John Wayne said, “Courage is being scared to death and saddling up anyway.” Even if you don’t ride horses, you get the drift. The number one reason my clients give me for not taking even the smallest step toward a dream they’ve had for a long time is…fear. I’m not referring to fearing a life-or-death situation, I’m referring to the fear that causes us to hang back for no good reason.
Fear–based decision making is when you let your fears or worries dictate your actions (or, in most cases, your lack of action).
For example…
- “I’d love to take a trip to Israel, but what if something bad happens while I’m there? I’ll go somewhere else instead.”
- “I’d love to write a book, but what if people hate it? Maybe I will study my topic more before I start writing.”
If you can relate, don’t worry – you are not alone. Far from it.
Research shows that 80 percent of our choices are fear-based; in other words, we’re afraid of what will happen if we don’t make a certain choice as opposed to making decisions based on what we really want out of life.
The unfortunate result is that we don’t do the things that we say are important to us.
Here are 5 things to keep in mind when making decisions:
- Don’t pick goals where the stakes are low.
Step out of your comfort zone – get comfortable with feeling uncomfortable!
- Nobody is rooting for you to fail.
Maybe you’ll succeed. Maybe you’ll fail. For the most part, nobody cares one way or the other.
- Just because you don’t like where you have to start from doesn’t mean you shouldn’t get started.
“I’d love to get in shape, but what if I look stupid at the gym? I need to lose some weight before I go.” How long will you put off what you’re capable of doing just to maintain what you’re currently doing?
- Stop making uncertain things, certain.
Keep in mind – failure is not certain
- The only real failure is not taking any action in the first place.
One year from today, your life is going to be better or worse than it is right now; it won’t be the same. Whether it’s better, whether it’s worse, whether you’ve made progress or fallen back is going to be a function of the choices you make between now and then.
My wish for you was best said by Nelson Mandela:
May your choices reflect your hopes, not your fears.
If you would like to talk about how we might work together to ensure your decisions reflect your hopes vs. your fears, email me to schedule your 30 minute “Awesome18” session.
And remember…
Whatever Your Goal or Dream….Together WE Can Make it Happen!
