Ever had something you wanted to do, but you were too afraid to do it?
You know you’re capable of much more.
But this thing called ‘fear’ seems to be getting in the way of everything…
Your Potential Is Being Wasted
“A ship is safe in harbor, but that’s not what ships are for.”
This is one of my all-time favorite quotes.
Ships are these amazing vessels that are out there to explore the world and see all the magic that’s out there. But when they’re tied up in a harbor, they’re doing nothing.
As people, we’re very similar.
You know you have all this potential – you could be out there on the seas exploring new lands, having new experiences and sharing your message powerfully.
But every time you’re about to take some real action, your inner voice blurts out at you like a loud siren:
“But… what are people going to think?!”
And your body slams on the brakes.
Your body becomes paralyzed as your mind goes through endless scenarios of people’s thoughts and judgements about you – that people are going to criticize you and tell you you’re not good enough.
And like a ship held at bay with a 20,000-pound hunk of metal, this fear keeps us anchored and tied up in the harbor of our comfort zone.
This mechanism in your brain is designed to keep you safe from what it perceives to be dangerous.
But the problem is you’re not living in the Stone Age anymore.
You live in a time where resources are abundant and plentiful, and your capacity to achieve is so much more.
So don’t let your potential go to waste.
What Is Your Inner Critic?
Your biggest enemy is your inner critic.
A recent client of mine said to me while I was away travelling, “I want to do videos, but I’m afraid of the criticism and the judgment of the people.”
I said to her “OK, there are two things that we must look at. One, what is your inner critic?”
Oftentimes the fears that we have about other people is a reflection of how we talk to ourselves.
If you are worried that the audience is going to be critical and judgemental to you, I want to invite you to look inside.
Ask yourself:
“Am I being critical and judgemental of myself?”
Because you can only be rejected if you reject yourself.
Be kinder to yourself, and your audience will be kinder to you too.
Lower Your Risk By Putting Yourself Out There
The second thing I told my client was “Two. It’s about putting ourselves out there.”
She goes “You know, Lucas, it’s a big risk. I don’t want to ruin my reputation. I don’t want to humiliate myself. I’ve worked so hard to build this experience. I don’t want to let it all go and lose it if I get up and give a talk and it doesn’t go how I wanted.”
Here’s the other thing.
Putting yourself out there actually reverses risk.
People think:
- “Oh, it’s risky, so I’m not gonna put myself out there.”
- “People could judge me”
- “I could make a mistake”
- “I could embarrass myself”
That’s totally understandable, because hell, it IS scary to put yourself out there.
And yes, you could embarrass yourself.
But the bigger risk is in staying at that harbor, and I’ll tell you why.
Risk #1 – You’ll Regret It
Think about all the regrets you’re gonna have if you don’t take action.
Think about all your what if’s. Ask yourself:
- “What if I’d given myself permission to put myself out there?”
- “What if I had done that video?”
- “What if I had given that talk?”
- “What if I had said yes to myself and shared my message authentically?”
These build up over time and sap your energy.
Imagine sitting there at the age of 80 thinking, “My God… I should have done that…” and beating yourself up over and over again.
Over time, these thoughts create so much stress and unhappiness in life, that you’re much better off just taking action and getting an immediate ‘no’.
The riskiest thing you can do is to not share your message in a bigger way.
And when you fully own that, you’ll find freedom, because that’s what’s gonna propel you forward.
Now, as you’re starting out and you’re putting yourself out there, you might be thinking, “This is nerve-wracking. All these eyes on me.”
Here’s one thing I used to do every time I was speaking, especially when I was starting out.
I’d have all these eyes of criticism and feedback saying, “Oh, you made this mistake. You made that mistake.”
And I’d think to myself “Yeah, I did. But guess what? I’m out here playing in the game. And they’re in the audience watching.”
Treat this as a sports game.
There’s gonna be people on the field playing the game (that’s you) and there’s gonna be way more people in the stands watching and paying money to see you.
So, what? You get up there and you make a couple of mistakes, but so does everyone else.
You just happen to be the person that magnifies the mistake more than anyone.
You are the star after all.
Risk #2 – You End Up Increasing Your Risk
It almost seems contrarian.
But you actually end up increasing your risk by not seizing opportunities in the moment.
Every time you put yourself out there, you’re chiseling another piece of risk away.
You’re building up relevant experience, you’re developing yourself, you’re playing the game.
Every. Single. Time.
And you’re improving your ability to share your message to make an impact in the world.
So looking at it, really, the riskiest thing you can do is to not share your message with confidence. To not seize those opportunities. To not do that video. To not put yourself out there.
Because over time, as you continue to bust yourself through the chains of fear that are holding you back, instead of having regrets, you’re gonna have a massive amount of experiences you can look back on with pride.
And you’ll be saying to yourself “Yeah. You know what? I went through some adversity. I did that. But I’m so much better because of it.”
Lucas Mattiello,
Level Up Living
P.S. It’s not always easy putting yourself out there.
As someone who’s struggled with Panic Disorder for over 15 years, I completely understand if it’s not the easiest thing to deal with on your own.
Especially when everyone else around you seems to be doing just fine.
If you’d like a mentor to help you step by step in cutting away your fears so you can start getting that your ship out at sea and exploring life freely, I’d like to invite you to visit levelupliving.com/apply.
Fill out the information, book a call with one of our team, and we’ll see what we can do to help you quickly put yourself out there and make the impact that you were made to have.