Conquer Your Fear of Change in Just 5 Minutes

Are you avoiding a change right now?

Are you holding out for “some day” to happen?

What if I shared with you a little known strategy to make change actually comfortable, manageable?

But before I do, I’d like to ask you what’s the big assumption you're making with the change you face?

Are you telling yourself…

• Change only works if everything’s in place beforehand. I’m not ready.
• Change will disrupt everything.
• If I avoid the change long enough, maybe it’s not necessary?
• I’m afraid of making the wrong decision.
• It’s just too overwhelming to make that happen.
• I don’t know the best way to do it.

And the list goes on and on…second-guessing, black/white thinking even perfectionist thoughts start to surface.

Each one of these assumptions is a valid one if you've been misled as to how change really works. Here’s a secret: Change can be big, abrupt and reckless or change can be small, intentionally incremental and low-risk.

So if you’d rather consider making a change where you take your time, see momentum and reduce your risk, here’s a strategy you can use today.

It’s called Daily Acts of Courage, one of the strategies found in the DIY book, “Finding Passion: A Self-Discovery Approach for Navigating Career Crossroads.” This simple 5-minute activity can be done any day or every day to move you closer towards what you want. Similar to David Allen’s Getting Things Done approach to time management, we can’t tackle a whole project all in one gulp. That's overwhelming. It’s the next possible action step that needs our attention now.

Daily Acts of Courage help you achieve long-term goals like making big change one step at a time.

Change can be big, abrupt and reckless or change can be small, intentionally incremental and low-risk.

Related: Daily Acts of Courage (Video)

Here's the simple steps you need to create Daily Acts of Courage:

1. Identify an activity you’ve been considering for a while that’s connected to your ultimate future goals
2. Commit to doing one small act that moves the goal forward
3. Carve out 5 minutes in your schedule
4. Make this activity the first thing you tackle in your day
5. [Optional] Consider choosing one day, such as Monday, to make a bigger ripple that affects your whole week

Keep your momentum going by taking on the smallest of actions each day. What you’ll find is you’ll replace that time stressing and stewing about the change you fear and actually start to melt away the overwhelm in as little as 5 minutes each day. You’ll feel lighter and gain understanding of your next steps.

What if you choose “some day” to start today?

Email me at [email protected] for your career questions or if you would like a PDF copy of this blog post.

Want to make change in your career?
If you liked this post, you’ll love the 20 self-discovery strategies and exercises in my book, “Finding Passion: A Self-Discovery Approach for Navigating Career Crossroads” to help you ask the tough questions you’ve been avoiding and rediscover what you really want in your career. Available on Amazon.

? 2015 Managing Mindspaces. All rights reserved.

Jessica Manca, CEC, ACC is a Certified Executive Coach at Managing Mindspaces, specializing in professionals craving a career change. Jessica is the author of "Finding Passion: A Self-Discovery Approach for Navigating Career Crossroads" (2013), asking readers the questions they don't know how to ask themselves in their career. Learn more at managingmindspaces.com or FOLLOW her here by clicking the blue FOLLOW button, on Twitter @mgingmindspaces, on Facebook, facebook.com/ManagingMindspaces.