The real reason why you don't take action

[AndrewNC]

The Truth About Fear

What if you didn’t actually fear failure, and you only feared uncertainty? Being uncertain about what would happen after you make a new decision?

Our brains are outdated

Chris, Billy, and John were cavemen living in North America tens of thousands of years ago. They lived in a small tribe made up of family and trusted friends. They lived in caves, and kept warm by a fire at night. This was primarily a hunter-gathering society.

One morning, Chris, Billy and John left the security of the tribe and wandered off into the forest to hunt for meat. Deep into the forest, they had a choice of going down one of two trails. If they went down the right trail, they would discover an abundance of game to hunt, and bring back to the tribe to live on to see another day.

But if they went down the wrong trail, the entire tribe was at the risk of starving to death. Billy went down the trail to the left on a whim. He ran off into the distance in hopes of finding a family of deer to hunt.

Billy was a risk taker.

The need for certainty in your decisions

Chris and John were smarter than that. To ensure their survival, they had to be 100% certain that the trail they were going down would be the correct decision. If they made the wrong decision, it would ensure death for them and their loved ones.

Requiring this certainty, they waited and waited for the perfect moment to know what the right decision would be. For days, they stood at the edge of the trailhead. Finally, by a stroke of pure luck, they notice a family of deer off to the right.

They run off in chase of their next meal, knowing that this choice would pay off, and they would be guaranteed success due to their expert hunting skills.

Success!

Five miles down that trail, they catch up to the family of deer and pick out the largest one. After a quick pursuit, their meal is caught. This will provide the tribe enough food to eat for weeks.

On the way back to their cave, they notice a very attractive female picking berries off in the distance. Chris was cautious. He lived by the motto “It’s better to be safe than sorry”. Fearing rejection and failure, Chris carried the meal on his back towards the cave and made the safe decision.

John, on the other hand was more of a risk taker. He went off into the distance to flirt with the unfamiliar girl. The moment he said hi to her, the alpha male of her tribe appears from around the corner and sees John flirting with his girlfriend.

Filled with anger and rage, this man attacks John. The other males in the tribe join in on the fight. John made a simple decision to say hello to another person, and eventually, John paid the toll with his life. He shortly died due to the severity of his wounds.

The outcome of their decisions.

Chris returns to his tribe with the meal, never to hear from Billy or John again. They made the wrong decisions, and they paid for it with their lives. Eventually their bodies were found. These deadly outcomes were not isolated incidents, and quickly word spread throughout civilization that it is better to not take risks, and live within their comfort zone.

In caveman days, the ones who survived to pass down their genes to future generations were the ones who were cautious, and didn’t take risks. They didn’t try new things and they didn’t talk to unfamiliar people. This lesson was reinforced throughout many generations.

It was important to be certain of an outcome to have success, and it was better to wait in their tracks for the right moment. This need of “certainty before taking action” was programmed into the unconscious minds of humans.

The DNA of those major risk takers was not able to reproduce in as much abundance due to them being weeded out of society from their reckless actions.

Fast forward to now

This false need for certainty and fear of the unknown is still buried deep inside our unconscious minds as a survival mechanism. The problem you thought, is that is no longer useful when it comes to taking new actions and risks into your life.

Outdated beliefs

· If you make the wrong business decision, you will live.

· If you flirt with a girl who has a boyfriend, she will say she’s taken, and you will live.

· If you made the wrong decision, you will.

These traits that once served us well in the past are no longer useful to us in the sense of stepping out of our comfort zone in modern times. We all know in the logical (conscious) sense that we won’t die if we take the wrong action on our business, or if we approach an unfamiliar member of the opposite sex, but the real change doesn’t happen based on our conscious mind.

Real change happens in the unconscious.

You are in a good position because you are now consciously aware of why you may have been not taking action.

What are you going to do differently now?

 

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[Vigilante]

It's easier to coast, and do it "next week"

I was not an action faker because I feared anything.

I was an action faker because it was the path of least resistance.

There would always be a "some day."

It's more simple to just have another beer, coast another weekend, and punch that shitty time clock for another year.

Lazy. I didn't fear. I just had every reason why the timing wasn't right.

 

[Marc B.]

@Vigilante What changed?

 

[Vigilante]

Well, I got a taste of real money for starters. I kind of fell backwards into success in the late 1990's, and earned more money in a short window of time than (at the time) I knew what to do with. I did spend it all, but once you see what life is like on top of the mountain, it is kind of hard to go back to living in the valley. The difference between First Class and Coach? It applies to nearly every single facet in life. Most people live their whole lives in coach, so they don't even really know what they are missing. But once you sat in first class... you realize life is better there in nearly every way.

Then, while chasing what was out there, I fell on my face HARD a few times, enough to realize that I survived. It kind of eliminated the fear. So then, it was simply about how to proceed. The Millionaire Fast Lane, and the 4 Hour Work Week... recalibrated the HOW.

And I'm still busting out. It still took me too long to engineer radical changes. I still spent too much time geographically where I hated to be, even though I wasn't tethered to a job the way most people are.

I think it's continual. Living in freedom is continual. It's a pursuit. But you have to be intentional. You have to laugh at the way other people look at life, and risk, and rules.

Every single person that found their way to this forum has a likely tendency to be a RULE BREAKER. And society says that's bad. And I say that's where freedom is allowed to enter the equation. You then simply have to give yourself permission to do what you want to do.

I'm not 100% there yet. I still have some cords to cut. I'm cutting them. I'm pursuing the ending I want.

 

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[AndrewNC]

There would always be a "some day."

Does "some day" come before or after Sunday? It's funny that they never put that day on the calendar.

I think I'll wait until they do.

 

[Marc B.]

Thanks,@Vigilante

@AndrewNC I really like your entertaining parable, and it reminds me of a conversation I had with a few people before I moved 6 months ago.

I quit my job and decided to move because the environment I was in was prohibitive to achieving my dreams. People were genuinely concerned because I was leaving a steady 9-5, doing menial work, to take a calculated risk. They asked things like, "but what if you run out of money?"

I answered snidely, "Game over. You die. Poof! You disappear out of thin air!" As if failing, or going broke temporarily was a life-threatening, worst-case scenario and there was no way to recover.

Exercise your creativity while recognizing patterns and opportunities, as
@MJ DeMarco says, and there will always be options.

 

[Kingmaker]

I used to be really conscious of fear of uncertainty. "What if I end up homeless?" "What if I don't have money to get food?"
(The latter thing actually happened. In keeping with the caveman theme I would be dead without food in those times, but I'm alive and typing this. 21st century FTW)

Then I learned to embrace Chaos. When you're laser-focused on one area of your life, other areas will inevitably suffer (learned this in book "One Thing"). I made peace with it. It's to be expected. Being certain while in the eye of the storm brings strange comfort.

People have started billion dollar businesses in 60s,70s,80s when there was no Internet. No easy way to get any information you need at the click of your finger. No easy way to get in contact with other entrepreneurs. No youtube. No forums.

Now we have more capability for greatness than ever. The only obstacle you have is you and your fears.

 

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[RogueInnovation]

I honestly don't know why I had so much fear.
Irrational fear is like that.

I am TRYING really friggin hard to ALWAYS BE READY, rather than "push myself when pushed".

You have to get free of needing outside stimulus to whip you into shape, and you gotta harness your inner will power to carve out a path.


I spend time deeply focusing.
And its not because I'm afraid, its because, if I'm not afraid enough, I'm too stupid to pull it all off.

 

[Durete]

For me, taking action comes in waves.

I prepare too much, I want to make everything perfect before I release it.
so I do a lot, but not the right things.

then all of a sudden I take a big leap, and then go back to perfecting, preparing, etc.

 

[fastlanebeast876]

The Truth About Fear

What if you didn’t actually fear failure, and you only feared uncertainty? Being uncertain about what would happen after you make a new decision?

Our brains are outdated

Chris, Billy, and John were cavemen living in North America tens of thousands of years ago. They lived in a small tribe made up of family and trusted friends. They lived in caves, and kept warm by a fire at night. This was primarily a hunter-gathering society.

One morning, Chris, Billy and John left the security of the tribe and wandered off into the forest to hunt for meat. Deep into the forest, they had a choice of going down one of two trails. If they went down the right trail, they would discover an abundance of game to hunt, and bring back to the tribe to live on to see another day.

But if they went down the wrong trail, the entire tribe was at the risk of starving to death. Billy went down the trail to the left on a whim. He ran off into the distance in hopes of finding a family of deer to hunt.

Billy was a risk taker.

The need for certainty in your decisions

Chris and John were smarter than that. To ensure their survival, they had to be 100% certain that the trail they were going down would be the correct decision. If they made the wrong decision, it would ensure death for them and their loved ones.

Requiring this certainty, they waited and waited for the perfect moment to know what the right decision would be. For days, they stood at the edge of the trailhead. Finally, by a stroke of pure luck, they notice a family of deer off to the right.

They run off in chase of their next meal, knowing that this choice would pay off, and they would be guaranteed success due to their expert hunting skills.

Success!

Five miles down that trail, they catch up to the family of deer and pick out the largest one. After a quick pursuit, their meal is caught. This will provide the tribe enough food to eat for weeks.

On the way back to their cave, they notice a very attractive female picking berries off in the distance. Chris was cautious. He lived by the motto “It’s better to be safe than sorry”. Fearing rejection and failure, Chris carried the meal on his back towards the cave and made the safe decision.

John, on the other hand was more of a risk taker. He went off into the distance to flirt with the unfamiliar girl. The moment he said hi to her, the alpha male of her tribe appears from around the corner and sees John flirting with his girlfriend.

Filled with anger and rage, this man attacks John. The other males in the tribe join in on the fight. John made a simple decision to say hello to another person, and eventually, John paid the toll with his life. He shortly died due to the severity of his wounds.

The outcome of their decisions.

Chris returns to his tribe with the meal, never to hear from Billy or John again. They made the wrong decisions, and they paid for it with their lives. Eventually their bodies were found. These deadly outcomes were not isolated incidents, and quickly word spread throughout civilization that it is better to not take risks, and live within their comfort zone.

In caveman days, the ones who survived to pass down their genes to future generations were the ones who were cautious, and didn’t take risks. They didn’t try new things and they didn’t talk to unfamiliar people. This lesson was reinforced throughout many generations.

It was important to be certain of an outcome to have success, and it was better to wait in their tracks for the right moment. This need of “certainty before taking action” was programmed into the unconscious minds of humans.

The DNA of those major risk takers was not able to reproduce in as much abundance due to them being weeded out of society from their reckless actions.

Fast forward to now

This false need for certainty and fear of the unknown is still buried deep inside our unconscious minds as a survival mechanism. The problem you thought, is that is no longer useful when it comes to taking new actions and risks into your life.

Outdated beliefs

· If you make the wrong business decision, you will live.

· If you flirt with a girl who has a boyfriend, she will say she’s taken, and you will live.

· If you made the wrong decision, you will.

These traits that once served us well in the past are no longer useful to us in the sense of stepping out of our comfort zone in modern times. We all know in the logical (conscious) sense that we won’t die if we take the wrong action on our business, or if we approach an unfamiliar member of the opposite sex, but the real change doesn’t happen based on our conscious mind.

Real change happens in the unconscious.

You are in a good position because you are now consciously aware of why you may have been not taking action.

What are you going to do differently now?

i like that story. thanks for sharing! Are you reading any books on belief?

 

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[fastlanebeast876]

I used to be really conscious of fear of uncertainty. "What if I end up homeless?" "What if I don't have money to get food?"
(The latter thing actually happened. In keeping with the caveman theme I would be dead without food in those times, but I'm alive and typing this. 21st century FTW)

Then I learned to embrace Chaos. When you're laser-focused on one area of your life, other areas will inevitably suffer (learned this in book "One Thing"). I made peace with it. It's to be expected. Being certain while in the eye of the storm brings strange comfort.

People have started billion dollar businesses in 60s,70s,80s when there was no Internet. No easy way to get any information you need at the click of your finger. No easy way to get in contact with other entrepreneurs. No youtube. No forums.

Now we have more capability for greatness than ever. The only obstacle you have is you and your fears.

im supposed to like the one thing soon. How do you like it?

 

[AndrewNC]

Are you reading any books on belief?

creating a course on motivational strategies and decided to share one of the sections here.

 

[fastlanebeast876]

creating a course on motivational strategies and decided to share one of the sections here.

oh ok. Ill look into your course as soon as i get the hang of this site. There's jusst so much info and motivtion here.

 

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[InfiniteInc]

Very interesting post and all too true. Uncertainty has held me back in the past and it's interesting to understand why we might have problems with it.

There is nothing more important as an entrepreneur than getting passed that fear of uncertainty and the unknown.There are going to unknowable elements everywhere. Everything from the product to the niche to the USP. There's no way to know how any of it is going to turn out before hand and the only thing that fear is going to do is hold back any type of action and implementation.

That fear is going to hold back the exact answers that can be gained through putting ideas out there, testing, seeing what works and what doesn't. The exact steps that lead to success later on.

It's far too easy to get trapped in that space before launch where every last detail is double and triple checked just because of that uncertainty.

Looking passed that uncertainty is that vital first step. Great post!