It goes without saying that time is irreplaceable. When a day passes, it can never be reclaimed or replaced. Time is such a precious resource, yet many of us squander or don’t appreciate it through fear. Fear of starting your own business, not having enough money, failure, success, not taking action because you fear critique… the list goes on. Let’s kick fear to the curb. We’ll look at how to manage it in four steps. As James F. Bell states:

Fear is an insidious virus. Given a breeding place in our mind, it will permeate the whole body of our work. It will eat away our spirit and lock the forward path of our endeavors. Fear is the greatest enemy of progress. ~James F. Bell

And this deadly virus sometimes creates such a stir, that if you fail in a single endeavor, it can paralyze you for years. As such, you don’t use your time effectively to achieve success, since you either procrastinate and time passes you by, and your hopes and dreams dry up because you give fear the power to rule you.

That’s the bad news. The good news is there’re techniques you can use to help you to step out of ‘fear’ mode and move forward. You’ll be surprised at the opportunities that show up once you claim back your power.

I learned how to kick fear to the curb in four steps a few years ago that I continue to use when I feel it creeping in; you can use them, too.

After you go through them, you’ll feel motivated to pursue those projects, ventures, and dreams you left on ice, because you felt they were out of reach. To get started…

Make a list of the things you want to do

Not a laundry list of easily achievable things, but clearly define what you really want. Do this for every area of your life, e.g., personal, business, social, relationship, etc.

For simplicity, let’s use the following example: ‘I want to be the CEO of my own business so that I can support and empower women to become bestselling authors.’ Next, state why.

Determining exactly what you want and why you want to is the first step to getting outside your boundary of comfort. Many of us brush our goals and aspirations into the shadows. So, bring it to life by writing it all down. At this point, all your fears may come to the forefront of your mind in the form of obstacles. Don’t ignore them, instead…

List any obstacles

It could be that you haven’t pursued starting a business because you fear you’ll fail, you’re not smart enough, or you’re an introvert. Whatever is standing in your way, or you feel is standing in your way, write it down.

Confront the obstacles

Most times, we’re fully aware of what’s keeping us back but shove it aside so as not to deal with it. Write down what those reasons are. It could be that you feel you won’t make enough money and would, in fact, lose money. You may have never tackled these obstacles before because you allowed fear to antagonize you. This way, you’re challenging them headfirst.

Create a risk-reward analysis chart

After you’ve gone through the steps, review what you’ve written and assess the risk and possible reward. You can either use a table chart with four columns or use a simple outline.

It’s important that you commit it to paper. Continue to do this for each area of your life. As you go through the different scenarios, you’ll find that you’ve probably unnecessarily magnified those fears. Assess the risk and possible reward. Let your dream be bigger than your fears. As Nobel Prize winner, Marie Curie said:

© Cherry-Ann Carew

Cherry-Ann Carew is an Online Business Coach, who supports emerging business owners simplify their start-up journey and helps existing businesses scale to the next level, so that they can earn uncapped income and live life on their terms.