Day 4

Brave

Harnessing our fear

Is it often assumed that fear is the enemy, something to shout down or ignore, but like all emotions, it has its place. Fear is designed to keep us safe – it’s evolutionary and can protect us from bad choices – walking down a dangerous path. But in doing that it also keeps us small, stops us from sticking our head over the parapet in case we get it wrong – don’t go for that promotion, don’t risk that date. But we can use fear to show us where our trigger points are, highlighting areas we need to work on and question.

For today’s challenge write down what you would do if you knew failure was not an option – would you start your own company, change careers altogether? Would you take some time out to study or move to another country? Then write what the worst thing that could happen if it didn’t work out. Often our fears will exaggerate the potential consequences of failure but committing these to paper can help us realise that these are risks worth taking. The bravest among us aren’t born without fear, they learn to work with it.