7 Ways to Become Fearless and Go After What You Want

Wouldn't life be a lot more interesting and rewarding if you could just be a little more fearless? Easier said than done, right?

The alternative, however, is staying in your comfort zone which may be limiting, or even strangling your life. So, how can you work to overcome fear, step out of your comfort zone and live your best life?

Let me assure you that there's a brave and bolder person lurking inside of you, and all you need to is bring her out to play. As I always say, "confidence is verb," which means you have to take action to gain the confidence needed to overcome fear and improve your self-esteem at the same time. 

To get you moving in that direction, I want to share eight (8) ways you can build your bravery and get what you want.

Become Fearless

1. Avoid worrying what others will think of you. This is critical! What you may not realize is that most people are too consumed with themselves to spend much time thinking about you. And if you happen to be around people who aren't building you up and inspiring on to great things, then it may be time for some new friends. 

2. Ask yourself, “What’s the worst that can happen?” We have a way of making uncomfortable situations feel like life or death propositions. So the second thing you need to do is get real.  Unless you’re in danger of falling to your death or losing a limb, there probably isn’t too much to worry about. Be honest about worse case scenarios.

3. Manage big fears but taking small steps.  Overwhelm is a path to fear. So to prevent that, start breaking down the tasks into small manageable steps. Ask yourself, "what's the 1 thing I can do right now? What's my next best step?" When you start seeing progress you'll build up your confidence in mastering the little steps. This will clear the way for you to start believing in your ability to achieved bigger goals.

4. Learn to relax. The best way to overcome a fear reaction is to relax. If you can start training your brain to automatically go into relax mode when you first feel fear, you'll keep yourself from going into fight, flight or freeze mode. Try to relax your muscles, think peaceful thoughts, and breathe deeply. 

5. See failures as a part of learning. Listen, everything you do won't end up in the win column. Some studies suggest that about 20% of things you try will fail. That's actually good news because it means you'll develop the knowledge and gain the experience needed to turn the other 80% of things you try into successes.  

6. Focus on the positive possibilities. Rather than thinking about every little thing that might go wrong, consider what might go right. Allow yourself to feel excited about the possibilities. Imagine how much more exciting your life would be if you give yourself the chance to have something amazing happen each day!

7. The only way out is through. Sometimes you just have to embrace the fear and do it anyway. I recently gave my first TEDx talk and it was a very scary experience. However, I had to embrace my fear, trust my training and myself, and do it anyway. Every time you confront your fear you, and do it any, you gain the evidence and confidence you need to cope with the next fearful situation.

Summary

You'll always have some fears. That's completely normal. But when you realize that your fears are manufactured, won't kill you, and the only way out is through, you can begin to let them go or simply push through to the other side.

Start by doing something you’ve always wanted to do but didn’t quite have enough courage. Try to relax, think about the one thing you can do and do it.  Show yourself that there’s actually nothing to fear.

Live, laugh and unapologetically shine!

Carol