A little while ago I interviewed Melissa Joy Kong and something that she said stuck with me. She mentioned that if you want to increase the trust that you have in yourself and your ability to achieve what you set out to do, you have to make commitments and stick to them.
In thinking about this, I asked myself “How do you really commit to your actions even if you may still be terrified?” Here are 11 answers to that question:
1. Start small. Keeping little commitments can fuel you to make and keep even bigger commitments. If your goal is to become healthier, committing to and reaching a small goal (like parking a little farther from your destination or getting off the bus one stop earlier) can make you more confident to make bigger commitments like exercising for 30 minutes every day.
2. Get someone else involved. Tell someone you can trust to help keep you accountable or ask them to join you if you share similar goals.
3. Commit to help someone else. Promising to do something to help others and keeping to it, can build that commitment muscle and help you achieve your own goal.
4. Reward yourself in a way that makes sense for you and is actually something that will motivate you.
5. Make a public announcement to help hold you to your commitment. Sometimes knowing that other people will know if you don’t finish can help you finish. Be mindful though if you are using this to shame yourself.
6. Put a timeframe on it. Sometimes a deadline, even if it’s self imposed can help you finish what you start. This one can also be boosted by pairing it with #2 and/or #5.
7. Acknowledge what fear is actually holding you back and find ways to address it.
8. Make an actionable plan and take the first step. Sometimes just being able to see the path, even if things change, can help you move forward.
9. Jump before you feel ready. This is a conscious choice that you can invoke, on occasion, where you choose to just overlook your fears and all the doubts you may have and take steps anyway. It’s one of the methods I used to start this blog.
10. Change your perspective. You might be looking at what you want to do in a way that makes it mean more than it really does, or mean more about you as a person than it really does ensuring that you don’t do it or give up too soon. For example, you’re afraid to commit to action because you are tying your self-worth together with the outcome.
11. Have fun with it. See if there’s some way to turn it into a game. Make the journey enjoyable in your own special way.
Have you found any other ways to commit to action in your life?
If you liked this post, you might also like:
4 Documentaries That Will Inspire You to Overcome Your Fears
12 Short Lessons on Overcoming Fear from 12 Courageous People
Photo Credit: “Stairs” by Ruben Holthuijsen licensed under CC BY 2.0
Great points, Varonica. I especially have to keep reminding myself of number 9.
Thanks Louise!
For me, I’ve found #1 and #8 to be key Varonica. Start small, take small steps but take consistent steps. Instead of being paralyzed or overwhelmed by your fear, just move forward slowly. It’s advice that can help me go from nervous about public speaking to having worked as a trial lawyer in a courtroom. And probably the same advice for someone who is nervous of flying to jump out of an airplane. Often, we let the big bad scary outcome or end result stop us from taking any action at all. I think you mentioned it in “take action” but I would just add, take consistent action.
Insightful points!
Thanks Vishnu! I didn’t mention it in this post, but I totally agree with you! Consistency is key!