Breaking the Terror Barrier

When I began my equine-inspired career I fell in love with the new vision for my life. I set my goals in place and the wheels to turning. Everything felt new and possible. I imagine you know exactly what I’m talking about! However, it wasn't long before the seeds of self-doubt sprouted their tentacles of poisonous, dream-sucking pods and started to feed on my glorious plans. It happened to me and I’ve witnessed it in many, many, hearty entrepreneurs over the years.?

I'm talking about self-sabotage. Sounds crazy, doesn't it? Why in the world would I sabotage myself? Why would anybody?

Growing our business requires personal growth as well and sometimes it gets a little messy. It requires more than planting and watering the seeds of our dreams, it requires a lot of raking and weeding, too!

The weeds of self-doubt have extremely deep fast-growing roots. They begin by insidiously draining the energy out of one's self-confidence. As your confidence begins to suffer the self-doubt gets stronger and louder and louder, “Who is going to listen to you? You never even went to college.” “You don't have the qualifications.” “You're not a millionaire, stop acting like one.” “You don’t have enough experience.” “That costs too much money”... and so on and so on. That's just the beginning. They become louder and crueler as the roots go deeper.?

If you don't start pulling those weeds out immediately, you'll actually start to believe their vile chanting and begin to ACT as if they were true. This is where all of your dreams and possibly, whatever resources and effort you have already committed to those dreams, will be sabotaged, cut off at the knees.

Sometimes we don’t realize it's happening at first. You begin to feel tired or overwhelmed. You may find that you don't want to talk to others about your plans and ideas because, “well, it probably won't happen anyway”. You begin to use phrases like, “I'm not good at that”, “We could never afford it”, “I'm too old”, “People would think I was crazy”, “I don't have time”, “I don't know how”, “My spouse won't let me”.....

Once those phrases appear in your conversations then your actions and results, to prove those phrases correct, follow right along. Giving in to self-doubt leads to the death of our dreams and goals. It's the same principle as wrapping a string around one of your fingers to the point that all circulation is cut off. If the string is not released, the flow of blood, your body's energy will completely cease and the finger will die. Self-doubt cuts off the flow of positive energy and actions toward your goals and visions. When that energy is cut off (exactly like a power switch) the dream goes dark.

In the beginning, when you first begin to see yourself in a new role, you may feel a bit like a butterfly just emerging from the cocoon. You are fragile and vulnerable to attack. There's a great struggle involved in order to free yourself from the protective shell that once kept you safe, but will now become a death trap if you do not abandon it. Once you emerge, you may be still holding onto an identity of yourself that will not serve the 'new you'. You may continue to crawl when you actually possess the wings to fly.

Growth and exploration into the unknown can be downright scary. Thought leader, Bob Proctor calls these edges between where we are now and where we want to get to; Terror Barriers. The mere thought of crossing that line into the unknown can cause paralyzing fear and even physical discomfort to the heartiest of souls. To further test our spiritual, mental, and emotional constitutions, there is not just one Terror Barrier to cross. You won't know their spacing either. There could be several, one right after another. Or you may hum along nicely, stretching your new wings for months, and then wham – slam right into another Terror Barrier.

Geez, what's the point of going on? Re-inventing one's self is clearly too much work. Who wants to experience all that angst and terror anyway? How can I possibly keep up with the fast-growing weeds of self-doubt? We can just sabotage those dreams right now, mow them down and simply watch the nightly news and our regularly scheduled programs to validate our depression. We are all bound to fail at some point along the way, right, so why bother trying. The thought of failing makes me nervous. What if I lose money? What if I fall down? What if my friends and family think I'm a koo-koo bird? What if I FAIL?

WHAT IF...?

What is it that stops us short when we hit that Terror Barrier? What exactly is it that frightens us from leaving the 'known' and crossing into the unknown? My theory is, that it's the Fear of Failure. What if we fail at being a better person? What if we fail to lose the weight? What if we fail to make the extra money we need? What if we fail to get the interview? What if we fail to fill our workshops? What if?

What if... there was no such thing as Failure? Would you be more willing to explore your dreams and feed your passions?

What if there was no such thing as Failure? Would you... Invest in your business? Begin an exercise program? Talk to someone you are attracted to? Write a book? Create a film? Heal a damaged relationship? Learn to ski, swim, dance, speak a new language, act, paint, draw, or throw a pot?

What if there was no such thing as Failure? Would the chatter of self-doubt stop ringing in your ears?

If there was no such thing as Failure there would be no doubting your ability to succeed.?

Guess What?!

Let me repeat that, There is No Such Thing as Failure! ~ There is only FEEDBACK.

It Was ALL A MIS-Take

There is nothing but Feedback (information) that we receive from ANY course of thought and action. If you are pleased with the results, the feedback is good and you will continue along that path. If you are not pleased with your results then the feedback is still GOOD, because now you know to do something else, take another path. All feedback is information to further our progress.

What stops us from crossing that Terror Barrier is the fear of what the Feedback may be. It's the fear of making a mistake. A MIS-Take. If the first TAKE doesn't achieve the result you were striving for (or better), do another TAKE, and another and another if you need to. Just make sure that when you make a MIS-take that it's a new one every time. If you continue to make the same mistakes over and over, yet expect a different result each time, well then, you are clearly just insane. (wink-wink)

Self-doubt leads to self-sabotage. We cut ourselves off from even trying because of an innate fear of failure, of making a mistake.

Do This...

The next time you are about to try something outside of your comfort zone, you are about to cross a Terror Barrier (no matter how small or how big), say to yourself, “I can't wait to see what happens next! Because then I will have more information to determine my next step”.

If you jump into the deep end of the pool but can't let go of the ledge. Congratulate yourself for getting into the water!

Whew!

The next one may be to simply let go and tread water (right next to the ledge!). Well, heck – if you can tread water, you can doggie paddle your way across the pool. Another Terror Barrier crossed! Now that you can doggie paddle, you can experiment with reaching your arms out in front of you and kicking your legs behind. You are Swimming!

Now you can learn to put your face into the water and synchronize your breath with your strokes and soon you will be racing across the pool. Then the next Terror Barrier may be the diving board and then the high diving board. But now you know how to swim.

If you jump into the deep end of the pool for your very first swimming lesson and attempt to swim effortlessly across the pool like you have seen others do it, that would be a mistake. Before you sink to the bottom, your instructor pulls you to the ledge. If you continue the same thing over and over the instructor will assume you are crazy and will either ask you to leave or refuse to pull you from the bottom of the pool.?

Baby Steps to Success

Each step builds on the next. Every class you take, book you read, motivational or educational program you watch or listen to, contributes to where you began and where you want to go. Never give up on the next highest vision of yourself because there is no such thing as failure. Use the feedback you receive to get across the next Terror Barrier. It will become easier and easier and a rhythm to your development will begin to emerge. You will instinctively know when to push forward when to re-evaluate, when to build and when to rest. You will begin to crave feedback so that you can apply the information directly to your next effort.

Forgive yourself for your mistakes and commend yourself for your accomplishments, no matter how small or seemingly insignificant.

And today in your life, as Winston Churchill has stated, “If you are going through Hell, Keep Going!”

Need Help?

If you want to grow your equine-inspired practice, you need to become a master in:

? Managing Your Mindset

? Program Design and Delivery

? Pricing and Sales

? Inviting Your Soulmate Client to Work With You

? Speaking Your Ideal Client's Language

? Marketing and Follow-Up

? Simple but Effective Technology

My book, Seven Systems of Prosperity for Equine Inspired Practitioners, goes over ALL these skills in detail.?

Order? a copy now so you can get started

Order a Copy of My Book: 7 Systems of Prosperity for The Equine-Inspired Business.

Happy Reading ??

~xo