Today I want to share with you Part III in my Make Your Dream Come True This Summer Series!
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But first I have to share with you my “Wink From the Universe” experience last night :). I was heading out for a low-key Saturday night to go shopping for a dress to wear to an upcoming wedding, when I noticed a message I had received from my friend Jon. He invited me to be his date to a wedding on the Moshulu (a beautiful boat on the waterfront in Philadelphia). It was completely spontaneous as his date had just cancelled with the flu.
I thought “Why not?” and did my classic get-ready-for-a-formal in 15 minutes routine, and headed over.
As I was parking on the street by a meter, my heart sank as I realized we didn’t have any quarters. I was starting to feel frustrated (no ATM in site), when Jon suggested we ask the people sitting in the car behind us for change.
As we approached them, their window was already down and the woman in the passenger seat was holding her hand out-stretched with about three dollars worth of quarters for us! When he offered to give her cash for the quarters, she refused. I told her I would only use what I needed and put in enough money to cover us for the remainder of the evening. There was some debate as to how much time that was, however, and the woman insisted that we put in all the quarters to be safe.
I feel so blessed to receive this payment from her, and my initial frustration seems really silly now. I had an amazing, spontaneous night and it all fell together perfectly. Check out our silly pictures! 🙂
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And now for Part III: Taking Action Even When You’re Freaked Out!
I’ve decided to make it all text rather than video for a change of pace (and to give those of you who have trouble accessing video a break :)). If you haven’t seen my first two videos yet, you can start by watching the first one here.
Today I’d like to talk to you about taking action. Once you’ve had a dream form in your mind and it starts to build, it is so important to start doing something about it.
The truth is many people have very beautiful dreams and they don’t take any action towards them. And I don’t believe it’s because they’re lazy (although it may really look that way). It’s probably because they’re scared—scared of change or scared of failure and disappointment. We’ve all been there, including me. There have definitely been times I’ve been afraid to take steps towards my own dreams, but I’ve learned that even taking a very small step can be HUGE, because it starts to melt the fear.
If you’re feeling some hesitation about taking action for your dream, or if you want to step it up, because you’ve been holding back—these tips are for you. I share 3 Insights that will give you some immediate inspiration to get started even if it’s just a small step.
1) Take Action Even if You’re Scared
The truth is, everyone feels pretty freaked out when taking a risk. The difference between people who take action anyway and those who don’t is not less fear, but that people who take action do so in spite of their fear. And the more you confront your fears, the less power they have. Taking action is like sending a message to the part of your brain that feels afraid, and telling it that it’s really no big deal.
2) Taking Action Gives You an Edge
Everyone has dreams they would like to see come true, but many people don’t take action towards them. If you’re thinking it’s not worth taking the first step or the next step, because someone else is already doing what you want to do and there’s so much competition, remember that just getting in the game gives you an edge. It separates you from the people who won’t even try.
3) Turn Your Fear Into Excitement
The adrenaline rush you feel when you’re afraid is pretty similar to the one you feel when you’re excited. Standing at the top of a snow covered mountain about to ski down is going to feel pretty similar physically whether you’re an experienced skier excited about the experience, or a first time skier who’s terrified. It’s the context, the way you frame it in your mind that makes it a great experience or an unpleasant one. Simply shifting your perception of your physical experience of fear into excitement can start to make the whole experience more pleasurable.
And of course, remembering why you are doing what you’re doing—remembering that it relates to something you *love* and feel passionate about will inspire you to move past any fear. At the most basic level, love is the opposite of fear. Connecting your experience to something you love and feel excited about will transform your fear into empowerment.
For additional inspiration on Taking Action Even When You’re Freaked Out, go to www.PersonalExcellence.co for more valuable articles. In particular I recommend:
How to Be the Most Confident Person in the World
10,000 Hours to Develop Talent
Is Your Goal Worth 30 Minutes of Your Time Every Day?
Leave a comment below and share one thing you can do to take action towards your dream or an additional tip you have to inspire 🙂
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Hey Christina,
I have just now started reading this series. So I will sum up my all comments here. Sit back, it’s going to be a long one. 😀
Let me first of all tell you that, I am going through some turmoil in my life right now. I am in Final year (Senior Undergraduate) of my college. MNCs are coming for campus recruitment. As a matter of fact, I have a PI (Interview) today. But I personally don’t want to go for a Boring job where all day 9 to 6 you have to sit in front of the computer screen and that’s it. I know my many friends and many people, who are putting their dreams on hold. But I don’t want to.
As kids, we are encouraged to dream, both at home and in school, about what we may want to be when we grow up – astronauts, writers, detectives, or just about anything that tickles our fancy. A few years later, the same people tell us to suck it up, face reality, and aspire to be engineers and doctors, and in the more recent version of growing up, investment bankers (It’s a trend going on in INDIA, I don’t know about other countries). We lock up our childhood dreams, which have now evolved into something more concrete, in a quiet corner of our heads and swallow the key. We throw away our creative hats and bow our heads, now to crack the board exams (High School), now to pass the entrance exams, now to make it through college, now to land in a good MBA school, now to fight for the best ‘package’, now to settle down aka get married and have kids.
I mean what is up with all these things. Is this what we aspired our whole life to end up like this. So you know what, this series has inspired me a lot and I am going to go for my dream. I am going to pursue my dreams that don’t revolve around 9 to 6 jobs, dreams that I have been told all my lives are silly and impractical, dreams that are different from what the Indian society (specially) categorizes as worth aspiring for.
Anyways, It was a great article again. Thanx for inspiring so many people. Keep it up !
PEACE !!
P.S : It was really a long one, huh!! 😉
Hi Dilip,
I so appreciate your comment, and yes I feel *exactly* the same way! I think it is so much better to figure out exactly what you want to do and get started living your dream. So many people come to this conclusion after spending too much doing what they think they are supposed to be doing. I like to think there is truly no such thing as time wasted, but it is definitely a setback if you put your dreams on hold. Thank you so much for sharing. You’ve summed this up perfectly! 🙂
~Christina
very inspirational and effective
Thank you Nanu! 🙂
I love the story of how the woman already had an outstretched hand with a bunch of quarters for you! If that isn’t a wink from the universe, I don’t know what is! (wink wink). Awesome post!
Thank you Suzanne! I so loved that too and can look back and laugh now at how frustrated I was when everything was already perfectly in place 🙂 Love it when that happens!
Your classic “get-ready-for-a-formal in 15 minutes routine” – wow, that’s something I need to learn! Love that the “quarter woman” was there to help you; pass along the positive karma – great post.
Hello beautiful! I love the story about the quarter lady…LOL…where did she come from? I’m glad you had a great time at the wedding! The pictures are so fun! As for taking action and facing fear…that’s a tough one I think. I tend to freeze when I am scared but I know that beyond that fear is a wonderful new experience that will make me grow. Turning our fear into excitement is a great tips…Great share, thank you 😉
Hi Nathalie!
The woman with the quarters was sitting in the car parked behind me 🙂 We were pretty much in the middle of nowhere (on the waterfront where places to use an ATM would be far between), so it was truly perfect. I love the reminder to look for an easy solution that’s there in abundance (much more quarters than we needed) when I’m getting all frustrated and making things hard for myself. And yes, I’m the same way about taking action–I freeze up when I’m scared too. Tapping into excitement *really* helps me!
~Christina
Great points on how to turn fear into action and not letting it freak you out. Something I have been guilty of more often than I care to admit!
[…] Check out Part III: Taking Action Even When You’re Freaked Out here […]
Great article with some great tips! And I love the get-ready-for-a-formal-in-fifteen-minutes! 😀
Great example of success despite obstacles.
Andrew
Thank you Andrew! 🙂
[…] Last time, I talked about Taking Action which is really important if you want to create anything in life. Two of the biggest things that stop us from seeing our dreams come true are not taking action at all (because of fear maybe) or focusing too much on taking action at the expense of relaxation and allowing. […]