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4 Practical Steps to Conquer Fears and Increase Business We’ve all been afraid to try something new at one time or another. Why is that? And it seems as we age, our fear controls more and more of our willingness to try something new. We prefer to forego a new experience because we want to avoid whatever bad thing we think could happen. Or maybe the anxiety is just too stressful for us to even contemplate facing our fears. Whatever the reason, we justify that trying something new is not worth the risk. Most of us learn to live within our comfort zone by default because we base our daily decisions on whether or not they cause feelings of anxiety. Every action we decide to take is based on whether it lands inside or outside our comfort zone. As humans, most of us have the tendency to remain within the boundaries of our comfort zone, to avoid situations that cause feelings of anxiety and fear. And although it may feel like we are in control, we are actually out of control. When we live our life inside our comfort zone, we allow our fears to control our daily life. When we remain inside the boundaries of our comfort zone, we essentially stop growing and stop learning. Sure, you can choose to live the rest of your life in your comfort zone, but if you are unhappy with any aspect of your life, know that it will not change until you step outside your comfort zone. Your comfort zone is nothing more than an imaginary “safe zone.” This “safe zone” is nothing more than an imaginary area in which the mind has predetermined strategies to deal with circumstances that occur within those boundaries. In other words, your mind craves a controlled environment where it has a pre-determined set of actions to deal with a certain set of situations. When it has past experiences to refer to, it can recall the details of a past success and apply the success strategies to a present experience. This set of past successes is what creates a “safe zone.” The mind knows exactly what to do when faced with those situations without anxiety or fear. However, step outside your comfort zone and the mind suddenly has no past experience to calculate a strategy from - this is what causes feelings of anxiety and fear. Feelings of anxiety are often assumed as a “bad” sign, but that is not necessarily true. Obviously if you are faced with a life-threatening situation, then feelings of anxiety would be rational; but when faced with a non-life-threatening situation - exaggerated anxiety is not a rational response. This is not to say that the mind is not serving a very valuable reaction, but left uncontrolled, the mind will create irrational anxiety. Your mind craves a controlled environment where it knows exactly what to do. When faced with a new situation, the mind doesn’t have past experience to refer to and will create imaginary and often exaggerated outcomes. This exaggeration can cause such anxiety that we never want to try something new because of the stress. We choose to remain in our comfort zones, because our fear outweighs our desire for new experiences. While it’s natural to feel some anxiety or nervousness before trying something new, it is not natural to let fear control your life experiences. Life is meant to be lived - not passed by. So how do you overcome the anxiety of trying something new? You simply ask yourself if the feelings of anxiety are rational. This isn’t to say that you won’t face situations which present real dangers, but what if some or all of your anxiety was based on false assumptions imagined by your mind - would you be more inclined to try something new? What if you could have new experiences without getting hurt or experiencing pain - would you do it? Now ask yourself how you don’t know it wouldn’t happen exactly that way? Think of a baby learning to walk. When they fall down, they instinctively get back up and try again. And they keep trying until they succeed. In fact, there is nothin