Manage This One Thing...And Rise Stronger

Have you been knocked down, or afraid it's just a matter of time?

This is a tough spot to be in.  

Confidence is at an all-time low, apathy sets in, and self-doubt clouds new possibilities.

It's not easy for anyone to get up after just being knocked on their ass.

But you can do it! I want to show you in this video what's really occurring that makes getting back on top so hard.  As you become more aware of this single biggest challenge you will rise stronger.

In this video, you'll learn what the single biggest obstacle is to rising stronger. 

You'll become familiar with what's really going on. 

Using this newfound awareness, you'll be able to recruit more focus and energy for creating a bigger and brighter future for yourself.

Want more? Download this FREE White Paper!

The 5 Tweaks to Tap Your Next Level of Executive Presence.  Sign up now and I'll email it to you!

Manage This One Thing...And Rise Stronger

Transcript - April 30, 2020

So what do you do if you're scared of what's to come?

Hi, I'm Zach, I'm a leadership performance coach with create purpose. I work with a lot of leaders, executives and entrepreneurs to create the clarity, focus, and energy that they need and want so that they can take their next bold move in their life or in their business.

Let's talk a little bit about this feeling of being scared right now.

Because you know what, so many people have been faced with immense uncertainty.

Some of us have literally lost our jobs, or we're watching it happen all around us. We're afraid we're next.

Or we're looking at the burn rate of our business and we're counting the days until we run out of cash.

Maybe the doors have already been closed, and we see some sort of impending doom around the corner.

Likely none of this has happened for you yet, but how long will this last? There s fear within people right now. There's something to really address here.

When we're experiencing fear, stress, anxiety and overwhelm it actually produces cortisol and adrenaline in our body.

This debilitates our abilities to be creative, to be resourceful, to see a bigger picture, to connect with individuals, to connect with our team, our loved ones, prospects, customers, and vendors.

These are must-have ingredients if we want to move forward with power and confidence.

We're always creating our future and change is inevitable.

This past month change came really stinking fast, and now we're all having to change and think through how we pivot our businesses or what we're going to do?

We need to deal with the fear because whether it's a time of crisis, or when things are going well, fear continues to keep so many people, right where they're at--right where they don't want to be--in their lives.

Fear causes us to play small. Fear prevents us from speaking up. Fear is the number one reason we don't achieve the dreams we have.

It's because we allow fear to keep us where we don't want to be.

The more we can get to know what fear really is, the more it will loosen its grip on us.

What we resist persists.

Fear exists. There's an element of fear in all of us. How do we best manage it and continue to move forward towards what we want? This is the question we get to ask.

Russ Harris wrote a great book called The Happiness Trap. The main idea is that as we pursue happiness in our lives we move towards what we find pleasurable and we avoid what's uncomfortable.

The problem with this predicament is that most of the best things in life require a level of discomfort.

In the book, Russ shares an acronym F.E.A.R. to teach us what it means to be in fear so that we can shift into a more productive mindstate.

The F in fear stands for being fused with our thoughts.

We all have a narrative going on in our minds, a story that we're telling ourselves. Our thoughts create the feelings and emotions that we experience. Those feelings and emotions determine our actions or inactions.

Naturally how we show up is going to determine the results we're able to create in our lives.

If we don't learn to unhook from these thoughts that aren't serving us, then we become a slave to our own self-debilitating stories.

So in fear, we're fused with our thoughts.

We think we are our thoughts.

For example, our mind will tell us all sorts of bad stories: "you suck, you're doomed, or this business isn't going to last, nobody wants my product anyway, I'm just a commodity, or who am I kidding, I can't make any money in this business."

It's normal to become entangled in these stories, but it's not necessary (and not helpful).

We need to unhook from the unhelpful stories that our mind conjures up.

We need to learn to create some distance from our fear, to observe the story without being in the story.

And we do that through being more mindful of which thoughts are or are not serving us. 

Now for E, which stand for excessive expectations

Under fear's influence, we built up the expectations of what's ahead of us--both good and bad. 

You might have this big dream that's exciting to think about but also intimidating considering all the work you'd have to do to get there.  

You feel like for you to succeed you'll have to make a quantum leap, which seems impossible right now.  So, you stay right where you've always been.

Or maybe the situation seems so dire that you expect the worst.

Either way, your expectations are out of proportion with what reality is.

All there ever is and the only thing we can be certain of is...right now!

Don't worry about what could happen. Mark Freeman, in his book You Are Not a Rock, says, "If you engage in a debate with fear and uncertainty and the urges swirling inside of you, they’ll always win.”

Don't let them become excessive.  Come back to the moment and focus on what is, so that you can choose your next best action to closing the gap between where you are and where you want to be.

It's so simple but not easy.  But if you can keep taking steps forward, you'll be amazed at what can change in a year or even months.

Ok, let's look at the A in fear now...it's avoiding discomfort.

When we're fearful and we don't take action it's often because we're afraid of the discomfort the action will cause us.

And the interesting thing is when it comes to what we want most in our lives always require us to get out of our comfort zone.

So in other words, doing anything meaningful will create discomfort: anxiety, stress, overwhelm, and fear.

So if we're always avoiding what's uncomfortable, we never get to experience happiness.

We never get to experience joy, satisfaction, and fulfillment. 

Why?

Because we never take any action on what we want most. 

What's most interesting is that the more we resist the fear the stronger it gets.

So, your best option is to embrace it.

Embrace the dip that comes with any journey.  There will be ups and downs.  The ups will bring joy and happiness and the dips might create some stress.  But you can't have one without the other. 

Invite them all to the party!

Think of stress, anxiety, or fear as only information.  And the very fact that we know that getting out of our comfort zone is the path to what we want most, we can see the unwanted feelings as proof we're on the right path.

Now finally, what's the R stand for?

REMOVED FROM OUR VALUES.

Our values are our true north compass--our truth. They are innately ours.

Your values are the heartbeat inside of you that tells you the type of person you desire to be.  

Under fear, we're not listening to that desire.  We're afraid that we are not enough and it's the very thing that keeps us stuck.

Choose to live into your values, to express them fully, and everything changes!

When you do this you acknowledge the freedom we all have to choose who we want to be in each moment and under every circumstance.

We have a choice.  Choose your values.

One last thing, if you like this training and you're a leader, which we all are.

The question isn't whether or not we're leaders, it's how well are we leading?

I put together a white paper for you on the five tweaks you can make to tap your next level of executive presence.

You're going to find these five shifts very helpful in seeing some potential gaps.  As you do, you'll be able to choose a different approach and level up your leadership presence.

So check that out below!

And remember, don't be afraid of fear. Bring it along for the ride as you take that journey towards what you want most in your life.

Transcribed by https://otter.ai