. Why is that? And it seems as we age, our fear controls more and more of our willingness to try something new. We prefer to forego a new experience because we want to avoid whatever bad thing we think could happen. Or maybe the anxiety is just too stressful for us to even contemplate facing our fears. Whatever the reason, we justify that trying something new is not worth the risk.\n\nMost of us learn to live within our comfort zone by default because we base our daily decisions on whether or not they cause feelings of anxiety. Every action we decide to take is based on whether it lands inside or outside our comfort zone. \n\nAs humans, most of us have the tendency to remain within the boundaries of our comfort zone, to avoid situations that cause feelings of anxiety and fear. And although it may feel like we are in control, we are actually out of control. When we live our life inside our comfort zone, we allow our fears to control our daily life. \n\nWhen we remain inside the boundaries of our comfort zone, we essentially stop growing and stop learning. Sure, you can choose to live the rest of your life in your comfort zone, but if you are unhappy with any aspect of your life, know that it will not change until you step outside your comfort zone. \n\nYour comfort zone is nothing more than an imaginary “safe zone.” This “safe zone” is nothing more than an imaginary area in which the mind has predetermined strategies to deal with circumstances that occur within those boundaries. In other words, your mind craves a controlled environment where it has a pre-determined set of actions to deal with a certain set of situations. \n\nWhen it has past experiences to refer to, it can recall the details of a past success and apply the success strategies to a present experience. This set of past successes is what creates a “safe zone.” The mind knows exactly what to do when faced with those situations without anxiety or fear. However, step outside your comfort zone and the mind suddenly has no past experience to calculate a strategy from - this is what causes feelings of anxiety and fear.\n\nFeelings of anxiety are often assumed as a “bad” sign, but that is not necessarily true. Obviously if you are faced with a life-threatening situation, then feelings of anxiety would be rational; but
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Anne Bachrach
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(upbeat music) - Hello, and welcome to the Accountability Coach podcast. Well, we will discuss proven business success topics related to helping you make more money, work less, so you can enjoy even better work-life balance. This is Anne Bakrak. Today we're going to talk about four steps to conquer fears and start living life on your terms. We've all been afraid to try something new at one time or another. Why is that? And it seems as we age, you know, that three-letter word, our fear controls more and more of our willingness to try something new. We prefer to forgo a new experience because we want to avoid whatever bad thing we think could happen. Or maybe the anxiety is just too stressful for us to even contemplate facing our fears. Whatever the reason, we justify that trying something new is just not worth that risk. Most of us learn to live within our comfort zone by default because we base our daily decisions on whether or not they cause feelings of anxiety. Every action we decide to take is based on whether it lands inside or outside our comfort zone. As human beings, most of us have the tendency to remain within the boundaries of our comfort zone to avoid situations that cause feelings of anxiety and fear. And although it may feel like we're in control, we are actually out of control. When we live our life inside our comfort zone, we allow our fears to actually control our daily life. When we remain inside the boundaries of our comfort zone, we essentially stop growing and stop learning. Sure, you can choose to live the rest of your life in your comfort zone. But if you're unhappy with any aspect of your life, know that it will not change until you step outside that comfort zone. Your comfort zone is really nothing more than an imaginary safe zone. The quote, safe zone is nothing more than an imaginary area in which the mind has predetermined strategies to deal with circumstances that occur within those boundaries. So basically in other words, your mind craves a controlled environment where it has a predetermined set of actions to deal with a certain set of situations. When it has past experiences to refer to, it can recall the details of a past success and apply the success strategies to a present experience. This set of past successes is what creates that, quote, safe zone. The mind knows exactly what to do when faced with those situations without anxiety or fear. However, step outside your comfort zone and the mind suddenly has no past experience to calculate a strategy from. This is what causes feelings of anxiety and fear. Feelings of anxiety are often assumed as a, quote, bad sign, but that is not really necessarily true. Obviously, if you are faced with a life-threatening situation, then feelings of anxiety would be rational. But when faced with a non-threatening situation, exaggerated anxiety is really not a rational response. Now, this is not to say that the mind is not serving a very valuable reaction. But left uncontrolled, the mind will create irrational anxiety. Your mind craves a controlled environment where it knows exactly what to do. So when faced with a new situation, the mind doesn't have that past experience to refer to and then will create that imaginary and often exaggerated set of outcomes. This exaggeration can cause such anxiety that we actually never want to try something new because of the stress. We choose to remain in our comfort zones because our fear overways our desire for new experiences. While it's natural to feel some anxiety or nervousness before you try something new, it's really not natural to let fear control your life experiences. I believe life is meant to be lived, not just passed by. So how do you overcome the anxiety of trying something new? You simply ask yourself if the feeling of anxiety are really rational. This isn't to say that you won't face situations which present real dangers, but what if some or all of your anxiety was based on false assumptions just imagined by your mind? Would you be more inclined to try something new? What if you could have new experiences without getting hurt or experiencing any kind of pain? What would you do? Would you do it? Now ask yourself how you don't know it wouldn't happen exactly that way. Think of a baby learning to walk. When they fall down, they instinctively just get back up and try it again, and they keep trying until they actually succeed. In fact, there is nothing a parent can do to stop an infant from making repeated attempts to walk successfully. It's an inherent strength we actually all have, but allow our fears to take over as we get older. Remember learning how to ride a bike? You were scared, right? Sure, we all were when we first started. That's why they built training wheels. As we keep learning, we got braver and go a little faster and maybe take turns a little sharper. The more we rode our bike, the more confident we became. Eventually, we might even be racing our bikes down hill. I'm very afraid of heights. And yet, I wanted to try hang gliding. My husband thought I was out of my mind, but he didn't say a word to me as I was strapped into the hang glider with the expert right next to me. We soared with a hawk right above us and it was an experience that increased my confidence to do many other things that initially scared me. You are the one who determines the outcome of your experiences. If you know your experience will be completely positive, there is nothing stopping you from doing it. Let's talk about four practical steps that you can take to conquer fear and start living life on your terms. Number one, analyze the rational possible outcomes. When faced with something new, think rationally about the possible outcomes. Most of the anxiety we feel is based on our mind's inability to calculate an outcome and it exaggerates the possibilities. This exaggeration is what actually causes our fear and anxiety. If there is real danger, then obviously it requires consideration. As an example, robbing a bank or stealing a car or, God forbid, you would kill someone could potentially present a life-threatening circumstance, but attending a networking event doesn't. If you are not faced with life-threatening dangers or negative consequences, just do it. The more new experiences you engage in, the less fear you actually will experience in the future. As your "database" of past experiences grows, your mind will have more information to refer to when faced with new situations. The more past experiences you have, the less fear you will experience because the mind will know exactly what to do to create a successful outcome. Number two, the past doesn't equal the future. There is no written rule that says just because something happened a certain way in the past, that it is actually predetermined to happen the same way in the future. Explore whether the anxiety you are actually feeling from a past experience can rationally be applied to your current situation. Sometimes the mind can create irrational relations as an example, maybe you experienced hurt in a past intimate relationship and assume it will happen in your next relationship. Number three, visualize positive outcomes. When facing any new situation, always come into it with a positive attitude. Following the law of attraction, you will attract the same energy you bring to the situation. Set the intention for a positive experience and visualize a positive outcome and result. Feel good about your new experience before you even attempt it. A little bit of anxiety, again, is normal, but you don't let it control the situation. You want to go into all new situations with confidence and assurances that everything will turn out the way you want it to and the way you want to actually experience it. Number four, just do it. The only true and tried way to rid yourself of fear is to just frickin' do it. Have you ever heard of the phrase feel the fear and do it anyway? Don't let fear control your life. You are the one in control. Choose to live life the way it is meant to be experienced. While there may be some risks involved with trying something new, the value of what you have to gain far outweighs any fear you will feel. Don't wait to start conquering your fear. Start today, right now. Make a list of things that you're afraid to do and set a time frame when you want to have them all accomplished by. Maybe it's calling someone you would really like to do business with but have been too intimidated to ask for the business. Or perhaps you're afraid of heights, but you've always wanted to skydive. Whatever it is you would like to accomplish, but have been afraid of, write it down, put it on your list. Next to each item, write down the positive results that will come from doing what you're actually afraid of doing. For the client you've been afraid to call, you generate a lot of revenue. How much revenue specifically and for how long? Not to mention referrals that can come as a result of this new client being thrilled with what you do. For skydiving, it will be conquering your fear of heights and increase your confidence. Once you have all of your tasks written down, prioritize them based on how they will positively impact your life. Place the item with the biggest impact at the top of the list and work your way down until you have them all accomplished. Anytime you feel the fear and are considering passing up a great opportunity to spread your wings, take yourself back to your childhood. Remember that you learned how to walk with nothing more than an instinct and how to ride a bike with a little bit of practice. Trying something new allows you to build your confidence and wonder what you were so afraid of to start with. Frederick Wilcox has a great quote. Progress always involves risk. You can't steal second base and keep your foot on first. Well my hope for our time together is that you got value and an idea or two that will help you be even more successful, personally and professionally. If you got value from these podcasts, please take the time or take just a few minutes and leave a short review. It's much appreciated. Remember to go to accountabilitycoach.com and if you haven't already, join the Silver Membership Inner Circle. You get 10% off on all products and services in addition to having access to many assessments and complementary high value resources that will help you on your goal achievement journey. Get started today by going to accountabilitycoach.com and joining the free Inner Circle or take advantage of all those resources that you've already signed up for. Aim for what you want each and every day. Until next time, make it a great day. Today and every day. Thanks for listening. [music] Let me remind you that this recording is protected by copyright law and unauthorized distribution in copying is prohibited. [music]
[[:encoded, "Today we are going to talk about 4 Steps to Conquer Fears and Start Living Life On Your Terms.\n\nWe’ve all been afraid to try something new at one time or another. Why is that? And it seems as we age, our fear controls more and more of our willingness to try something new. We prefer to forego a new experience because we want to avoid whatever bad thing we think could happen. Or maybe the anxiety is just too stressful for us to even contemplate facing our fears. Whatever the...
