Welcome to this week’s capsules. In this new capsule series, we began looking at the steps to building confidence to face your dreams. Last week, we began looking at the first step, Judgment day exercise. Today, I will be showing us a practical example of the judgment day exercise as it applies to career fears.

Let’s take young man for instance, who has a reputable job but at the same time, wants to live his dreams. He is faced with the fear of the unknown because he has no clue of how to go about the situation. The first thing he needs to do is put pen to paper on the voice of the challenge;

‘’I want to live my dreams and follow after my passion but I’m afraid of quitting my job’’. ‘’I’m afraid of not earning money at the end of every month’’, ‘’I’m afraid of leaving my comfort zone’’, ‘’I’m afraid of what people will say, particularly my family members’’ . ‘’As much as I hate the job, I need the money it brings. ‘’As much as I love to earn money, I still love my freedom more and nothing would give me greater joy than living my dreams. That’s the voice of the challenge. All of these make up the voice of the challenge. Remember, I told us last week that judgment day exercise has three voices. The voice of the challenge, the voice of great fear and the voice of reasoning and solution.

Next, you write down the voice of the greatest fear. ‘’What if I quit my job to pursue my dreams and things don’t go the way I planned? I will get broke, frustrated and miserable. I would have lost on all ends’’. ‘’ I would probably be a liability then, begging for money to even fuel my car or I possibly will have to sell my car and get trekking again’’. ‘’What if I’m unable to get another job and go back to paid employment? My ass would be grass!’’ ‘’No, I’m not making that move, I’d rather remain where I am…’’ These are the voices of the great fear that attempts to hold you back.

At this point, what you do is to assume this has happened already in your mind and then finally, you begin to proffer possible solutions to the problem. This forms the third voice of judgment day called the voice of reasoning and solution. This is the voice that practically helps you break out of that grip of fear. In this case, it goes thus;

‘’First and foremost, I have to understand that challenges are common features on the road to greatness, meaning what I am going through at the moment is not peculiar to me alone’’ ‘’Every great man that has made it, has at one point or the other had his fair share of challenges, failures, setbacks and limitations’’. Next, you ask yourself, ‘’this thing, I’m trying to do, have there been people who have done it and succeeded at it? Yes, good, that means I too can succeed at it too’’ ‘’Who are these people and where can they be found?’’ ‘’ I need to find them, find out what they are doing right to attract success in this field and begin to apply their strategies so I can get the same results that they are already getting’’. ‘’This means that I may have to change my network of friends and surround myself with new friends who are making it in this area. Top on the list of these new friends will have to be my mentor. ‘’I need someone who has made it big in this area to mentor me through the process’’
The voice of reasoning continues. ‘’Also, I’m not going to be broke when I get off paid employment after all, because I do not intend to leave my job without a plan. I hope to plan my exit in such a way that I do not get broke’’ ‘’I would save sacrificially for a period of a year or two while still on paid employment, set up a small investment that would fetch me money regularly when off paid employment, so that I do not get broke while chasing my passion’’…..
The voice of reasoning continues, you pen them down as they come. As you do this, you would notice, your head becoming lighter and clearer, the sudden fear will begin to fade away and you will notice that power is being released on your inner man to conquer that fear. Once this fear is defeated in your mind, you will notice are free on the outside to go and achieve anything you want. Remember, life’s greatest battles are fought and won in the mind!
Punch line, I once heard Leke Alder say that the box (of limitations, which you have carved out for yourself) exists only in your mind.
For more on Judgment Day exercise, kindly get to my podcast page under my freebies icon and download the podcast Facing and Conquering Your Fears.

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