They say the word ‘Fear’ can stand for two things: ‘Forget Everything And Run’ or ‘Face Everything And Rise’.
Inner Leadership provides a step by step guide for how we can make it mean the second, by using stress and fear to make us stronger and more valuable.
There’s no one magic bullet to achieving this. Instead we need to strengthen our abilities at seven key skills:
- The first is our ability to centre and ground, remain calm in a crisis, and connect strongly with who we are at our best, no matter what is happening around us
- ‘Fear’ can also stand for ‘False Evidence Appearing Real’ so the second key skill is the ability to make clearer sense of the situation and notice the assumptions we might be making
- The third and fourth abilities are the abilities to find the opportunities in a crisis and choose the one that fits best with our priorities, even when the situation is highly volatile and the outcome highly uncertain
- The fifth step to using Fear to Face Everything And Rise comes when we know our purpose and values: these bring clarity, determination, flexibility, and direction to any situation
- And the sixth and seventh abilities are the skills that enable us to articulate our chosen way forward in ways that inspire us and the people around us to long to make it happen and keep going as we move forward
If we look back through our life we can probably remember a dozen times when we felt afraid: our first day at a new school, our first driving lesson, our first date, our first job. Each time this happened, behind the fear there was also an opportunity to learn and grow — if we stepped up.
When we know what we most want to do, and learn the right skills and manage the risks, then even something as scary as riding a rodeo bull can become an adventure!
When we understand that what we call a ‘crisis’ is really an opportunity, and that our purpose and values are a recipe for becoming fully who we truly are, then we are ready to learn what ‘Fear’ really stands for: Face Everything And Rise.
This is another step to becoming antifragile.
When did you last feel afraid? Would it be useful to know how to reinterpret your fears and turn them into joy and fulfilment instead?
Adapted from Inner Leadership: a framework and tools for building inspiration in times of change.
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Photo By Southern Arkansas University (cropped) via StockPholio.net