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Today’s episode of the Five-Minute Friday is for those who are trying to do something big and exciting in the world.

Often, I encounter people who are running in to fear when they are deciding to do something big. When they commit to do a project, fear sets in. It could either be the fear of success or the fear of failure.

People try to get past that fear, but they end up staying in a stagnant place. They keep thinking as to how things would go wrong or how they are not up to the task. They get into a thought loop which creates an emotion that tells them, they are not good enough. As a result, they are focusing their brain to wire in to worry, anxiety, and fear. Along with it comes negative emotions. These emotions are not meant to be carried and dwelled on, they are only meant to be experienced and felt.

If you are focusing on the fear, on what is not going to work, then you are not focusing on finding solutions. You are not making the things that you want to happen, happen.

This is no different for me. I get in to fear and sometimes, I have to really trust in my own ability to make something happen. That is hard. That takes bravery and courage. Courage doesn’t happen when you know all the answers, or when you are completely capable. The practice of courage and the practice of bravery happens when you are scared, when you are not convinced of your abilities yet.

But most of us are operating from a place where we look back in our past. Because we have never done something like that in the past, we think that we are not the type of person who could do it. But, as soon as you do it, you are the type of person to do that! So, you must work ahead, you have to work from a place of the person who has already done that!

Let us take running the marathon, for example.

If you have never ran a marathon, you have no idea what it is like. But if you do it, you do it! You become the type of person who could do it. It is this continuous practice of growing into the person that you are going to be. If from the start, you operate from what you were able to do from the past, that past will hold you back. Operate from who you are going to be in the future. Think back to where you were ten years ago and the things that you learned, the skills, the ways you have improved, your ways of thinking, and just how many more abilities and things can you do in life now, comparing to ten years ago.

Imagine your future self and all the amazing things that you’ll be able to do! Work from that place of your future self.

So, if it is fear of success, it serves a purpose. Your fear serves its purpose. It keeps us safe. Your brain is wired to keep us safe.

First, you can just thank your brain for trying to keep you safe and then turn your attention elsewhere, so you don’t have to be focusing on the fear itself. A lot of us get in to fear because we have not fully assessed whether the risk is worth it and that is something that you can just do. Write it down, list the possible outcomes, and ask yourself if that is what you really want to do, is it what you want to create in this world, is it in alignment with your values, and is it in alignment with what you want your life to look like. Determine that fullest realization and goodness of the possibility or the worst that could happen. Is the risk worth the gain?

Stop thinking, stop worrying, trust yourself, know that you will be able to acquire the skills and navigate the relationships needed to get to the actual thing that you want to do. Know that the universe won’t give you anything that you can’t handle.

Say thank you to the fear and then get rid of it, dismiss it, turn your attention towards that big and exciting thing that you want to achieve!