My best business advice? Scare yourself silly on a regular basis

"Sometimes you have to scare yourself silly in order to play a bigger game and participate in something amazing."

~ Steve Errey, The Confidence Guy


There's no better season to talk about scaring yourself silly.

With Hallowe'en quickly approaching, common scary activities include ghost tours, the telling of ghost stories and frightening tales, and watching horror films. But, there's nothing more scary than scaring yourself silly.

The term itself is comical to me and makes actually doing it a little easier. It brings light-heartedness to something that can be so off-putting that we find ourselves paralyzed in mediocrity--existing, but never deeply contented; living within the illusion of safety, but never fully exploring our infinite possibilities.

The only way to play bigger and be a part of something bigger than yourself is by doing something that completely unnerves you; makes you sick to your stomach; makes you think you'd go to most any extreme to avoid doing the thing. Each of us has at least one thing that scares us silly; some many more.

Have you ever wondered how much energy is being silently and stealthily siphoned off by inaction? However, if you face your issue(s) head-on by taking an action step, it's incredible how much personal power remains within to multiply exponentially so you can accomplish even greater things.

The truth is: the subconscious voice of inaction doesn't go away, although it may quiet down temporarily. Don't be mistaken! In some way it will continually make itself known. It's not going anywhere until it's appeased; with an action toward its resolve.

Even though it might not seem or feel like it, your inner voice is actually providing an opportunity for you to shine! It's leaving clues that a belief is ready to be shattered and replaced by something much more empowering. Wouldn't you rather have that?

I will let you in on a secret, but lean in closer; I don't want everyone to know!

I had a BIG fear of public speaking.

And it wasn't just public speaking; teleseminars were the worst. Any time I knew my conversation was being recorded, I froze. All the free-flow that was so comfortable in every other conversation; all my hard-earned knowledge; all my insights; all my conversation skills; flew right out the window leaving me a bumbling mess. And it felt terrible because I knew there was importance in the message.

But, I just couldn't get beyond the belief that I wasn't a good public speaker. In spite of support and opportunities to get better, I held that belief for years until I was tired of being limited by something I didn't really know to be true; after all, it was just a belief! Maybe, just maybe, I had been wrong, but I wouldn't know until I took action.

I knew if I simply focused on getting better every time, that was my personal measure of success. My goal was not to be the world's best speaker. My goal was to move beyond paralysis of unfounded beliefs.

Here's another secret: You may not have made the correlation by reading my newsletter, but until a few months ago, I didn't offer teleclasses. You know why I started? Because it forced me to take an action. I knew if I was accountable to others, I would have to come through for them. I used the exercise to scare myself silly. It was a beautiful self-orchestration to play at becoming better.

When I lightened up and prepared a platform for me to practice, based on my terms, my confidence soared. Now I am unstoppable. But it wouldn't have happened without my initial decision to scare myself silly and take an action step; little by little, you know?

This is how I did it. I set up the first teleclass to practice sounding more natural using a script. The second one was set up to "wing it" using only bullet points. I aced both, based on my personal measure of success. And completely gone is the fear. I only aspired to be better than I was before the experiment and I accomplished that.

Another way to say scare yourself silly is: go out on a limb. Why is this so important? Because that's where the fruit is! This applies both literally and figuratively. Literally, nature provides fruit in abundance. It's right there within eyesight, but it might require effort to enjoy the bounty; climbing high and reaching far. Figuratively, we must go out on a limb to access life's fruit (abundance). Based on my observations, it's after we invest something of ourselves that we reap the most benefit.

Are you afraid of public speaking? Contact everyone you know and let them know you're available to speak (choose a comfortable topic based on your personal expertise). Then follow through, meaning: go do it.

Are you afraid to make sales calls? Get a list, sit down, and start dialing.

Are you afraid to hire a support team? Run the numbers, establish a budget and a plan for implementation, ask for referrals and start interviewing.


Whatever your scary thing, take some action toward it. Go out on a limb and scare yourself silly on a regular basis. Soon that becomes your norm and you wake up one day to realize you are playing bigger and participating in something amazing; it's called your life.