🌻2 ‘Small’ Fears Successful People Overcome EverydayWhat will you do today?

Self-improvement or personal growth isn’t like an Instagram reel.

We don’t wake up one day and start an online business that generates $10k a month after 30 days.

We also don’t wake up and start running daily for a year straight and then have big muscles with and six pack abs.

Those things might happen to some people, but for most of us mere mortals with a 100 different types of responsibilities, we need to take it step by step.

Read also: 11 ways to reaching your full potential

Sure, major life changes happen, but not on a daily basis.

The quality of our lives depends on the small decisions we make every day. Sometimes, we don’t even notice making those decisions because we do them without thinking:

Get up early or stay 5 more minutes in bed?
Scroll “a bit” on social media or start your work?
Eat a cup of yogurt or open a bag of chips?
These small things matter. And if you’ve been reading about productivity, you would find various advice on how to execute consistently.

But there’s another small thing that makes people succeed. And that’s the ability to overcome two “small” fears on a daily basis.

FOHS and FOP

There are two fears that are associated with every task/goal we do:

Fear of hard stuff
Fear of people
Fear of hard stuff

Think about going to the doctor’s clinic or leaving a dead-end job.

In the case of the former, various studies have observed how a lot of people delay visiting their doctors to check on something that might be wrong with their bodies. The root of it? Fear of hearing bad news.

The possibility of being told you have an illness is a difficult experience. It’s natural for humans to fear bad news. So what do people do? They delay facing the hard stuff.

This applies to many things, including leaving a dead-end job.

I’ve seen too many people languish in a job they hate (I used to be one of them).

They turn into zombies who only think about clocking out of work as soon as they can. But every single day, they make the (often, unconscious) decision to stay at that crappy job.

There are all sorts of reasons why people stay. But unless they are doing something that helps them leave — They’ll stay there, unhappy, waiting for burnout and living a life full of regret.

Life is too precious to waste that way.

Fear of people

Think about delaying a pitch to a client who might reject you harshly, avoiding an important conversation with a loved one, or acting a certain way to belong in a group.

We sometimes fear how other people will react. So we put off that activity or confrontation for as long as possible.

Everyone has people-pleasing tendencies. Even the most reclusive writers care about what certain people think of their writing. One way or another, people want to please their audience, clients, or loved ones.

A fear of people is natural.

It would be nice if we can all have unlimited courage and willpower to face every difficult thing life throws at us. But we’re humans. We have emotions.

We want to feel accepted and wanted.

So what’s the solution to both fears?

Tiny progress

First, remove analysis paralysis by acting as soon as possible.

A good strategy to deal with that is to act after one-second to prevent overthinking. Then combining that strategy with consistency.

This works well with tasks that require small efforts over a longer time. Like getting out of a dead end job or starting a workout routine. You don’t do that in a day.

For example, if you want to switch careers, you can allocate an hour each day to improve your skills and apply to potential employers.

If you want to improve your fitness level, you can start with something as small as taking 15 minute walks.

The important thing is to start taking healthier decisions, even if they’re very small.

The “Bearable Cold Shower” Solution

Then, for tasks you can only do in one major go — like doctor visits and presenting to a difficult client — you can try the “bearable cold-shower” approach.

How do you make cold showers more bearable?

The most effective method is to start with a warm shower, switch to (somewhat) cold, then end with slightly warmer.

To some people, that defeats the purpose. They like they shock of cold water. I’m not like that. I don’t mind doing uncomfortable things, but I also don’t like to punish myself too much.

Read also: 3 habits of highly resilient people

You can apply this strategy to your other tasks by getting yourself acclimated to it first. Before doing the hard parts.

For example, if you’re visiting your doctor, schedule an optimal day and time for your appointment. If you’re not a morning person, don’t get the first appointment at 8 AM.

A lot of people don’t do something because they never schedule it. Achieving success depends on this: Meticulously scheduling your tasks.

By allocating a specific time slot and recording it in your calendar or notes, you reinforce your commitment and ensure efficient organization.

By scheduling and sticking to your schedule, you make the entire process easier to get into. Then, put that doctor visit (the “cold” part) in between two “warm” events.

You can treat yourself to an enjoyable meal before the appointment. And then schedule to meet a trusted friend afterward.

By having these “warm” or enjoyable things sandwiching your “cold”/difficult task, you make it easier for yourself to execute.

Contributed by Darius Foroux

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