Fear and Excitement

Hello and welcome to episode number 12 of The Strategy Corner where our goal is to get you to take action. I’m your host, Michelle Zink, the owner of Intentional Solutions Corp. Today’s episode, how fear and excitement live in the same vein and how you can tap into your excitement to get through fear. Fear is normal. We all are fearful from time to time. It could be fear of a new boss, could be fear of walking into a room and talking to new people you’ve never met before at a networking event. There are many fears we as humans have on a daily basis, but what we do with the fear and how we let it hold us back from time to time from moving forward on a project, asking for a raise, approaching a business contact is what we’re working on today.

I have had a fear in my life. I come from a mother who is fearful and even though I believe you choose your own thoughts and can be an owner, I can fall into my old programming ways to worry and thus create fear for myself. One area that I have created a fear for myself is flying. As a child I would go and visit my dad in Florida from New Jersey on a plane. My mom would either tell me directly or I overheard her, I can’t remember exactly, but she would say, “I hope you don’t die on the plane,” or “I’m afraid of you flying because I don’t know if you’re going to be safe.” My mom has her own issue with flying and was sharing her concerns. Now I know that she meant well, but as a child and now as an adult, those old programmed worries and fears come up for me.

Now I have traveled for work in the past and I would go to New Jersey and Oregon quarterly with my boss when I was in manufacturing. I got through the travel by having a glass of wine, clinching my fist, and praying when turbulence came. It wasn’t a very calming experience to fly, but I got through it. Then I heard of this concept, the idea to flip fear into excitement. I thought, “Why not try it?” I want to travel with less fear. I don’t want to get all excited and fearful before a flight. I want to take my daughter everywhere in the world and to do that I need to be more relaxed and less fearful of travel. So, I thought, “Why not? I will try this strategy.”

So how the strategy works is you first think of something you’re fearful of. So, for me it was travel. Second, you decide ahead of time something exciting that you’re looking forward to on the other side. For me it was at my destination what am I excited about? When I leave my home to go to Atlanta to visit my client some thoughts I have decided ahead of time have been, “I’m so excited to see my client and work with them to create change they want to see in their business. I can’t wait to serve my client courageously.” I come up with this while home before I leave to travel. Then when I’m on the plane or anything during my travel to Atlanta, when a fearful thought would come up, I would talk to myself in my head and replace it with the exciting thought. Over and over replace the fear with excitement every time it came up.

For me, I used it when turbulence came. When I thought about missing my daughter for a few days, over and over replacing the thought in my mind. Then on the way home, I created a new thought, a new exciting thought. I can’t wait to see my husband and daughter. So again, when fearful thoughts came up, I talked to myself on the way to the airport, on the plane, replacing that thought with excitement. I can’t wait to see my husband and daughter. And the great thing is it worked. It helped me calm down and relax into my trip. It helped me to be more positive and buy into the exciting thoughts, which created a better energy in me. And instead of dreading travel, I was doing it and actually creating fun along the way.

Now for me, plane travel was a big fear that I continue to overcome. I utilize this strategy every time I fly. It isn’t something that fixed me, but with constant practice, I’m getting the results I got the first time when using this, a more peaceful travel experience and a happier Michelle. So, that’s a win-win. It has also helped me in more simplistic ways. Just this summer, my daughter and I went with a friend and her mom to a waterpark. I don’t love, love rides nor high ones, but I wanted to go on the rides with them, so I sucked it up.

The first tall ride we went on, the other little girl, my daughter’s friend, expressed fear. She said out loud that she was scared to ride the ride. I quickly told her at the top of the line that fear and excitement live in the same vein and that I was scared too. I told her that we are going to get on this ride and every time you’re scared say out loud, “I’m so excited. I’m so excited. I’m so excited.” And then we got on the ride and the both of us as we were scared on the ride, yelled, “I’m so excited.” And guess what? The ride wasn’t so bad. My daughter’s friends said she enjoyed it and then we went on it two more times that day.

The big learning is what you focus on grows. In this strategy we acknowledge our fear, we change the focus from fear to excitement, and we practice a new exciting thought. We focus on the outcome we want to have. We create our experience we want to have. We believe in a better, more uplifting thought. This allows us to continue to move our lives forward and not hold us back from our greatness because of fear. So, now it’s your turn. What fears do you need to work on? Pick one fear this week and decide ahead of time an exciting thought you could utilize to replace that fearful one when it comes up, then practice. When that fearful situation comes up, talk to yourself. Tell yourself over and over again that new exciting thought.

Example, it could be a thought of, “I’m so excited to talk with new people,” if your fear is walking into a room filled with people you don’t know. Keep repeating the exciting thought and then notice, pay attention, do you feel more at ease in the situation than before? Did focusing on an exciting thought help you get through something that in the past you wouldn’t even do because you were fearful? And then put it in your toolbox. Pull the strategy out every time you come across a fearful thought or a fearful situation that you’re going into. Practice and practice to create the amazing life and business you want, and we’re meant to create.

Okay, so now it’s your turn. Go to iTunes, Stitcher, Google Play and subscribe to The Strategy Corner. Go to my website intentionalsolutionscorp.com and sign up to get my weekly blog posts, which also has a link to the latest podcast. Until next time, remember through action and growth progression happens. Let’s take action together. Thank you and create an amazing day.