Yes Yes Hell No

your feelings aren’t created by what happens to you, but by your judgments about what happens to you.

The voice of fear shows up in many ways – excuses, stress, procrastination, anger, insecurity, and self-judgment. Even when it does show up as fear, it usually doesn’t tell the truth about what’s scary. It often focuses on symptoms rather than the real roots of the issue.

Once you have a heartfelt, specific, and scary goal, ask yourself these four questions: How many hours a week are you willing to commit to this goal? For how long? How much money are you willing to invest in creating this result? How much money would you need to invest to truly be committed to this goal? What are you willing to say no to or let go

Let the voice of fear have its say. You don’t need to fight it or make it wrong. You don’t need to flee from it or pretend it’s not there. And you don’t need to feed it or focus on it and give it energy. Instead, just listen. When you try to fight, flee, or feed your fears, they only get stronger. Yet when you embrace them, they begin to drop away.

“An old story tells of three stonecutters who were asked what they were doing. The first replied, ‘I am making a living.’ The second kept on hammering while he said, ‘I am doing the best job of stonecutting in the entire country.’ The third one looked up with a visionary gleam in his eyes and said, ‘I am building a cathedral.’” ~ La Sagrada Familia

While repression feels like a pain-removal device, it stores pain until we’re ready to heal it.

“If the only prayer you said was thank you, that would be enough.” ~ Meister Eckhart

I’d been treating leadership as something I do to people rather than do with them. I’d been equating leadership with “being the hero” – always having the right answers, being the smartest person, putting in the most hours. And for the first time, I wondered if there might be a more effective way.

Expectations are the primary cause of stress and insecurity. If you want to reduce your level of stress, reduce your expectations while maintaining your goals.