Whether you’re giving up a secure job to do what you love, or creating any major change for yourself, there is one psychological secret you need to “get”.

This post (and the series that  follow it) provides insights into overcoming the psychological obstacle that pops up when we humans start getting ambitious. Read on for practical tools to overcome this and the more subtle self-sabotage techniques like procrastination and analysis paralysis.

If you’re someone who has considered starting their own business, making a major career change or shaking up your own personal “status-quo” in any form, I would guess that you’ve experienced a seriously nasty, gut clenching feeling.

These “sphincter tightning moments,” as one of my client’s lovingly refers to them, tend to happen everytime we start planning a major change in life. They also hold back 90% of the population from taking serious action towards achieving their extraordinary goals.

The first step to overcoming these mini panic-attacks is to:

1. Identify what it is you’re actually feeling
2. Determine whether or not it’s actually appropriate to feel that way

Fear is actually a very useful emotion. When we’re walking through the forest and a bear jumps out at us, our body pumps full of adrenaline. This is the fight or flight reflex.

As a pre-conditioned reflex, this was damn useful when we lived in the jungle. However in the modern world, over half of the fear most people feel is inappropriate. This means that we’re getting scared – but there isn’t any bears around!

So when we work out that we’re having a fearful, anxious moment or bothering thoughts that hold us back, we must then work out if the fear we’re feeling is appropriate or not. Fear is a powerfully protective emotion – it stops us being eaten by wild animals.

If there is no real danger, then it means the fear you’re feeling isn’t really very appropriate. In fact, all it really means is:

There is an event coming up you need to prepare for…

That’s right. That’s what fear means – so you’ve got to prepare yourself for life changing decisions (like quitting your day job)… and once you’ve done enough preparation and totally convinced yourself that you’re ready, the fear should disappear.

So, are you feeling:

• Nervous
• Anxious
• Stressed
• Scared
• Terrified!

… about a big change, decision or event coming up? Does the idea of doing something extraordinary freak you out?

This could be a message from your unconscious mind telling you to prepare.

Want to know what to do after you’ve prepared? Find out in an upcoming blog update – subscribe to get it straight to your inbox

Peter Shallard