Lewis Howes

Challenge Yourself and Take Action

One of the easiest ways to keep yourself from realizing your true potential is by being content with doing nothing. When you’re too comfortable, you keep yourself from growing because you don’t feel the need to improve. To counteract that feeling of being too content, you need to put yourself in uncomfortable situations.

I always tell people to find what scares them the most and put themselves in a situation that makes them face that fear. When you challenge yourself to face your fears, you gain control over the things that keep you from acting.

Ten years ago, my greatest fear was public speaking. I couldn’t stand up in front of people and was even terrified to speak to small groups of my friends. When I tried to talk, I would stutter and couldn’t organize my thoughts to deliver a cohesive message.

This fear kept me from reaching my full potential, and I knew that if I wanted to help more people, I needed to learn how to communicate with my voice. One thing that really helped me was finding a mentor I could mimic. During this time, I met a professional public speaker who challenged me to overcome my fear of speaking. He pushed me to join Toastmasters every week for a year and record it. That way, I could see what I was doing and correct it.

It was challenging, but the constant practice and reflection worked. Putting myself in a difficult situation made me a confident communicator and built the foundation for public speaking. Now, I’m holding events and speaking in front of thousands of people. Hard work pays off!

I challenge you to do the same thing. Take a step out of your comfort zone and put yourself in an uncomfortable situation. A great place to start is by spending 30 days doing something to overcome your fears. For example, go live on Facebook or Instagram every day to tackle the emotional fear of judgment or criticism. 

When you meet your fears head-on, they lose their ability to control you. Defeating your fear opens up the possibility to take action and find your value!

Stop Overthinking Big Ideas

The greatest obstacle we face when trying to accomplish our goals is our mind. It is easy to have big ideas, but it is even easier to overthink them. Shannon Little is the perfect example of what can happen if we overthink our end goal instead of taking smaller steps.

Shannon always wanted to be a writer, but her fear of failure kept her from reaching her goal. Instead of moving forward, she created excuses for why she had not progressed. For seventeen years, Shannon ignored her dream of becoming a published author to the wayside. 

“Writing has been a passion since I was little. … I’ve already got enough content of original quotes and poetry to publish three books before the end of the year. … I just can’t decide.” – Shannon Little

Shannon’s indecision locked her potential for greatness inside of her. Without the right direction, she would never accomplish her goal. When we talked, I could tell she was incredibly talented — she just needed to be challenged to achieve her goal. 

My challenge to Shannon was to publish a one-page book by the next day. Even though it seemed silly to her at first, she accepted the challenge and wrote her book — Shannon’s Book of One Quote. Completing the challenge gave Shannon the confidence to become a published author, and I can’t wait for her to write and publish other works.

Take Small Steps to Achieve Greatness

Shannon’s story resonates with me because I have been in her shoes. There are many times in life where I made excuses instead of taking the actions I needed to accomplish great things. As I have continued my journey to greatness, my excuses began to fall by the wayside. 

One great example of starting small to overcome obstacles is The School of Greatness podcast. I started the podcast by putting my iPhone on a table and pressing record. I didn’t have experience or equipment, but I didn’t let that stop me.

Was my first podcast amazing? Of course, it wasn’t! Did I publish it? Yes. Because I published the podcast, I found the motivation to keep working on it. I didn’t wait five years to get the equipment — I started right away. Over time, the podcast built momentum and became what it is today.

Find your one-page book or iPhone on the table and run with it. Take the small steps in the beginning, to achieve greatness in the end. Then, you can look back on everything you have accomplished and say, “Wow, all of the small steps I took pushed my excuses out of the way.” 

Don’t let the fear of failure overcome the launch of your next product, book, or side hustle. You have the potential for greatness inside of yourself — you just need to defeat your excuses.

Why You Should Listen to this Q&A Podcast Episode Right Now…

Guys, these conversations have too much information to cover in one article. Listen to the full episode to discover more about overcoming your fears and accomplishing your goals. Also, don’t forget to share this episode with someone who needs to hear it — you could change someone’s life. 

If you are interested in overcoming your self-doubt and growing your brand or business, look into joining Greatness Academy. Members gain access to monthly training sessions and Q&As with Team Greatness, as well as full access to the Greatness Academy Library. 

I want to thank Taz and Shannon for the time we spent together in our Q&A sessions. Their stories are a testament to what you can achieve if you accept challenges and accomplish them in small steps. 

Friends, join me on Episode 1,169 to learn how to stop sabotaging yourself from success and take action on your dreams in these inspiring Q&A sessions. After you listen, be sure to tag me, @lewishowes, on Instagram with your greatest takeaways and a screenshot of the episode!

 

To Greatness,