Are you hiding from the thing you're most afraid of?

?

I’m picking unless you’re on a particularly courageous sprint, then as a fellow human, you probably are a wee bit (or even quite-a-lot) scared.

But the sneaky thing about hiding from our fears?

We tend not to label it as such.

?We label it instead as

• Being too busy (for the thing / person / event / next level up)
• Being “far too overwhelmed, so I’ll just sit here doom scrolling or perhaps make another cup of tea”
• Being too something (as in, we can’t quite describe it, but it’s SOMETHING)

OR perhaps…. “I can’t even be bothered labelling it. But I know I’m not sure where to start so I’ll just sit here and watch another episode of Suits on Netflix.”

The stink thing about running a business is, it’s hard. The great news about running a business? It’s hard!

We grow when it’s hard. ?

There’s hard “holy smokes, I’m burning out hard” – and if that’s you, I'm sending hugs and would 100% encourage you to close whatever you’re reading this on and go do something to chill out.

But then there’s the hard that sounds a bit more like “oh, I’m too busy to learn that <new thing you know you could really use in your life>” or “Oh, you don’t understand it’s different for me”.

It's an urban myth that likes to suggest that successful business owners are fearless. I call horse poop! In truth, fear is there for all of us. The ones we label as successful? They’ve been absolutely shit scared too, but they learned along the way to harness those fears?and use their close companions, courage and resilience.

So, whether it’s fear of failure or fear of success (also common, but not quite as talked about), in this edition of Business Outside the Lines, I’d like you to take a deep breath with me, look in the mirror, and kick your ass into gear – using your fear as fuel for progress, whether that’s as small change?or as transformation and innovation, by really digging deep into what’s holding you back.

First up. Tell it like it is. When you name the thing, you tame the thing – so identifying and labelling our fears is a strong first step. It’s as simple as asking “hang on a sec, could this be fear speaking?”?

And once you’ve done that? Here are some second, third and fourth steps you can try out (if you want to grow, that is).

• It’s still winter. Go easy. We’re designed as a species to hibernate more at this time. Start to let ideas drift through your mind?and consciously choose to do them in Spring once they’re fully formed and ready to go. Your fear has been here for this long, it’s not going to change overnight (well, probably not).
• There’s never going to be a better day to start. Even if starting is just the decision to try it / do it / make that change.
• Start small. It makes you more likely to keep going, to make a few steps, to fall, scoop yourself back up, and the shame barometer will be lower (remember, kids learn to walk by learning to roll, then sit, then crawl, before they walk). Stacking skills works. Think of the smallest way you could begin to face into that fear or new challenge and start there.
• When you’re using that end of week three minutes full stop we talked about last month, then add in a Fear Question. Something like “What scared me this week? Was it fear trying to protect me or is this thing / was that thing an opportunity for growth?"
• It’s going to get messy – so learn to be ok with that. Growth often occurs when we step outside our comfort zones. “A comfort zone is a beautiful place, but nothing ever grows there”. Do more messy!
• And remember to stop and give yourself the FIGJAM moments, for even the smallest wins. Each step forward, no matter how small, is progress.

You know we love ourselves some small and steady progress here at YST.

So be scared, and still do the thing. Just maybe do it to a smaller version that your brain thinks it needs to be. You can make it big and more awesome later.

Wishing you a month filled with courage, growth, and small and steady progress.

You’ve got this!

PS if you want help with your progress, that's my happy place - check out our shiny new website over here and see which fit is best for we're your at right now.

I've got spaces in September for some deep dive sessions, so if you want to start spring right, then let's do this!