How to Overcome Fear and Take Action Toward Your Goals

It’s amazing how easy it is to find problems that don’t exist. To enter into fear and anxiety when there’s no actual danger.

It’s normal to do this as humans. Evolution has made us creatures that are hyper-aware of any danger to our well-being.

Unfortunately, there are numerous opportunities to interpret harmless situations as dangerous to us in the modern world.

Consider the fear or anxiety that arises when

• we get a cryptic email from our boss

• our partner or SO says, “We need to talk.”

• we have to make a presentation to a group of people

• a work deadline is approaching

• someone openly disagrees with something we’ve said or done

None of these things will kill us, but the feeling and emotions that arise in us are as if our life is threatened.

How can we deal with these types of created fears so they can no longer interfere with achieving the outcomes we desire?

If we have big goals we’re going for, fear can easily hold us back from taking the action on those. It’s a powerful emotion that stops us from stepping out of our comfort zone, taking needed risks, and learning new things.

We must learn to identify our fears and the ways they control or limit us. Overcoming fear is about recognizing the emotion without giving in to its desire to control our behavior. This is how we can get unstuck and start moving forward with our life.

What are some techniques you can use to move through fear courageously?

Identify Your Fears

Identifying your fears can be very challenging and it’s an important step toward personal growth and emotional healing. A deep level of self-awareness gained through practices like meditation and exploration of your emotions can help you get clarity on how you operate. This is crucial to understanding and identifying your fears. 

Meditation provides a space of clarity to powerfully observe thoughts and feelings without judgment. This engenders new levels of self-awareness where you have the opportunity to see and identify emotions like fear.

As your self-awareness deepens, you can start to notice your emotions more in each moment and gain insights into what initiates your reactions. Exploring in this way helps to pinpoint patterns and situations that trigger your fears, allowing you to interrupt those patterns and choose a different way of being in those moments.

By developing a deeper sense of yourself and understanding where your fears come from, you have space to clearly identify your fears and what’s causing them.

You can ask yourself

• What am I afraid of?

• What triggered this fear reaction?

• How would I like to behave differently in the future?

Write those down to capture this newfound clarity.

The practice now becomes

1. Noticing the fear or reaction in the moment

2. Noticing how I normally react or what I want to do in that moment

3. Choosing to take the action or to behave as I’ve chosen to

Challenge Your Fears

Did you know that FEAR is an acronym?
False
Evidence
Appearing
Real

Most of the things we’re afraid of aren’t actually dangerous or things we need to fear. When you ground your fears in reality by understanding the facts and looking at the evidence, the fear often dissipates.

You’ve already identified the fear, so now you can ask yourself:

• Are they based on fact or fiction?
  What’s actually true in the situation?
  What do I really know for sure about the situation?
  “Just the facts, please.”
  

• How do I know this information is true?
  If there is still some “truth” left over from the previous question, challenge that as well.
  Either there’s nothing left after this inquiry or you’ve arrived at a fundamental truth that may not cause the same level of fear.
  

• What would be the worst thing that could happen?
  Explore the Fear-Setting exercise to help you understand that the worst-case scenario is actually something that you would survive. This allows you to move forward even if the fear is still present.
  

• Is it still worth doing?
  Having a clear purpose or mission behind the action or goal you’re trying to achieve can help to overcome the fear because it provides a higher motivation beyond what’s driving you in the fear. 

Take Small Steps

“Courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is taking the first step despite the fear.”

Facing your fears doesn’t mean having to take giant leaps. Sometimes it takes only a few small steps to build momentum and confidence.

Start by breaking down the big scary action into smaller chunks and creating a plan of action to help move you forward. Each effort you take toward your goals adds up. It’s not until you take the chance to stop and look back that you will realize just how far you’ve come.

If you have been struggling with fear, it can be hard at first because it takes courage and strength to face your fears head-on. But there’s no need to panic – just take one step at a time. If something goes wrong with a small step, then it has much less impact on your overall undertaking.

Use Your Support Network

On the Hero’s Journey of adventure and return, the Hero is always aided by guides, mentors, and allies.

Who will support you in your journey?

Having people to talk with about your fears and give support when needed is essential for progressing through difficult times. A professional such as a coach or mentor can be a great solution for this because they are inherently interested in you succeeding in your endeavors.

Family and friends can also be part of this journey as long as they are committed to your success and not holding you back because of their own fears.

An accountability partner or group is another great way to get objective support. To be supported by another person or in a community with other goal-oriented go-getters has incalculable value.

This is why I created my online community, the 2023 Accountability Circle: to help you stay on track to achieving your goals and realizing your dreams. This is a community that is committed to the success of our members, to stepping outside of our comfort zone, and to helping you to be courageous in your efforts.

Celebrate and Reward Your Progress

As you continue to engage in inspired and powerful actions every day, it's essential to acknowledge and reward yourself for your accomplishments. Acknowledge that you took the first step and kept going even when things were tough. Celebrate each small victory along the way, even if there’s more to do. Making one phone call or sending one email related to your goal today – that is still progress!

Celebrating and rewarding your actions might look like buying yourself something special, or doing something fun with friends and family members who support your goals. This system of rewards is going to teach your brain that taking action toward your goals is something very worthwhile! This becomes a virtuous feedback loop.

Conclusion: Overcoming Fear and Taking Action

“Confidence is a result, not a requirement.”

Fear is a powerful force that can easily divert us from the actions needed to pursue our goals. Once we can learn to identify and challenge our fears, we are able to take small steps forward, training our brain to be in action despite the fear. When we bolster our endeavors by creating or finding a support network, and celebrating our progress, fear takes a back seat.

Overcoming fear is not easy and it’s vital to remember that it is possible to do.

By facing our fears head-on and taking action despite them, we can unlock our full potential and achieve our dreams.

So keep going! Get out there and take that first small step! See where it takes you!

Looking for more support?

Let’s get on a call and make a plan of action so that you can start making your goals a reality!

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