Doing Something and the Art of Facing Your Fears

And so it begins. My internal voice, as always, had an opinion on the matter:

‘But you don’t have the experience…’

‘…or the time to commit to another project…’

‘…and you don’t work in that field.’

‘There’s bound to be someone out there more capable’.

Amidst the doubts I remembered a quote from one Wayne Gretzky, a former Canadian ice hockey player and coach:

‘You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take’.

I put my situation into perspective and realised that doing nothing would create nothing. Nothing would happen. Nothing earned. Nothing gained. NOTHING.

At least by doing something there’s a chance of gaining an experience, for good or bad.

So I agreed to the terms of the contract and flung myself in at the deep end. With no experience of project management, book editing or creating a best-selling book on Amazon, I joined up with Ben Coomber and worked on making his book project a reality.

This was in October of 2016

Today, Ben’s ‘How to be an Awesome Personal Trainer’ is available as a hardback on Amazon UK. It’s all a bit surreal. To think I could have turned that experience down if I’d pandered to my own negativity would have frustrated me for years to come.

An ACTUAL book!

In life, there are many cases of genuine fear. Fear is a reality and there’s no doubting that. But when it comes to taking on a new challenge, applying for a new job, yearning for new experiences, is the fear solely powered by our internal dialogue?

Do you talk yourself out of an experience when the moment has passed?

I do it. We all do it. Downplaying our abilities is a common occurance.

I automatically put myself down and decided my lack of experience in book editing meant I was unable to rise to the challenge. Looking back, it’s quite amusing to think that if my internal opinions had won, then this would never have happened:

Exhibit A: You CAN do it!

What’s the point of today’s blog?

Be brave and say yes to the offers that challenge the status quo. I guarantee you’ll be a better person for doing so. And if it doesn’t go to plan? Well that’s alright too. Failure is a great teacher. Whatever the outcome you’ll be a better person for saying yes. Need I remind you what happens when you do nothing?

And as for the fear of what other’s think of you?

They’re far too busy dealing with their own internal dialogues. Regardless of how important you think you are, people don’t lie awake at night downplaying your abilities; they have their own lives to take care of.

And if you don’t know how to do what you want to do? In the words of Richard Branson:

‘If someone offers you an amazing opportunity and you are not sure you can do it, say yes – and learn to do it later!’

He’s doing alright by the looks of it.

A massive thanks to Ben Coomber for allowing me to be part of his first book. ‘How to be an AWESOME Personal Trainer’ by Ben Coomber is now available on Amazon UK and was proudly edited by massage therapist, project manager, editor, Power metal wannabe and ultimate fear fighter Jane Black.