5 Ways to Move Through the Fear of Completing Action Steps

Action Steps! Sometimes you are sitting is a big pile of fear.  In the swampland of Shame!! Paralyzed and unable to write that email. To make that call to that director about your schedule.  What to do? When your fear has shackled you to the bed and you are unable to get out from under the covers.

The Stills: The first one is from a film noir project I'm working on.  The second are from a short film that just wrapped last weekend called Self-Deportation.

1. Cut the Action Step in Half.
How many times have you thought, "If I only had a 2 hour block, I could totally knock this thing out!" We don't live in a world of 2 hour blocks anymore.  They are 30 second blurbs.  So what if you just cut the action in half.  That is what I do with this blog post.  I first go in and create the skeleton of it. Place the pictures and the paragraphs blocks.  Then the second half of the action step is to go and write it out.  Like I am doing right now.

2. Set aside 5 minutes a day to work on it. 
Back to the 2 hour block idea.  So we live in a world where everything wants our attention for 30 seconds.  What about setting aside 5 minutes every day until it is accomplish.  This could be working on your resume or marketing.  This will also make your more efficient with your time, and then you realize that you didn't need a two hour block to accomplish the action step - you just needed FOCUS!!!

3. Commit to Not doing it.
I know this seems a little bit of reverse psychology - but committing to not doing it have some strange results.  You don't have the pressure to accomplish what is at hand. You are allowing room for the task to get accomplish in other ways.  Or lastly - you begin to feel so much discomfort that you just go and do it anyway.  And for me - the last one is the real motivator.  Because, pain is big motivator in my life.  If I am uncomfortable or in pain around something, I will change - do something different - so that I get a different result.  Give it a try!

4. Get a partner
Being accountable to someone your trust is such a great gift.  Find someone who won't judge you if you do it or if you dont do it.  Just someone that allows you to be in your own process around the action step.  Let that person know of the action step at hand and a time frame of when you would like to get it done.  Personally bookending (calling or texting before and after action step) has worked wonders in my life.  I get to isolate the fear. I know someone is waiting for me on the other side - which can be a motivator for me. 

5. Flipping Rocks
Like animals looking for grubs under rocks. What is under all your inability to complete of action step? I call this flipping rocks.  I begin to look at all aspects of my life.  Is there fear of being seen? Is there fear of being big in my acting career? Do I have resentments around this organization? When I really boil it down - it's all fear and shame.  So what can I do today - realize myself from fear and shame? What can you do to love yourself today - by stepping over the fear and into your LIFE.