Have you decided that it’s time to dare and take action? That’s usually when you say “yes, but I’m afraid… of changing, of failing, of doing things differently”, and so on. Wouldn’t it be a shame to leave it at that?

In this article, I’d like to show you how to overcome your fear of taking action, so that you can dare to do everything that’s important to you.

5 keys to overcoming your fear of taking action

ACCEPT YOUR FEAR
The first key to overcoming your fear is simply to accept that you are afraid. It’s normal to be afraid when embarking on a project, whatever it may be.

I’d even go so far as to say it’s a good thing. Because it shows us that our project is close to our hearts. We were already talking about this in one of my very first articles.

PUTTING INTO WORDS WHAT SCARES YOU
Then, whether our project is big or small, to take action when we feel we’re stalling for no apparent reason we need to ask ourselves what we’re afraid of.

Here are the 3 main fears:

OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF MAKING MISTAKES
“How can I be sure I’m not making a mistake?”

That’s the question I get the most! And of course, it’s possible to make fewer and fewer mistakes by getting to know ourselves better, developing our intuition, training ourselves and so on. But we can’t be 100% sure that we’re not making a mistake.

On the other hand, to overcome the fear of making mistakes, we can play down our errors. Because, in the end, they’re just a stage in the learning process. And it’s up to us to turn our mistakes into constructive experiences, so that we never make them again.

OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF FAILURE
Fear of failure also comes up a lot. Yet I believe less and less in its existence. After all, what happens if we fail in our great project? Nothing!

Perhaps we’ll be a little ashamed to admit to those around us that we didn’t succeed. But once the embarrassment has passed, we can return to our lives as we know them and to our comforting habits. In other words, we’ll stay in our comfort zone. Which, let’s be honest, isn’t scary at all.

That’s why I see the fear of failure as a myth that prevents us from asking the right questions.

But if we succeed in our project, our whole life may change. Probably for the better. But it’s still unknown territory. And the unknown is scary.

OVERCOMING THE FEAR OF SUCCESS
And yes, behind all procrastination lies the fear of succeeding. Because every successful project involves going into the unknown, changing our habits and doing things we’ve never done before.

And it’s all the more powerful if no one around us has done the same kind of project before. Because we have no models or references to follow to help us.

So when we put off a project until tomorrow, it’s always worth asking ourselves what will change in our lives if this project is a success. We need to better identify what really scares us.

For example, a career change may awaken the fear of running out of money, or even call into question the balance of our relationship.

OVERCOMING INNER BLOCKS TO OVERCOME FEAR
It’s also possible that the realization of our project may conflict with certain beliefs we hold. These may be conscious or unconscious. These are what I call inner blocks.

So let’s imagine a person who discovers personal development and wants to be happier. But who, without realizing it, also carries the belief that being happy is selfish, especially in these times. The mind says “I want to be happy”, but the unconscious says “that’s selfish. And you don’t want to be seen as selfish, do you?

The whole point of coaching is to make you aware of your inner blocks. And if you find you can’t do it on your own, I suggest you get a coach. It will save you time.

TAKE THE PRESSURE OFF RESULTS TO BE MORE DARING
Secondly, although it’s useful to set clear, ambitious goals, sometimes the stakes can paralyze you.

To take the pressure off the result and take action more easily, we need to return to a lighter objective: doing things with joy. In other words, to achieve our goals, we need to find joy and fun in the actions we take to reach them.

For example, if your goal at the moment is to get up earlier, I invite you to find an action that makes you happy, to do as soon as you get up. Like listening to a song that puts you in a good mood (and dancing to it, if you like), discreetly checking on your child who’s still asleep, watching the sunrise, and so on.

TAKE ACTION EASILY BY DOING ONE THING EVERY DAY
Finally, to achieve our goals, especially long-term ones, it will be easier to break them down into small actions and do one every day (with joy and fun, don’t you think?).

So, rather than risk freezing looking at the top of the mountain to climb, we focus on the step we’re about to take today. It also helps take the pressure off the result. And it’s motivating to see that we’re making progress every day.

In fact, I like to keep track of these small daily actions in my bullet journal. And it’s always a pleasure to fill in my follow-up once the action has been completed.