How to Hack Your Fears
We have so much power to achieve... but we do like to make life hard for ourselves! Here are a few of my favourite hacks when I work with individuals and teams to help them be more powerful, to give them more influence when going for their goals, and greater impact with their achievements.
Create an ongoing system of sharing your short term goals or your expectations of self. This increased responsibility and transparency will drive action and bravery. Doing it publicly you get validity (or not) of your goals, methods and support in getting there. It also has huge knock on effects to building trust and authentic relationships.
Work out your favourite fear, and how it limits you (e.g. fear of standing out, fear of delegating - ask me for a list of those more elusive fears if you are struggling to find them) and put a tick in your daily log (either electronically in your calendar or on paper) every time it comes up. I promise you if you get a good fear, you will have 15-100+ ticks per day. If that seems like something you want to change, if you see how inhibiting this fear is to your progress, your future, your real life, do yourself a favour and do something about it (email me if you want to think through a solution).
Work out how subtle, limiting beliefs fill your head with IF ONLYS - “If only I had more control”, “If only I had more people to rely on” or WHENS - “When the team is the right make up”, “When I get my promotion”, "When I have more time".Once you have more awareness, the solution is round the corner - but do you know how to hack your fear? I heard a great hack the other day from one of my most valued mentors, Peter Cook (www.petercook.com). He holds a positive delusion to hack around his fear of not having enough time. He deludes himself (or knowing Pete - I think it has worked so well, it is now true..!) with the thought, "I am able to achieve in 15 minutes what most people can achieve in a day". Now, whether this always proves true or not, this is a very powerful hack to sidestep the "IF ONLY I had more time...!" fear.
What fears and limits have you placed around your day today? What fears are inhibiting your achievements, your productivity, your goal attainment, your personal change? But much more importantly - what hacks have you got to step around them?
Amy is a communication and influence expert. She works with individuals and teams who are transitioning into higher hierarchical positions. Don't rely on the change in job title for power to influence - it's short-lived! Amy's models move people quickly into positions of compelling leadership and powerful impact & influence. She is a sought after trainer and speaker in the area of behavioural change for professional excellence. Subscribe to her popular blog – Silverlinings!