Do you realise that every waking hour of our lives most of us are
letting fear dictate our thoughts and actions?
We are riddled with fears and are letting them push us around.
You may think that I'm being over dramatic but in reality this is happening right now and you are about to let it happen again in the next 60 minutes.
We are not talking about the fears that keep us out of danger (like stepping in front of a speeding car), instead we are talking about what I like to call Micro-Fears.
What are Micro-Fears?
Micro-Fears are not life threatening but they are our personal fears that can be emotionally painful, they are the smaller fears that we carry around with us. The two main Micro-Fears that humans have are:
1) Not being enough - Fear of failure, you are exposed and publicly known as not being good enough.
2) Loss of the love - Fear of rejection, your actions have made people feel negatively towards you and you have lost connection and respect with certain people.
These two fears are at the heart of why most people do not act themselves and why we underachieve.
For example
Your Micro-Fears show up when you say things like......
In your sport:
- "I don't want to go to that team manager and ask for a drive because he will just laugh at me"
- "I can't tell the engineer what I really think of his car or way of working because it may create friction or upset him"
- "I can't get myself to cold-call those prospective sponsors"
In everyday life:
- "I can't go up to that girl (or boy) and ask them for their number because they may turn me down"
- "I won't to go to the gym now because it's too busy with meatheads and they will just stare at me"
- "I can't possibly speak on stage in front of all these people"
Micro-Fears are those little self limiting fears that actually hold us back from taking action and prevent us from being our true selves.
You are human
Yes you are a human being but do you know what that really means?
It means that you have a limited time on this spinning rock, you won the race against millions of other sperms to be here, you actually won, you are now in the celebration time from that race and you've earned the right to do what the hell you want in the very little time you have here.
Humans have shown that they are capable of achieving almost anything they want within their realm and it kills me to see people let their Micro-Fears drown that beautiful power.
The problem comes from our upbringing and environment, we have been brought up by other humans who have their own Micro-Fears and they have installed them within us to help keep us safe.
They try and prevent us experiencing failure and pain but these are actually essential ingredients for success. They are a must because that's where the real lessons and magic reside.
Let's move on.
You will have let a Micro-Fear hold you back in the past hour (if you were awake) but you may not realise it because you are so used to putting things off that expose you in some way.
You will know deep down that you could work harder, you could contact more influential people to help you, you could take that risk and make things happen if you really had to. But instead of doing it you go on Twitter or distract yourself in some other way.
If I were to put a gun to your head or your family's heads and told you to succeed in racing or get sponsorship for next year otherwise I'm pulling the trigger, then you would sort something out. You would make it happen.
Your personal fears and self limiting beliefs would take a back seat and you would be the most proactive driver in the industry, without doubt.
This shows you can do it, it just all depends on what you associate pain to. The gun would be much more painful than a simple rejection letter from a prospective sponsor so you would just call them up right away.
You can move mountains if you learn how to take control of your fears and link them to the correct things in life.
The 3-Day No Fear Challenge.
Over the next three days take yourself on a No Fear Diet, where you are not going to let these Micro-Fears hold you back from taking the actions that could help your driving and career. No exceptions.
Step 1 - Spot them.
Starting from right now, Day 1, start to notice all the things you have been putting off and be honest enough to face the real reason why.
I mean be really honest, keep asking "Why am I not doing it, what am I scared of?"
Eventually you will expose the real Micro-Fear or self limiting belief that is holding you back and making you procrastinate.
Step 2 - It's Not About You, Just Do!
Realise that you are taking yourself far too seriously, get your ego out of the way and just do the task in hand.
You will stop asking questions like "How will this make me feel if it goes wrong?", forget how you feel, just get on with it and make it happen.
Remember that this is all in reference to your Micro-Fears, the jobs that you should be doing but are not, I am not asking you to do things that will go against ethics and harm others.
If you just spend the next 3 DAYS doing this you will be shocked at how much you can achieve. You will seriously get the ball rolling and kick yourself for being so silly in the past.
You will find yourself saying things like "That wasn't so bad, I don't know what I was worried about" or "Why didn't I just do it before? I feel so much more mental freedom now, I'm on a roll".
The three days could very well turn into a week and then hopefully you will like it so much that you will live the rest of your life this way. People do, and they are the people we usually aspire to be, the champions in life.
Examples of the jobs you may be putting off.
If you are not sure of the jobs you are putting off then hopefully these may jog your memory:
1) Those emails to influential people
2) Phone calls that you should have made
3) Appointments
4) Sacking your current management, trainer, etc and getting better support
5) Having those much needed awkward conversations with people to get things sorted
6) Entering the scholarship that you have been meaning to do
So come on, from this moment and over the next three days get out of your own way and JUST DO!
It's so refreshing and will teach your brain that you are the one in control, that you call the shots and will do whatever it takes to succeed.
No matter what happens if you have this outlook you will get to the end of your life and say "I really did give it my all".
That is a quote that not many people can say, they also fell for the story that most do and let false fears chain them down.
Don't be like the masses, inspire yourself, get out there and show us what you are really made of.
