What if We Did Something Scary Everyday?
Everyone has experienced a moment where the heart begins to pound in their chest, the palms become sweaty, and they begin to experience fear creep throughout their body. Over the course of a day, we might experience this once or maybe rarely. What if we stepped into the places we experience fear and punched it right in the face?
“Always do what you are afraid to do.”
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
We all have those scary moments. You have a task to do, but you want to avoid it. You might experience something terrible or something might happen that is embarrassing. If you avoid it, at least you don’t have to experience one of these possible outcomes.
However, when we do the scary thing, does the worst happen all that often?
I used to think more often than not, I would experience the worst possible outcome. However, it has been my experience the worst doesn’t happen. We must do these scary tasks. And on the other side of it, find some unexpected surprises.
During a podcast I listened to a while back, the person being interviewed shared how he started doing one scary thing a day. He felt it was important for him to step into those moments in order to help himself grow as a person. What he found after doing this for a while was astonishing to him: he was finding more than 90% of the time, the worst didn’t happen and in fact, he was having amazing outcomes.
Scary Intentional
“We need to stop taking the easy path and start going for the scary one.”
After hearing that podcast, I started to see situations like this in my life. And me, being the intentional person, I decided to try it out. I think that if we want to create lives we really want to be living, we need to do the scary things. We need to stop taking the easy path and start going for the scary one.
Here are three examples from my experience of doing scary things daily.
1. Negotiate Everything
When we lived in Portland, my parents would come to stay at the same hotel every visit. More often than not, I would call and set up their hotel reservations. I decided it was time to try getting a little extra off for their hotel stay.
I asked the reservations person for 20% off the room fee since my parents have faithfully stayed at the hotel for the last six years. She couldn’t do 20%. Instead, she offered free breakfast and applied two discounts. This came out to about a 15% reduction in room rate, and the breakfast, which isn’t normally free, made up the 5% difference.
It was amazing. All I had to do was ask. I asked kindly and was willing to get nothing. And yet, they attempted to work with me. Don’t be afraid to ask.
2. Building my Email List
If you are a blogger or a writer, it is essential to build an email list to make sure you are getting your writing in the hands of the people who read it. While reading through a resource from someone’s subscriber list, it discussed how people you know can help build your list when you are starting out. Then they will share your work and you will get more organic signups.
It is scary for me to put my writing out there to people I know. However, I have found that most people when asked agree to join my list. And in fact are very encouraging and provide feedback. It has helped a ton and my list is growing.
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3. Call the People You Don’t Want to Call
In my office, we call difficult people on the phone “Telephone Tough Guys.” They are the people who will use the anonymity of the telephone to allow themselves to be rude and unkind to try and get their way. Ultimately, it makes everyone more aggravated and aggressive.
After listening to the podcast, I started going for it. Making those hard calls and allowing myself the freedom to give people the opportunity to be nice. And if they aren’t, I get the phone call over with and move on. Sometimes, we have these situations in life. With family members, or business people. We need to do it. And move on.
Time To Do Something Scary
It is time to dare to do something great. Stop being afraid. Or at least, jump in and do something scary. You will be surprised what comes out of it. The easiest way to start making this practice happen is by chasing after a goal or a priority in your life. Then you will have the motivation to complete the scary event.
What is something scary you could do today? Share in the responses below for encouragement and to help others.
Originally posted on jrheimbigner.com
