“Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy.”—Dale Carnegie

I’ve just finished setting my 2020 goals. I post them up on a vision board that I have over my desk. I’m so excited to start, and as always the first week goes really well.

However, on a Wednesday of the second week into my plan of action, the dreaded ‘F’ word (fear) stops me in my tracks. I’m tired from an early start to the day and it’s still 1 PM. I look at my calendar and I’ve still got two meetings, a review of the marketing plan, an evening cardio workout and top it all off, a writing assignment.

Now I’m completely overwhelmed and my thoughts are everywhere. I barely manage the meetings and the marketing plan. Then fear crawls through the back door and I start thinking. “What if I miss the cardio and focus on the writing, or do the cardio and leave the writing for tomorrow morning.”

I get home, tell myself that my neck is hurting so it’s okay to miss the cardio session. Then I sit in front of the computer and instead of writing, spend an hour smoking my cigar and doing nothing but listen to Lana Del Rey—my default procrastination practice.

Somehow, I get on the internet; to a YouTube video on ‘London Real’ and heard the guest, Todd Herman, say, “Fear can’t hit a moving target. You see, fear never shows up when you’re moving forward.” He continues, “You have to speak to it and say fear, ‘Come and get me today. I’m moving. Can you catch up?’.”

In an instant, I get into my gym clothes and cycle for 45 minutes. I move. I tell fear to catch me if it can. I quickly shower, put on my earphones and start to write.

This is what we need to do in order to kick fear out of our lives; by taking action; by moving.

The Gordian Knot Story

When Alexander the Great was advancing on the Persian Kingdom of Lydia, he learned of a chariot enshrined in the acropolis. The chariot had been secured tightly to a pillar in the temple by Gordias, the former king, and there was a local legend that said, ‘He who unravels this knot shall be master of Asia.’ It was a tightly wound knot that many men of skill had been certain they could unbind, but no one had succeeded.

As soon as Alexander the Great saw how tight the knot was, he pulled out his sword and sliced it in half with one stroke. Then, it is said that he declared, ‘Destiny is not something brought about by legend, but by clearing away with one’s own sword.’ He had no use for the power of legend and would forge his destiny with his sword. As you know, he then proceeded to become the great conqueror of all the territories of what is now the Middle East and western Asia. (Taken from “The Courage To Be Disliked: How to free yourself, change your life and achieve real happiness” by Ichiro Kishimi, Fumitake Koga)

The 2 steps that can help us move easier and quicker:

1. Limit time on planning

There is so much information out there these days that it has become paralysing rather than helpful. Keep things simple. Limit the time spent on planning and get into action. Most plans will work when we stick to them. There is no perfect plan, only perfect execution. It’s what we do that defines us. Not the colourful plan pasted on the wall.

Leonardo Da Vinci said, “It had long since come to my attention that people of accomplishment rarely sat back and let things happen to them. They went out and happened to things.”

2. Take Small Incremental steps.

Consistency will always trump massive action done infrequently. One step a day for thirty days is more than twenty steps done over one exhausting day.

Just show up every day and do just enough to complete the plan for the week. Tiny actions alter things in the outside world.

We need to be courageous enough to say no when we are committed to our actions. That’s why when the steps are small, it’s easier not to fail. For example, I’ve committed to doing four workouts per week at my home gym. However, each session is only about 35 minutes which is not that hard but after a week, I would have built some great momentum.

Fear is the single biggest reason why we don’t achieve our dreams.

We don’t set goals with the intention to abandon them. However, when the work gets tougher and we are forced to get out of our comfort zones then we start to slowly stumble. We give up the pursuit of our goal in order to not rock our boats.

When setting goals, we fall in love with the outcome, but we always forget to visualise the hard work we need to put in.

We want the 6-pack but aren’t willing to suffer the hours in the gym. We want to have money in the bank but are not willing to reduce our lifestyle and expenses. We want to write a book yet aren’t willing to spend 10 hours a week on it

This is why Nike still has one of the best ever slogans—“Just Do it.”