3 Mindset Shifts to Help You Face Your Fears and Finally Take the Leap

You probably have brilliant ideas and projects you want to start. Thinking of turning your hobby into a business? Want to build a nonprofit? Lead an awareness campaign for sustainability?

You might have already started the research. Maybe even worked on a detailed action plan. What's stopping you? Yourself? Your fears?

Here are 3 mindset shits to help you face that fear and finally take the leap.

1. Mistakes and challenges are inevitable.

One of the biggest barriers to taking the leap is the fear of judgment. To be ridiculed for making mistakes. To feel embarrassed because you didn't prepare enough. But that's the thing. We can't predict the future. We can make intelligent guesses and work on the probabilities, but we can never truly know what will happen. So, you can't prepare for every possible obstacle in your path.

Mistakes will happen. Unpleasant surprises will come. And when they do, there's nothing to be embarrassed about.

Because mistakes are a part of life. Even failure is. In fact, lack of failure is failure—it means you haven't really tried enough.

Don't mind those who might judge you. You took the leap. You're expanding your comfort zone. You're learning. You're growing. And you're working your way to success.

2. Decide fast and react fast.

There is also fear in uncertainty. You know you can't predict the future, and that knowledge makes you anxious. First, acknowledge that feeling. It's natural. It's human. It's okay.

And then tell yourself this:

You can't predict everything that will happen, but you can adapt. The leap is not a fixed direction. You can course-correct as needed.

When you've planned enough, decide to take the leap. The earlier you make that decision, the earlier you can pivot.

And remember, indecision is a decision.

3. Courage is rewarded.

Fear is a natural response to walking into uncertainty. When you feel the fear creeping in, remember this: your courage to fight your fear will be rewarded.

Rich Diviney, in his book, The Attributes, explains that choosing courage can give us dopamine—one of the feel good hormones.

“Evolution, to say nothing of common sense, also has taught us to run from danger, and some threats are so unfamiliar or overwhelming that freezing can seem like a completely involuntary response. But once we decide to fight, to move through stress and fear, our system rewards us with a jolt of dopamine.” - Rich Diviney

When you finally take the leap, you'll feel good. That happens as you respond to the fear, not when you get the results later.

Your path is uncertain, and there will be roadblocks along the way. That's not something you can control. Accept it. What you can control is how you handle the challenges thrown at you—your decisions and your actions.

Ready to choose courage?