In this video I talk about those scary moments when you’re doing something that makes you so nervous that you feel like backing out and taking the easy road.
You know – when your heart starts pumping and your mind starts racing but expressing yourself eloquently becomes a challenge – THAT moment!
Instead of letting your ‘fight or flight’ response control you, I offer you some alternative actions you can take during the next time something scares you.
Watch the video to learn:
- About becoming comfortable feeling uncomfortable
- How being nervous can be a great thing
- How to make use of your fear by eating it like an energy bar
You’ll also get a hint of insight on my newest project with Brian Johnson + en*theos called “A Roadmap for Young Adults”.
I’ll be interviewing Sean Stephenson later this week for it! More info on that soon!
I hope you enjoy. 🙂
What am I actually saying?
So a couple years ago I came across some material by a guy named Sean Stephenson. At the time I was maybe about 21 years old and I remember thinking “This stuff is so powerful, this stuff is incredible” and I didn’t know how, but if I knew if I could do anything in my life, like somehow, I want to work with this full time. That was about five years ago and what is incredible right now is that I just got off the phone with Sean.
Now Sean has worked for the white house, if you go to his website you’ll see testimonials by Bill Clinton and Tony Robbins and all these high level people…
So at the time when I first heard about Sean I had no possible idea how the constellation of events would possibly lead to me being on the phone with this dude who inspired the hell outta me. How would that ever possibly happen?
I had no idea. But it did happen because I did what was important to me. I wanna say I followed my heart but I don’t wanna make it seem so cheesy. But in that sense I took a step forward, I lived on purpose and I did things that mattered. Now here’s the cool part that I really wanna emphasize:
For the good ten minutes before I was scheduled to be on the phone with Sean, my heart was pounding like a maniac. I mean you would have thought that a gorilla was chasing me in the concrete jungle of New York and that I was running for my life! My heart went dodumm dodumm dodumm…. And that’s a really good thing!
Five years ago if I had felt that feeling I would have let it scare me out of whatever it was I was about to do. I’d stop doing it at that point. I’d have associated that dodumm dodumm dodumm with a negative thing and give it a negative meaning.
Now one of the most valuable things that I can possibly offer you that I’ve embodied in my own life is: When you feel your heart pumping, give it the meaning of a good thing. Assign it a positive meaning. Because this means I’m getting closer to my dream. This means that I’m doing something that I care about, this means that I’m nervous about something because I’m excited that this may actually work out at the same time I’m nervous that it might not work out… But either way I’m excited about this thing.
This means something. And opposed to letting that fear control me and stop me from doing what I wanted to do, I’ve used that fear, I ate that fear as an energy bar and then moved forward and used that fear and that excitement in a way where it comes through as passion.
So now this extra excitement that I feel right now as I’m shooting this video, being all animated, it’s because of that fear. I’m using that fear for a good thing. So one of the most important things we can do is become comfortable feeling uncomfortable.
Not to the point where we’re gonna be in pain; you can think of stretching ourselves versus our arm being twisted to the point where it’s gonna be broken. But we’re stretching ourselves! And when we feel that discomfort we understand that it’s a good thing. We’re labelling it and giving it a positive meaning. It’s important to understand that choosing the meaning that we want to give these things is a humongous thing.
FYI, the talk was about the virtual-conference we’re putting together called “A Roadmap for Young Adults.”
I’m thrilled that I just set up the interview with Sean, more on that very soon. But remember: Feel uncomfortable, make it a good thing and become comfortable feeling uncomfortable!
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Woo, great to see a new video!
I felt that similar discomfort before speaking to you earlier today. It didn't hit me 'til about 10 mins before our call, then my heart started racing and I got pretty nervous. I normally wouldn't admit that, but hey, it's all about authenticity, right? 🙂
Anyhoo, I always remember something someone said to me a couple of years ago when I was training to be a teacher. At the time, I thought it was what I wanted to do for the rest of my life. I used to get super nervous before my tutors observed me teaching, and I hated it. I wanted to get over the fear so badly and learn how to relax, but someone reassured me when they said, "It just shows that you care." That's similar to what you were saying. The fear and discomfort prove to us that this thing really matters and we want it to go well. If we didn't actually give a damn, I don't think it'd affect us quite as much.
So yeah, that nervousness I felt before speaking to you earlier was because I can finally see things happening in my life that make sense to me. Being involved in exciting projects and connecting with downright amazing people are what I want my life to be about now, and it's important to me that both things go well 🙂
Aw, yeah!
Love your authenticity and love the vulnerability. It's cool to see what kinda amazing situations we find ourselves in when we embody those two virtues.
Authenticity and vulnerability – in essence – the combination of them is: being ourselves publicly!
Excited to play together in the upcoming months and years! 🙂
Awesome Awesome Awesome! Can't wait for that Roadmap project!
Music to my ears! Hope you're doing fantastic, Rozan! 🙂
Listening to this made me think of this phrase: Fear is fuel for freedom.
As a performer, I've felt the proverbial butterflies before a performance. Early on, I learned that turning that energy into fuel for the performance made the performance more meaningful. That energy gives you the freedom to express your passion without reservation.
In the end, fear is our friend.
WOW!
LOVE that: Fear is fuel for freedom!
Thanx for the share, Jim. 🙂
(FB wall, here we come.)
You're welcome Jacob! And thanks for sharing it on FB!
🙂
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