Many years back I learned a simple exercise from Tim Ferris about — Defining
your Fear - separating what you can control from what you can not control.
It’s called Fear Setting and it has helped me tremendously, as well as many
coaching clients that have chosen to completed this process. The exercise is
about visualizing the worst-case scenarios, in detail, that you fear, preventing you
from taking action, so that you can take action to overcome that paralysis.
Click below to download the simple 3-page exercise.
The first page is about defining, preventing and repairing
This is whatever your true fear is, whatever is causing you anxiety, whatever
you're putting off.
Define, you're writing down all of the worst things you can
imagine happening if you take that step. Define your Biggest Fear or whatever
fear you are currently facing that is holding you back from your greatness in it’s
absolute truest form. Envision this so called FEAR in painstaking detail and then
brain-vomit as many bullet points or what if’s as possible over a page. You want
10 to 20 at least.
Now that you can see your real/true fear or fears on the page ... then you go to
the "Prevent" column. In that column, you write down the answer to: What could
I do to prevent each of these bullet points from happening, or, at the very least,
decrease the likelihood even a little bit?
Then we go to Repair or Redeem. So if the worst-case scenarios happen, how
long would it take you to get back to where you were before you took the action
... or, what could you do to repair the damage even a little bit, or who could you
ask for help? What step could you take to repair the damage or get things back
on the upswing, even if temporary? Chances are, it’s much easier than you
imagine to get things back to where they already were or repair any so called
damage.
What might be the benefits of an attempt or a partial success?
The Cost of the Inaction.
This might be most important. As humans, we are really good at considering what might go wrong if we take the leap or try something new. What is this so called “fear" costing you - financially, emotionally, and physically - to postpone action? Don’t just evaluate the potential downside of the action. It is equally important to measure the outrageous cost of inaction.
This exercise can prevent an emotional free fall - and helps separate what you
can control from what you can not control.
What are you waiting for? If you cannot answer this question without resorting to
the BS concept of “good timing,” the answer is simple...
You’re afraid, and this exercise might set you free.