Are you scared or are you excited?
October is just around the corner, and many people are already looking forward to the end of the month − specifically, October 31st.
Whether you’re talking about a kid eagerly anticipating Halloween costumes and candy, or a pagan planning for the celebration of Samhain, or a playful adult looking forward to a great party, October 31st is worth waiting for.
There are a lot of different emotions associated with this date. Pagans approach Samhain with reverence and gratitude; little kids are excited to dress up and go trick-or-treating; older kids see it as a time to get scared by horror movies and “haunted houses”; and still other people just plain get creeped out, wondering if it’s true that the veil between the material and spirit worlds is thinnest on this day of the year. Talk about being all things to all people!
But the lesson for successful entrepreneurs is this: You can choose how you view this or any event by choosing your thoughts about it. And one of the most powerful choices you can make is to view circumstances and opportunities with excitement rather than fear.
Excitement empowers; fear sabotages.
In a lot of ways, the only difference between fear and excitement is the label you apply to it. After all, the physical indicators are very similar for both emotions. Why does one person label these experiences as the result of fear and another view them as the result of excitement? Both people are dealing with the same physiological sensations:
- a fast-beating heart
- quicker breathing
- jitteriness
- sweating
- breathlessness
- some difficulty swallowing
- lightheadedness
- an unsettled stomach
The difference is that one person is likely to be paralyzed by “fear”, while the other is likely to be energized by “excitement”.
So…why do some of us tend to label these reactions as excitement (and therefore “good” or “positive”) and others label them as fear (i.e., “bad” and “something to avoid”)?
Could it be because many of us are self-sabotage experts who react habitually rather than respond consciously?
If this describes you, and if you’re ready to relinquish your crown as Queen Of Getting In Her Own Way, woohoo for you! You can choose to shift your thoughts in one single area from fear with a simple change of adjective: Instead of facing a new or challenging situation and describing it as “scary”, choose instead to call it exciting.
Is this just a matter of semantics? Yes and no. “Yes” in that you’re simply replacing one word with another. “No” in that those words differ hugely in terms of their effect on your personal power, your outcomes, and your courage.
Don’t believe me? That’s okay. You’ll believe yourself and your own experience if you take me up on my challenge to practice this shift for just one week. Notice the next time you react with fear or label something as scary. Pause, breathe deeply, and simply ask yourself how you would feel if you considered the event to be exciting, instead. Once you choose excitement over fear, you’ll experience some delightful shifts with little effort:
- you’ll feel braver
- you’ll be more willing to step outside your comfort zone
- you’ll get better results, in large part because you’re expecting to get them
- you’ll be far more willing to take steps you’d previously chickened out of
- you’ll laugh and enjoy life more
Are those potential outcomes worth the experiment? Try it and find out for yourself. Then let us know what you accomplished using this approach that you wouldn’t have accomplished had you kept yourself stuck in fear.
Or are you one of the many entrepreneurs whose primary emotion is neither fear not excitement, but more a feeling of being overwhelmed by your Too Much To Do list? If that describes you, it’s possible I can help you clear some of the crap out of your way.
My specialty is showing my clients where and how to focus their energies, then release “should”s that don’t propel them forward. If that sounds like something that’s long overdue, perhaps it’s time to find out if we could work well together. Just call me at 319-270-1214 or email me with “I’m excited” in the subject line. We’ll spend 30 or 40 minutes on the phone asking and answering questions; at the end of that time we’ll both be able to confidently say “yes”, “no”, or “not yet” to the idea of partnering to kick business butt.
Are you brave enough to explore that exciting possibility? I’ll bet you are. Have fun!
(By the way, thanks to Alexandre Norman for his “excited” image and Maestro Pastelero for his “scared” image; I found both in the Creative Commons section of Flickr.)
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