Overcome Fear And Start Taking Risks

Fear is a normal human feeling, when it comes to real, obvious actions that can put life in a risk. Those are instincts. For example you should not jump into the fire because you will get burned, but only if the fire is real, not imaginary. The problem is that most of our fears are not real, they are in our head.

As a child I was thought a very good lesson, and for this I am very thankful to my Father. The lesson was - do what you are scared to do (Or he will make me do it).

I was scared of the dark - he would leave me in it. I was scared to ride on a snowmobile - he told me to do it. Whatever I was scared of he made me do it, if he did not see obvious physical or mental risks for me. I learned a very useful lesson that I will share with you now.

When you are scared to do something and you do it over and over again YOU LEARN TO SEE A SITUATION NOT AS A THREAT BUT AS SOMETHING NEW TO OBSERVE. In other words, your body becomes programmed to take the risks and it knows you will do it over and over again, so your mind learns to look for solutions and make logical decisions instead of trying resist and back off. If that makes sense.

Let me share you example with the snowmobile. I had an extreme fear that If I ride a snowmobile on a frozen lake the ice will break and I will drown (my father knew that the ice is think enough and it won't break). I knew I will be forced to do it so instead of crying and trying to run from the situation I thought of solutions to my fear: drive very close to the coast, don't drive too far so if something happens I will be rescued. Suddenly, I felt no fear. Now I love ridding snowmobiles. And I had similar situations many times before it came to business practise - time to take financial risks and deal with loses.

I have achieved some good results while taking financial risks, but recently, I did lose money. Maybe If I backed off I would have saved it but I observed the situation, measured my risks that seemed pretty low and already planned a solution if it goes wrong. I would never take a risk if it is 100% failure, but if I see a decent rate of success, good profits and I can pre-plan a solution if it fails- I WILL DO IT! And unfortunately this deal did go wrong. I managed to sort out my loss, but the amount of knowledge I got in import and export business is priceless. I know that this lessons will make me money in the future.

Let me give you another example about acting. Before I went to MET Film school I already filmed a small speaking role in a feature film. I had no clue what I was doing when I went to my first casting, but I lied about my experience and I had an amateur show-reel filmed with my friends, that would represent my skills. I did not get the role in my first casting, but I got some tips. I observed that situation, learned online and in few weeks time I went to another casting. I did get a role. I was not scared or embarrassed. I knew I have a talent but I need to practise and where is a better place then on set. At the moment, my acting career is on hold, as I decided to direct my own short film and star in it. For that I need a bit more free time and inspiration. But am I scared to fail? No. I might get funding for a feature film once I will film a short.

If my brain would be programmed to back off I would never start acting, music, business and so on. But I do things that people are scared of because I observe situation not as a threat and I do not look for reasons why not to do it. I look for reasons why to do it and If I find reasons good enough, I do.

That is really important in life. Do not be scared of what people say or think. They are just temporary visitors in your world. Do not be scared to risk with money. Money comes and goes. Do not be scared of situations that do not show obvious threat to you. Be scared of not taking risks, of living in comfort zone. There is nothing more scary then to come to the end of your life and realise that you could have done more.