“The successful warrior is the average man, with laser-like focus.” – Bruce Lee

If you know me, you know I am big on action. Just ask my wife, Loveanne. First thing in the morning, my feet hit the floor, and ACTION! I’m awake, alive, and ready to take on the day. Even when the day holds something I dread, I move. Why? Action, focused action, in particular, kills fear. This has held true for my entire life, and I know it will for yours too.

So much dread comes in the moments before you do something you fear. You have some difficult phone calls to make, so you sit there, anxiously rearranging your pen holder. The longer you rearrange, the longer you stay inactive, the more your anxiety grows. As simple as it sounds, if you learn to pick up the phone and make the hardest call first, the rest will be as easy as can be.

In this blog, we’re going to take a look at why it’s important to be that rolling stone, so you can gather no fear…err…moss.

Action and Procrastination

Fear and procrastination go hand in hand. When it comes to approaching that to-do list, you rarely find one without the other. To calm your anxiety, to soothe yourself, you’ll find other activities to take up some time or space in your life so you can avoid doing that thing or things on the list you fear.

You’ll seek out one more episode, one more cookie, one more…. Stop! The options are endless. When you’re in procrastination mode, you will find a way to “one more” yourself until the sun goes down, and then until the sun goes down the next day.

What you wind up with is a great accumulation of days with nothing real achieved. You didn’t face your fear. Now, the behavior of avoidance has been reinforced for yourself, by you.

This becomes a cycle that kills progress faster than you can imagine.

To overcome this cycle, to enter successfully into what we call “habituation” around whatever is causing your distress, you only have to do one thing.

What that one thing is will be different for each task, obstacle to overcome, or goal to reach. And, don’t get me wrong, I have found (the same as you, probably) that this first step is hard. But taking that single step is a step in the direction of winning.

That’s it. Just one step. Once you have that one under your belt, you can take another, and another, toward achievement or completion of your goal. Now you have the force of the universe known as inertia working on your side.

What really happens is that after you start taking steps, you begin to find relief because you are doing the thing you are afraid of. When it’s over, when you hang up the phone, reach the top of the mountain, or present your new proposal, you have just reinforced a new pattern that is opposite that of procrastination: focused action.

Read more about fear and procrastination in my new book.

Acting in Alignment with Your Values

If you’re the self-aware type, you might ask yourself why you procrastinate; what fear is holding you back? These are good questions, but I would suggest asking yourself this too: What will be the reward for doing the thing you’re putting off? Not just the material reward, but how will it feel to get that thing done?

When you can figure out the why behind your actions and choices and focus more on the positives that will transpire by getting the thing done, you will find your impetus for focused action.

That’s a long way of saying motivation will come when you act in alignment with your values. For example, let’s say you don’t enjoy cleaning the house. (Who does?) Let’s go a little further to say you actually dread taking that first step because things are such a huge mess. It’s going to take you FOREVER.

However, if one of your values is caring for others, you can think about how nice your family will find it to come home to a clean environment. They will be able to find their things, and they will be more comfortable in their home because of your hard work. Looking at it this way makes it a little easier to take that first step, and then the next, and so on. This is the heart of servant leadership right here.

If you can reframe all of your actions in terms of which of your values they are serving, you’ll have a much easier time finding the motivation to focus your action on those tasks.

ACTION ITEM: Take a moment now to think about and list some of your values.

These include things like service to others, honesty, integrity, respect, compassion, responsibility, courage, generosity, perseverance, humility, and fairness, just to name a few.

If you can incorporate these into your framework for why you do the things you dread doing, you’ll find those things become easier and easier, obliterating the fear that was holding you back.

Click here to get more exercises and interactive ways to turn your fear into fuel.

The importance of focused action

When you have clarity of purpose in everything you do, and you can reduce the distractions—be it Netflix or filling out your shopping list—you’ll find you are creating the space and time for focused action to take place. This requires cultivating a physical and mental environment that will help you succeed. To overcome fear, you have got to give yourself a chance.

Make sure you are well rested and prepared, that you have enough energy to take the action you want to take. When you focus on having adequate energy reserves, you will find you are capable of enhanced productivity.

At the same time, think positively about your goal or task. See yourself in your mind’s eye overcoming whatever obstacles are in your way and completing the task. I’ll tell y’all—that mind-body connection is a real thing.

I won’t lie. It takes work to overcome fears and stay motivated and committed to a goal. But if you remember to focus on the reasons your goal matters and take one small step at a time, I know you will succeed. After all, it’s how we first walked on the moon, so I know you can use these tools to help stay focused and achieve the greatest of things!

I’ll see you at the top!

To learn more about how you can Turn Your Fear Into Fuel, get on the list for exclusive updates about the release of my latest book!