I’m currently in Pasir Puteh, Kelantan, where my parents are living and it’s the monsoon season where we’re seeing a lot of rain. We’re praying that there won’t be any floods here.
Today I’m going to be talking about fear-setting, which is something I learnt from Tim Ferriss, author of the best-selling The 4-Hour Workweek (if you haven’t read it yet, it’s a great read. One of those must-read books for entrepreneurs).
So what is fear-setting? Let me explain to you in three steps.
Similar to goal-setting, fear-setting is where we determine our fears and define them. What is the one thing you want to do that’s important but fear doing? It could be starting a business, quitting your job or voicing out a strong opinion.
#1 Define the fear.
You need to define what are the fears that are preventing you from taking that step. For example, you want to quit your job to start your business but you’re afraid that you won’t make enough money to pay for your bills. Write it down and make sure it’s clear. How much would you need to make to pay for your bills?
#2 What can you do to mitigate the risks?
Once you’ve defined what it is that you’re scared of, you can then determine what you could do to mitigate the scenario you outlined in step #1. Maybe you could work on your business in the weekends and quit your job when you’re making enough revenue to pay for your bills. How much would you need to make in profit to be able to pay your bills and eventually quit your job? Write all these down.
#3 What are the steps you could take if you were in the situation that you fear?
In this step, you can list down what you could do to overcome the situation that you fear. So if your fear was not being to able to pay your bills after quitting your job, what could you do? List down the possible action you could take. For example, you could take a part-time job, go back to another full-time job and work on your business on the side, or you could do freelancing work.
Once you complete your fear-setting exercise, it will put things in perspective. You’ll come to realise that your fears weren’t such a big deal and you can still survive even if they came true. You can’t overcome a fear if your fear isn’t defined.
So there you have it. Fear-setting to help you overcome fears and doubts you may have from pursuing something meaningful to you. I hope this post has been helpful and share with me in the comments what fears you may have that are stopping you from going after your dreams.
Till my next post!