Make a Scary Goal
By Tana M. Mann Easton, Lead Efficiency Engineer
Many people have aversions to doing new things because they are scared of the unknown. We often fear what we don’t know, and we all start out in the world knowing almost nothing. If you’ve ever spent time with a newborn, they are little blank slates. They don’t know how to smile, move, eat food, talk…they know almost nothing beyond the bare minimum needed to survive. But they learn. We all learn. But some of us hit a wall in our learning where we get so scared of the discomfort required to take on new challenges that we stop trying all together. If you feel stifled by fears in your life, then you might need a scary goal.
None of us like the feelings we experience when we step into the unknown and try new and scary things. It’s a rare person who doesn’t feel the heightened heart rate, sinking feeling in your stomach, sweaty palms. Itchy armpits, or whatever physiological symptom your body cooks up when it feels uncertain and scared. Most people feel those same feelings, but some do a better job of building body resiliency against those symptoms. For people who really want to take building their resilience muscles seriously, they often make scary goals. They purposely inject scary situations into their lives to teach themselves that the nervous energy that accompanies scary and new situations won’t kill them. I’ve heard of people who ask for any complimentary upgrades every single time they go to a hotel. They’re uncomfortable making that request every single time, but they also train their brain to know that no matter what the answer is, they’ll be fine. I’ve also heard of people who make a goal to do something scary every Friday. So they’ll ask if they can get anything free at a restaurant or they’ll apply for a job they’re not even close to qualified for or they’ll (politely) ask out someone at a gathering or they’ll go do something alone. All of these actions are conditioning to know that the scary actions and accompanying nervous energy are survivable. And then when there are moves you truly want to take in your life that are scary, you’ll have more readiness to take that challenge on.
Do you have a hard time doing new things because you’re scared? Is there a scary goal you could implement in your life to build your body resilience to those scared feelings? Little doses of planned scares could be the ticket to vaccinating you against the fears that are holding you back from the major ticket items in your life.
If you or your team would like to sign up for our 2 hour Balance and Productivity training to instantly double your meaningful output and find the feeling of lasting flow and optimized work life balance, please email me at tana@focustoevolve.com and say hello!
With Sincere Gratitude,
Tana at Focus to Evolve