Hey, my friend, what's up? And welcome back to another episode of Do Life Big. I am so glad you're here today. I hope that you are doing so well on this fine, fine, fine day, wherever you're listening to this from today's episode, I want to dive in and talk all about how we can break free from survival mode, and how to move past fear and take action in our business and also in our life, because this is a really common thing that happens to all of us, is we have this buildup of fear that's produced inside of us every time we have a new idea, we're confronted with a new action that we need to take, a new decision that needs to be made, a conversation that has to be had, and oftentimes we let this fear hold us back from what we want to go after it paralyzes us, and we're unable to take that next step.
And so, we're going to dive in and talk all about that today and why this is so important, especially if you're an online entrepreneur and really just want to hone in on this idea that, you know, fear really never truly goes away. It doesn't. And most times, we think that these people who are crushing it in business or in life, and they're living this life and on, you know, big dreams, big things are happening for them. We often think that these people never experience fear, like they're totally exempt from it. It just doesn't happen for them. They're just unicorns crushing it no matter what's going on. And that's just simply not true. Fear never truly goes away, but you can take action anyway, you know. And I'm thinking back even to my personal journey, you know, moving from being a teacher to an online entrepreneur, and the fear that was there, you know, I went to school to become an elementary school teacher. I got my master's degree in special education. I was a teacher for 10 years, and then I wanted to stay home with my two little kids at the time, who were ages two and six months old, and to all of a sudden be like, oh my gosh, my back is against the wall. I need to make money, or I have to put these kids in daycare. That was producing a ton of fear inside of me, because, number one, I had the thoughts rushing through my head of like, do I don't even know what the heck I'm doing. Who am I to have such, you know, big goals now, I'm gonna be an online entrepreneur. I know nothing about this. I didn't go to school for this. I went to school to become a teacher. Now I have to have this online presence. I don't even use social media at the time. I don't even have an Instagram account. I'm just a stay-at-home mom right now, how am I even supposed to make this work? And the amount of fear that was produced with that, and just the constant reminder that I needed to tell myself literally every single day, one foot in front of the other, that everybody starts at the bottom.
Everybody starts out not knowing what the hell they're doing. Everybody starts out with lack of experience. Everybody has this fear, everyone has these little doubts. But I'm going to do it anyway, and I'm going to just learn as I go. If this other person can do it, then I can do it too. And it was having that mentality that helped me build a really successful online health and fitness business at the time. The same thing happened when I was having the idea of, all right, I'm going to up and move the whole family from Massachusetts down to Florida, right? My whole entire family, all my friends, everybody was up in Massachusetts, and I had this wild and crazy idea, like, you know, you know what? I'm not gonna wait until I'm old and retired and hope that I'm well enough and healthy enough and alive to move down to where I want to be now, right? Just do I'm just going to do it now, but that can produce a lot of fear, because you have this fear of like, am I going to make new friends? Am I going to like it? Are the kids going to find a good school once they start school and all these things, but you keep telling yourself that you're going to figure it out. And I also reminded myself, hey, you know, what's the worst thing that can happen if I move down here? Yeah, then you know what? If it sucks, then I can always go back. And it's just that constant reminder, day in and day out, that you're gonna try, you're gonna give it your best, and if it doesn't work out, then go back to what you know, or go try something else, but you're gonna learn the lessons along the way that you need to learn, right? And so that fear never, ever goes away, and what ends up happening is you end up going into the in this like survival mode. You're doing these little decisions in your business to try to avoid the failures, because you're you're fearful of the failures. You don't want them to happen. You think that the failures mean something negative about yourself, or that you're not cut out to do this, or that you're not cut out to build this business to the level that you wanted to build it to, which is just simply not true.
And if we go into this survival mode a lot of times for entrepreneurs, this is what it can look like. It can look like having that scarcity mindset. It's extreme amounts of stress, it's overthinking, it's becoming inconsistent. It's lack of action. It's lack of vision, lack of enthusiasm for your business and the goals that you're going after. It's not even setting goals anymore, because why bother? Who knows if I'm going to actually hit these goals? I haven't hit them in so long. I probably never will. That's survival mode. That's what it looks like. You know, and if you're constantly worrying and just playing small, and you're chasing money instead of really being obsessed with adding value and helping someone and making an impact. These are all signs that you're operating from this survival mode. And we want to be able to get away from that and get out of that, and stop waiting for the fear to go away, to take action, because if you do that, you're going to be waiting until the day you die, because the fear never actually, ever goes away.
So, what we want to talk about here, and what we want to dive into, is really learning how we can shift from this fear to having power, right? Right now, if you have this fear, the fear is controlling your life. It's preventing you from really living out your dreams. It's preventing you from living this life full of excitement and happiness and joy and alignment, because you're not willing to take the next best step, you're not willing to take the next action because of the fear that you have. It's consuming everything that you do, everything that you think about, everything that you say. And so what we're going to try to do is to step number one is become aware that fear is present, and really use fear as a signal instead of like a stop sign. And this is what usually happens, is that all of a sudden, we're about ready to, all right, get on this call, or we're about ready to go into a room of other entrepreneurs that we've never met before, and we feel the fear being present, right? You can feel your heart racing. Your breath is very shallow. You're not even breathing like you have like a headache. You start to wonder, Oh my gosh, you know, am I enough? Should I even be in this room? Who am I to be in this room? All these things have to happen, and that's when we can stop and be like, you know what? I'm not even going to go or I'm not even going to hop on the call. I'm not even going to show up to this business conference. I'm not even going to show up to this business meeting. And we see fear present, and we feel it, and we just stop everything that we're doing. So, what we want to do is we want to use fear as more of like a green light. Well, fear is here. I know it's here, but I'm gonna step through it anyway, and we're gonna reframe fear. Because a lot of times what happens is we don't take action, because fear is signaled in our brain, and it's like, don't do that. That's dangerous. That's not the right move, that's not the right thing to say, that's not the right thing to do. Stay away, avoid it. Fear equals danger. Fear equals pain, and that's what happens. But if we can reframe fear and remind ourselves that when fear is present, obviously, like not a life-or-death situation, here I'm talking about, you know, in business and making decisions, or just in your life, in general, relationships, jobs, parenting, things like that. But when fear is present, we need to remind ourselves that, okay, this is a good thing, because this is signaling me. This is my body's way of telling me that I am close to growth. I am close to breaking through, to getting to my next level, because this fear is present, and the more that I learned to lean in to this fear and take a step into it and continue to walk through it, the more I'm able to grow as a person or as an entrepreneur. And so instead of waiting for fear to leave, make it like your best friend, just know that it's always going to be there by your side in all that you do, you're going to choose to walk through it anyway. So that's what I want you to really remind yourself of when it's present. Remind yourself that this fear is not going to go away. You know, don't sit there and tell yourselves, all right, once this feeling goes away, once this nervousness goes away. Okay, then I'll do it. Maybe I'll do it next week, maybe I'll try it next month, maybe I'll try it next year. No fear is going to be like your buddy, and you're going to choose to walk through it anyway.
So here's a little five step action plan that you can use to help you move forward in your business or in life, in any area where you feel like you may need this despite feeling the fear being present. So, step one is you're going to start to have this awareness. You are going to start to be really aware and recognize when fear has taken over, and not only when it's taking over, but when fear is actually running the show. When it's the driver of your life and it's taking over, be really aware of that, because most people just operate on autopilot, and they don't even realize that fear is running the show like 90% of the time. So step one is you're gonna become aware to this.
Step two is, I need you to reconnect to your vision, right? Shift that focus from just survival, like I just gotta get through this, to long term success, right? Why did you get into this business in the first place? What are you hoping that it does for you and your family? What was your game plan, or what was your vision for this business? 5,10,15,20, years down the road? What does your done business look like? Like your absolute best, most successful business that could ever be for you? What does that actually look like? And reconnect to that vision and your purpose of why you got into this business in the first place. Because most times, when we get busy, busy with all the work that needs to be done with our business, sometimes, especially when fear is present and is running the show, we forget why the hell we even started it, and why we're showing up every day. What are we doing? Because fear has just taken over. So it's important that you sit back and you reconnect with your vision. You know, get there, you can even do some visualization exercises with it. You know, before you go to bed at night, close your eyes, think about what you really wanted this business to look like and feel like in 10 years, 15 years, what did that feel like for you? What did you want out of it? If you could accomplish anything with this business, what would that be? What it would look like, and reconnecting with that is so important.
The third step is to just remember to take small, bold, inspired actions, because what happens is, when you recognize that fear is present and you decide to take a step into it and continue to take a step one at a time through it, your fear shrinks when you move. What happens is, is that the longer that you sit there and think about something and let that fear build up, the fear will continue to build up, and the fear will build and build and build, and then this one little thing that started out as this little bit of fear ends up being this big, huge thing, and it ends up being way more fearful than it actually is. And it's only because you've hesitated and you've let it paralyze you, and then the fear is building up inside of you. And so while fear will never completely 100% go away. I can promise you, with 100% certainty, that the more that you choose to walk into it and through it, the quicker and the more that that fear will shrink. Fear shrinks when you move, plain and simple.
The fourth step is that it will help you build emotional resilience. Okay, we need to build emotional resilience. And what that means is just doing things like reframing failures, reframing fear, right? We look at these things, we look at failure, we look as fear, as bad things. It's not supposed to happen. If it happens, then that means that I'm not cut out to do this if I feel fear, that means that I'm going down the wrong path. I should avoid it. Go back to my comfort zone. If I fail, then that means I should just quit altogether and just go back to my nine to five job, or go back to what I went to school and got my degree for, and I'll just go back to what everybody else is doing. But if we can reframe that and learn to reframe failure and fear and learn to embrace it and know that it's part of the process. It's going to be there, but you're going to walk through it and you're going to learn from it. That is how you build emotional resilience. Also, things like positive affirmations, you know, get out some sticky notes. This is what I do. And write out a couple, like three of them, three to five positive affirmations. Write them down on the sticky notes. Put them on your mirror in your bathroom. When you wake up in the morning and you getting ready for the day, this is what I like to do. I look at all my sticky notes and I read them out loud. I matter. I make a difference. I'm adding value. I'm changing people's lives. I'm helping people. I'm a great mindset coach. I am the expert in teaching mastering your mind, whatever it is for you that you want to feel and become, your brain does not know the difference between reality and what's imagined, and that's why you can trick your brain and write down these affirmations of yourself, and if you repeat. Them enough daily, especially when you're looking in the mirror, you become those things because your brain doesn't know the difference, and now that becomes your brain's reality, and that is how you build emotional resilience, and that is so important as an online entrepreneur.
And the fifth step is to make sure that you get support, right. You can't walk through this journey alone. You can't work walk through this journey of life alone. You can't walk through the business of being an entrepreneur alone. You can't be an island. You can't. It will suck you dry, and you will not last long, because you need mentors, you need community, you need accountability. So who in your life should you be seeking support from? Is it a coach? Is it another CEO who you can become buddies with and learn from? Is there accountability groups and communities online that you can become a part of, like, who can you surround yourself with, where you can get support as you continue to go through this journey of moving forward despite fear, being present, right? It's so important.
So yeah, so just to repeat those five steps back to you, it's going to be number one, be aware. Number two, reconnect to your vision. Number three, take small, bold actions. Number four, build emotional resilience. And number five, get support. It makes such a difference. You know, one thing that I really like to do, and then I teach my students to do as well, is to help yourself get out of this survival mode. I mean, I like to, I like to be really positive about things. I always like to put it out there that, hey, you know what this is going to work out exactly how it's meant to it may not look the way that I had envisioned or had hoped, but I know that it's going to work out in my best interest. I know that it's always going to work out exactly how it should, in the right timing as it should, because I just believe that everything is planned, and as long as I'm doing my part on my end, and I'm putting in the work, and I'm putting in the time, and I'm taking that daily inspired action, things will always work out in my best interest, right? That's what I like to put out there. Now, I'm not naive to the fact that things go wrong, right? That sometimes if shit hits the fan, it's going to obviously, especially if you run a business, you're going to make bad decisions. Things aren't always going to work, right? You're going to make mistakes, you're going to lose money, you're going to experience setbacks, right? No one ever said that this path entrepreneurship was easy, because it's not. But I do like to kind of do this worst-case scenario in my mind, where I think, what's the worst thing that could happen, really like, what's the worst thing that could happen right now, and just facing that fear head on and realizing that no matter what, I'm gonna figure it out and I'm gonna be okay, and that's the same thing with you, even if shit hits the fan and the worst-case scenario happens, you are going to figure it out. You will and you will end up being okay, and you will be stronger and more knowledgeable because of it, you know.
So I just want to remind you that failures can often really teach you the most important lessons that will set you up for greater future success. Fear will always be there, but it doesn't have to control you. It doesn't have to control you. And so what I'm challenging you to do today is to take one uncomfortable action today, right now, today, and I want you to go and tag me on Instagram @katherinereuter, I'll put in the show notes. I want you to tag me when you do it, because guess what? That means that you've recognized that fear is present, and you've chosen to step into it and walk through it anyway, which will shrink that fear the more that you move. And I can't wait to hear what it is that you've chosen to walk through, regardless of that fear being present. So tag me @katherinereuter, and also to my brand new inspired living collective, which is an online community, is going to be up and running very, very, very soon. So if you're interested in being a part of that, if you're an online entrepreneur, or even if you're someone who's really been paralyzed by this perfectionism and procrastination people pleasing and you're lacking that confidence to really go after what it is that you want in life, this is the community for you where, where I'm going to teach you how to rewire your mind for more success and happiness in your business and in life, so that you can become a magnet for what you want and really experience that full joy and happiness and passion and purpose and alignment in your life. And you can just send me an email at [email protected] with the word inspired, and I will get you some more information on it. So you don't need to feel fearless. Just remember that you just need to move.
So thanks so much for being here today. You know I love you, and I think you're awesome, and I will see you the next time. Bye.
