What if you could convert that anxiety into focus, which then led to highly productive results? Once I learned the elements to do this, it was a major component in my success equation.
You must covet success at the deepest level
You must have a passionate desire to obtain your goal. If the fire isn’t in your belly, this isn’t going to work for you. You must be working towards something you really want. The stress that arises when you’re working towards a passion is the type of energy you can harness to propel you towards your end goal, instead of letting it cripple you. So ensure you’re on-purpose, fuelled by passion, and committed to the journey.
Determine your role
Do you see your role in life as absolutely having to obtain your desired goal? For me, this was becoming an entrepreneur. Being a high school drop out, no accounting experience and no lump sum of cash behind me, I had no idea how to make my dream come to fruition, but I had the desire. I truly felt that it was my purpose so I maneuvered my life to give myself the space to really give it a red-hot go. So much anxiety around that! It involved taking responsibility and investing the family assets into a business opportunity with absolutely no safety net. You can see now why #1 is so important. You must have the burning desire to achieve your goal because #2 is to give yourself permission to put yourself in the role that is going to make that happen. Is the thought of that stressing you out already? Believe me, I’ve been there. But you can convert that anxiety by getting on-purpose. It was my role as an entrepreneur to back myself with the family assets. I converted that anxiety into focus by having what I would call a leadership conversation with my family. I did the math. I realized we were stagnant; someone had to take control to ensure we were going somewhere. So I adopted that role. A couple of years later, I was a self-made millionaire.
Identify good stress vs. bad stress
When you’re attempting to create your vision you are going to experience stress, but it’s important to learn how to identify the good vs the bad. The body grows in response to stress. Stress promotes character growth, emotional growth, spiritual growth, and muscle growth. When you’re chasing your dream you’re guaranteed ups and downs, but allow that growth to make you stronger. The bad kind of stress is when you don’t take control of your life. You are removed from your passion, in your safe zone, and yet things are still going wrong. This stress is debilitating, and makes you weaker and contributes to a ‘poor me’ mindset. No dreams were built feeling sorry for yourself. If you believe anxiety debilitates, it will be a self-fulfilling prophecy. Confront and change those beliefs and it will go a long way to convert those things into focus.
Surround yourself with success stories
Put yourself into a situation where you can see people already achieving what you’re striving for. Let their energy rub off on you! You’re more likely to bungee jump off that bridge if everyone else is successfully doing it and loving it. Start seeing yourself as one of those people; convert that anxiety into enough focus to jump! I put myself in front of people who were already earning the level of income I envisaged and struck up conversations with them around their success. Pick their brains! See how they’re showing up in life, and emulate that.
Back yourself to win
You’ll come across some people who are going to try and talk you down from your goal. They may be coming from a good place and think they’re helping you, but these discussions can create doubt and stress around the pursuit of your vision. Don’t let them derail you. Hold your authority as the leader of your life, and respectfully let them know you’ve got this! Take back your ownership and control and that anxious energy will support you instead of disable you.
Don’t be paralyzed by illogical fears
I was obeying so many illogical fears it had me in the balance of being afraid most of the time. To some degree, I was inhibited in everything I did, so I started confronting them. I was scared of heights, so I jumped out of a plane. I was afraid of water, so I went swimming in the ocean every day, until I turned that illogical fear and accompanying anxiety into exhilarated energy and started to enjoy it! Where there’s stress, there’s growth. As long as you push through and don’t retreat you can convert that energy into focus, which will propel you to where you want to be. It’s empowering!
