The School of Greatness - 283 Dive Into Your Fear

Episode Date: January 29, 2016

"You've got to get to the point when you enjoy the fear." - Lewis Howes If you enjoyed this episode, check out show notes and more at http://lewishowes.com/283

this is five minute friday episode number 283 you know one of the things i want to share and talk about really quickly is this notion of achieving your dreams and playing big a lot of people come to me with questions about these challenges their their concerns. They want to achieve certain things. They want to make more money. They want to go after something in a big way. They want to pursue it, but they have a big thing holding them back, and that's fear. They're afraid of looking bad. They're afraid of what their friends or family are going to say about them. They're afraid of being criticized and judged and laughed

at and talked about behind their back. And I'll tell you what, I have had those fears a lot earlier in my life. I had the fear of not wanting to go after my dreams because I didn't want people to say bad things about me. I didn't want to mess up. I didn't want to fail. And go ahead and just nod if you're watching this, if that resonates with you, that you don't want to fail and look bad when you go for something big or it seems crazy. But really, when we think about it, it's the journey of pursuing something big that brings us a lot of joy. It's the uncertainty. It's the, is this going to work out? If we knew that it was always going to work out the way we envisioned it in our minds, It wouldn't be as a fun life. It wouldn't be as fun of a journey, I don't believe,

if I just said, hey, I'm planning to do this big thing and there's going to be no fear. There's going to be no uncertainty. Everything is going to work out exactly how I planned. It wouldn't be as fun. Life wouldn't be as interesting or flavorful or tasteful. It would not be as enjoyable. And we wouldn't be able to connect with people in such a meaningful way.

You know, our connections come from the uncertainties, the ability to relate and connect to one another of usually the things that don't go our way. If everything went our way as planned, it wouldn't be as fun to connect and be able to have compassion and understand the emotions and the pain and the frustration that comes from going big and playing big and going after that dream. So I want you to think about this for a moment and say, the fear that I have that holds me back consistently time and time again from never launching that company, from never going after the dream job, from never going after the dream

partner, from ending a relationship, whatever it may be, or the fear that holds you back because you don't want to fail, I want you to take a big look at that right now and just acknowledge it for a moment. Acknowledge it and say, okay, here's what I'm going to do. I'm going to dive so deep into that fear. I'm willing to dive into the lake of fear and I'm going to just swim in it. And I'm going to swim through the fear until I get to the other side. If you never dive into the lake of fear, if you just try to go around it all the time, you'll be going in circles constantly. You've got to dive in it, swim around it. You got to be in a lake on your back floating there and enjoying the fear. You've got to get to that process where you appreciate and you enjoy the fear and it doesn't consume you.

It doesn't consume you to the place where you're not able to dive in and swim around in it. So I want you to think about that. You know, when I was terrified to speak in public years ago, I was terrified and I couldn't get in front of a group of 10 people. And I remember saying, this has controlled me my entire life. This has consumed my energy, my heart. It's held me back from playing big. And I remember saying, enough is enough. I'm going to dive in the lake of public speaking fear. And I went and joined an international group called Toastmasters, where every week I got in front of a group of about 25 people, professionals, also practicing public speaking, and I swam in the fear. I presented,

my pits were sweaty, I was nervous, I was shaking, I felt like a worthless piece of crap, I felt insecure, I messed up constantly. But each week, I went back into the lake of fear. I swam in it and I got a little more comfortable. I got a little more at ease with myself, with my body, with my words, with my confidence. And the fear stopped consuming me. It stopped controlling me. It stopped holding me back. So whatever it is that thing you're afraid of, I want you to dive in and play in that fear and make it a part of your daily routine and ritual

to experience it with that one thing that's been holding you back from launching that company, from going after that job you want, from going after that relationship, whatever it is, dive in today and dive in every single day until it doesn't control you and you own it. I hope you guys enjoyed this 5-Minute Friday. If you did, please share it with your friends. LewisHowes.com slash 283. Post it on Facebook, Twitter, and all over social media. Also, check out the show notes at LewisHowes.com slash 283.

I love you guys very much. notes at lewishouse.com slash 283. I love you guys very much. We are here to inspire, educate, and help you move forward in your life. It's all about becoming the best version that you can possibly be each and every day. And if you're inspired and moved to take action, then please do so and tweet me or message me online at lewishouse anywhere online and let me know the results you're getting because of the actions you're taking and the message you're learning from this podcast. I'd love to hear from you and hear about all the success and results you're getting in your life.

Thank you guys again so much for being here. I love you. And you know what time it is. It's time to go out there and do something great. Thank you.