Do The Scary Thing To Change Your Life
I was listening to a podcast interview on the Goal Digger Podcast with Jen Sincero, author of the You Are a Bad Ass books. The interview with Jen was really inspiring. She tells her story of going from feeling stuck and broke to feeling really abundant in life and her business. In addition to all the amazing nuggets there were in the interview, one really stood out for me.
DO THE SCARY THING THAT PRESENTS ITSELF IF YOU WANT TO CHANGE YOUR LIFE.
How often do we have big dreams, and we want to make them happen, but we are scared? Or we have a big goal, but to get there we have to do something that we really don't want to do, even though we know we should.
After being a makeup artist for several years, I knew I wanted to make a change. I wanted to be the visionary creating the photoshoot, not just the person putting makeup on the woman. But when I thought about learning how to use a camera, use editing software, and directing a woman into what to do, what to wear, and creating photos she loved... it felt so exhausting and fucking scary!
I remember reaching out to a fellow entrepreneur I wanted to work with and have her promote me to her community. I was so scared to ask her if she wanted to do a shoot with me and let me share her photos, and recommend me to others. I honestly had no idea how her photos would come out, how comfortable she would feel with me, and what I would have her do for her shoot. When she said yes, I was excited but also thought, what did I get myself into?!
I showed up at herself nervous and almost sick to my stomach. I was regretting having to do the shoot and couldn't wait for it to be over. But seeing how excited she was to do the shoot, and how comfortable and easy it was to work with her, I realized that I could do this photography thing, and I was actually good at it! When I sent her the photos, she loved them! And I had several women in her community reach out to do their own shoots when they had seen her photos.
If I had let my fear keep me from trying to learn a new artistic skill, and reaching out to someone who could help grow my new business, I would still be feeling stuck and burnt out in my business. I would always be wondering if I should've tried to become a photographer, but never sure if I would be good at it. And I wouldn't have been led to coaching and working women in an even deeper way to help them find confidence and acceptance in themselves.
There is so much fear around: what people will think, who are we to do this thing, what will happen if we fail, what will happen if we don’t fail?? We think we don’t know enough, or we’re not good enough, or expert enough to chase these big dreams.
We are so scared of doing this “scary thing” that we really want, but the thing is, how do we expect things to change if we’re not willing to do the work and put ourselves out there? As much as I’m a fan of manifestation, you can’t just wish for your dreams to come true, you ACTUALLY HAVE TO STEP OUT OF YOUR COMFORT ZONE and try new, scary things to make shit happen.
So what scary thing can you do today to get one step closer to your big goal? Is it doing a live video sharing your message with others? Or telling one person what your big dream is? Is it making a plan to quit your corporate job to start your creative business? Share it with me in the comments below!
xo,
Melissa