You can do all the scary things

One of my long-term clients isn’t scared of anything. She plows through everything, pitches herself for everything, has an idea and just makes it happen. She’s confident, sure of her value and speaks to potential clients, partners and the media with ease.

Would it surprise you, though, if I told you that a year ago, she could barely drum up the guts to get on a podcast interview, or write a guest post? That she charged about 20% of what she should be charging? That she hid herself from anyone and anything that might shine a light on what she does?

Yep. It’s all true.

So what made the difference in last year to this? Her attitude and her willingness to have a light shone on all her stuff – the good, the bad and the ugly.

When she opened her kimono (such an awful saying… what does that mean anyway?) and let everything be viewed, she had to take a leap of faith. She had to be willing to own exactly where she was at that time, and decide whether or not she wanted a change.

Her symptoms were businessy but her ailment was fear. All the fears we meet all the time – being judged, being unsuccessful, being seen, etc. If she stayed small, she didn’t have to be responsible for any of those other things and life could continue inching along.

I remember the turning point, when I’d been poking away at her, gently-ish, to get out there and do the things she needed to do. And she went away for an afternoon and in the evening came back with those words:

“It feels really scary so I guess it’s something I should do.”

I remember that was the moment that I fell in love with her (in a purely business admiration kind of way!), and knew she was going to turn this ship around.

And dammit, did she ever.

She’s closing this year at 300% increase in revenue. She’s a completely different person. She doesn’t really need my help anymore, cause she’s become a legitimate business owner. She coaches herself.

You can do the hard things, just do one small piece at a time. Find the reason why stepping into discomfort is worth getting through to the other side. If it scares you, it’s probably a good thing to try.⠀

Tell me in the comments…

What’s your scariest thing?