The fear in my gut is inspiring…
Last month I put a bunch of cash toward the business in the form of joining a mastermind. That led to a host of new tracking softwares, web site platforms, and the Average 2 Alpha Tribe Magazine that’s now in the mail for the Tribe guys.
It also led to another mastermind type event that I’m heading to in November.
Needless to say, they’re investments, even bets on myself that have put me in a pickle financially. And holy hell is it motivating.
We’re told to avoid stress at all costs, but stress makes us better, it makes us stronger, it can break us or help us rise, it’s all a matter of what we do with it and how we respond to it.
I’ve been on both sides, and within a day I can be on both sides. At times I worry. Then I wake up, man up, and use the possibility of failure as a motivator, not as a deterrent.
There are two kinds of stress. One can be used. The other can be crippling.
Stress From Worry
Stress from worry is crippling, it’s also illogical. It’s the fear of what is not yet a reality, but may be. It’s not taking into account that you can shape your future by doing what must be done in the present.
Stress From Daring
Stress from daring is the stress that comes from ambitious, even audacious goals. When you set a big goal, you get butterflies. When you take massive action, you can feel a little sick.
You’re also filled with an unexplainable energy.
You’re challenged to rise to the occasion, and as a warrior, you do so.
That’s the battle…
Are you a warrior or a worrier?
You’ll be both at times, but the key is to be the warrior in the end; to let him make the final decision, not the worrier.
10 Ways to Be a Warrior Not a Worrier
1. Find the deep end.
Always set a goal, then multiply it.
Set an income goal, then 10x it.
Set a travel goal, then think of something bigger.
Goals should not make you feel safe. They should scare the crap out of you. Find the deep end and force yourself to learn how to swim.
2. Be among those who challenge you.
A warrior pushes himself. A worrier makes sure he’s around others he thinks he’s above. He likes being safe. The warrior trains dangerously, lives dangerously, and hangs out with others that push him to be something better than he is. (Read This: 10 Qualities for a Modern Day Warrior)
3. Know the fallacy of fearing about the future.
Worry is often simply coming to an illogical conclusion about what you feel will happen in the future as a result of what you’ve done, where you are, or where you feel you’re headed.
Understand the fallacy of this. It often happens at night when we’re tired and the fear part of the brain is on steroids. Breathe slow. Think calmly and logically and understand that these conclusions you’ve come up with are not the most likely occurance.
4. Understand that it’s your reaction to the event, not the event that matters.
Emotions lie. Desires lie. You have your ultimate goal, and sometimes your emotions and desires can tell you to do things that pull you further away from your ideal rather than bringing you closer to it.
It’s never the event, the moment, the thing that matters, but how you react to it. Step back. Detach. Look at it logically.
5. Write it down.
Write down your greatest fear, that thing that brings you the most worry. Bring it into the tangible world and put it on paper.
6. Have a routine.
When you have a good routine, like the kind we talk about in The Lost Art of Discipline what you need to get done isn’t left to chance or mood or motivation.
You accomplish what you accomplish when you need to accomplish. It takes the worry out of the day because the goal is clearer, the reason for doing what you’re doing is apparent.
Figure out a firm routine. Don’t leave your future to chance or something as fickle as motivation. You have shit to do. Do it. Daily. Without exception.
7. Breathe slowly, walk slowly, think slowly.
The Practicing Mind is a great book. When we’re process-driven we’re focused on the thing that will make the result happen. When we’re results driven, we’re ignoring the process that will bring the result.
Being slow helps you think more clearly. It helps you become more aware of what you’re doing, more aware of what you’re thinking and the illogical thoughts are easier to route out.
It’s also more difficult to be stressed when you’re moving and acting and thinking slowly. Try it. Life is better, more purposeful when you’re slow.
8. Accept the worst case.
Figure out what the real worst case is. Not your illogical fear, but what really could happen, and accept it.
I’ve forked over a ton of dough. The absolute worst case (and it’s not going to happen, but it’s nice to accept the worst) is that my business crashes, that money runs out, and that I have to find a job to pay back the debt.
I can do that if I need to. Accepted. Now do everything in my power to learn from what I’ve implemented and invested in and implement everything I learn. (Read This: Becoming a Great Learner)
Worry over. Steps taken forward. Worst accepted. Burden lifted.
9. Study history.
History is powerful. No matter what you’re going through, someone has been through worse and they’ve risen above to it something greater than you can even comprehend.
Find evidence in the past that will propel you to where you need to be in the future.
When you see what people have overcome, and you realize that they’re just people, you see that your problems will pass, but you have to be the constant.
10. Be a winner.
This is the best idea of how to attain success.
“Don’t aim at success. The more you aim at it and make it a target, the more you are going to miss it. For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue, and it only does so as the unintended side effect of one’s personal dedication to a cause greater than oneself or as the by-product of one’s surrender to a person other than oneself. Happiness must happen, and the same holds for success: you have to let it happen by not caring about it. I want you to listen to what your conscience commands you to do and go on to carry it out to the best of your knowledge. Then you will live to see that in the long-run—in the long-run, I say!—success will follow you precisely because you had forgotten to think about it” ~ Viktor Frankl
For success, like happiness, cannot be pursued; it must ensue…
Brilliant.
Be a winner. Be successful. Do not wait for it to come your way, become the man it demands you become, and what you once aimed at will be yours.
A warrior is a warrior. A worrier is a worrier.
Be who you want to be, what you want to be, let the accolades and victories come when they come.
About The Author
Chad Howse: Chad’s mission is to get you in the arena, ‘marred by the dust and sweat and blood’, to help you set and achieve audacious goals in the face of fear, and not only build your ideal body, but the life you were meant to live.
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