Don’t let fear stop you

In 2019 I am going to start writing regular blog posts and post more video content.

Starting this for me has been like many things I have wanted to do – I will tell myself excuses such as ‘I don’t have enough time’, ‘what is the point’, ‘my time could be spent on something more lucrative’ or ‘there is so much better quality content out there’. We can come up with thousands of excuses about so many different things that deep down are important to us. At the end of the day, if we are honest, it is usually FEAR that is holding us back.

A FEAR that I am currently facing is related to pushing to become an Actor, and that if I have success in my other passion… Mental Health Advocacy (i.e doing things like this blog post), that it will prevent me from becoming an Actor….sounds crazy but the mind tells us crazy things!

Another FEAR that comes up regularly and stops me, which I have found to be liberatingly common when talking to others is ‘I would love to do that thing I am passionate about but it will not be as lucrative as putting energy into this business venture (THAT DOES NOT INSPIRE ME!) or ‘my friend is making a TON of money doing X…so I should do that’ (even though I would rather open a vein!). At the end of the day we should not look at life based on Monetary gains. It is not sustainable to pursue a career based on money (even if you can make a ton of it) as what use is money if we do not enjoy the daily process of what we are doing? No one is promised tomorrow….would you have regrets if you died tomorrow?

I saw post by Gary Vee Yesterday that sums this up in nicely saying that ‘THE ULTIMATE ROI IS HAPPINESS NOT MONEY!’

See below:

What would you do differently if you followed this ROI in your life?

One solution I have found is to forget about the outcome, stop trying to find the perfect pathway (believe me, I have spent so many months…in fact years thinking in that way…I am surprised I am not in an asylum!) and focus on what you are doing right now. When things are done for pure reasons things normally work out. I look forward to sharing more ideas with you and hope this helps in some small way….

Here are some summary points about how to stop fear from holding you back:

• Don’t worry about what others are doing or achieving – we are all on our own path and no path is better or worse
• Change your measurement of success…if we flip it and look at the ROI from Gary Vee’s point of view with the ROI as Happiness, not money, who then would you aspire to be like?
• Focus on the daily steps, not the end goal…if we can enjoy the daily struggle and embrace the small wins the bigger picture will unfold. If we focus on just the bigger picture, we will become overwhelmed,  will not enjoy the process and will burn out.