by Dr. Cindy Briggs

Today I shared this with my eCornell Women’s Entrepreneur students… and I thought it might help someone else out there too so I am sharing with all of you!

We all run into it sometime… FEAR! It can be over something little, or something big….but it can bring us down. I want to tell you right now—- I AM PROUD OF YOU! Why do I say this? Because maybe you haven’t heard it today….or maybe you have never heard it. You are here. You are taking a chance. You are figuring out what you need to do next. You have a dream, and you are believing in that dream enough to take the necessary steps.

There have been so many times I was afraid. I had convinced myself I was going to fail before I even tried. I remember thinking I wanted to go to graduate school— but my college grades hadn’t been so great. I thought of all of the reasons I wouldn’t get into a program, or I would fail if I even got it. There was no way this could happen— but you know what– I had to apply to know. I had to figure out the step that was needed to even find out…even if I found out the answer was “no”.

How can you work on your fear right now– let’s figure out some steps together!

You know you need to conquer this fear, but where should you even begin?

1. NAME THE FEAR: Before we can tackle any giant, you need to know where it originated from and you need to name it. Does the fear come from the thought of failure? Is it there because someone told you to be afraid? What is the worst case scenario on this particular event/change? Write it down– stare it down.
2. IDENTIFY SOLUTIONS: Think of every solution you can. Think about what could happen if there was NO FEAR. Dream big here and write down all of the possibilities (not the negatives). Is the fear something real or a possible imagined scenario? On your solutions try to come up with 5 solutions on each fear point. Then circle just ONE— one solution, one step, one idea that could move you past the fear.
3. TAKE A STEP: Just one. Even a little one. Taking the first step is usually the hardest. Fear wants to keep us from taking that step. It wants us to get bogged down in all the negatives. When you circled a solution in step 2– there has to be some step you can take from that solution… take it…. and do it soon. If we give it time… fear will try to creep back in– don’t give it a chance.

I just want each and every one of you to know YOU CAN DO THIS! If you are worried, or start to think maybe you can’t— then you come right back to this post and read it again.
So for TODAY– you are going to crush that fear. You are going to believe in yourself, and you are going to know that someone else believes in you too.

For more entrepreneurial assistance, contact us at www.cindybriggsphd.com. Our mission is dedicated to providing programs to help entrepreneurs and communities THIRVE!