“So often times it happens that we live our lives in chains
And we never even know we have the key.”
“Already Gone” by The Eagles

Fear is the world’s biggest de-motivator.  All of us have suffered with the paralysis that fear brings. I am not talking about the healthy fear that keeps us from physical harm. I am talking about the irrational fear that keeps us from doing the things that we know we should.  This fear keeps people in the same dead-end jobs, in the same unfulfilling relationships, in the same unhealthy financial state.  We are afraid of being rejected, unloved, unwanted, hated, outcast, laughed at, etc.  Everyone has these fears. We all want to be accepted and praised for who we are and what we do. We allow irrational fear to keep us from making decisions because we are afraid that the consequences will be too painful to bear. As a result, we do nothing.  We are paralyzed in our irrational fear. When we are in this state of emotional paralysis, we cannot be effective in our relationships or our careers. We simply cannot give to others and contribute to society because our emotional “well” has gone dry.

Ask yourself right now: what am I afraid of doing? What is holding me back at this moment? What have I been putting on the “back burner” and why? Who do I need to call? Who do I need to connect with? Who needs my emotional support?  What tasks have I been dreading? It is worth the introspection. If you are to conquer fear, you have to identify what feeds it and why you are holding yourself back. When you do this, you might just surprise yourself. Upon analysis you will probably see that the outcome of the thing that you fear is not quite as bad as you perceive it to be.  Most fear is irrational and built-up in our minds to such a point that it causes us not to act.

HOW TO OVERCOME DE-MOTIVATIONAL FEAR:  

-Get out a piece of paper and write down 3 things that you are putting off because of fear.

-List the worst possible outcome OF TAKING ACTION with the items on the list.

-List the worst possible outcome FOR NOT TAKING ACTION with the items on the list.

-Armed with the knowledge of the worst possible outcomes: Take action on the 3 items.

Do it now. Do it today. You not only will feel better emotionally, but also will have set yourself in the path of better decision making. Life won’t simply happen to you anymore, YOU will control your destiny.

(photo: by Chris Breeze, Creative Commons License,Some rights reserved)

If you think about it, $500 is not a huge amount of money. The average car repair is around $500. The average family with 2 vehicles pays about $500 for gas every month.  You can purchase an iPad for $500. You can buy an outfit for $500, or purchase a round trip airline ticket for $500. $500 a month x 12 months = $6000 a year. Now if you look at adding $6000 a year to your income, it doesn’t seem like much. However, it really is.

Ask yourself the question: What would a consistent extra $500 mean to my financial state of health at the end of the month?  If you could afford a $2000 mortgage payment instead of a $1500 mortgage payment, where would you live? Chances are, you would be able to move into a more upscale neighborhood. If you could afford a $500 car payment, what type of car could you drive? Would it be a step up from what you are driving now? $500 a month could pay for private schooling for your children. $500 could pay for expert music, sports, or artistic training. $500 could pay for private tutoring for your kids.

Lets talk about Debt. How much is your consumer debt costing you in monthly payments? Would $500 cover your payments to the credit card companies? How about student loan debt? Could $500 make a big difference in paying back the debt you borrowed for college?

The truth is: $500 goes a long way when you look at what it can do for your lifestyle.

How do you make the extra $500 a month? A small lifestyle business can fairly easily generate $500 a month.  You have to find something that you love and go for it. You don’t need an expensive office. You can work from home.  You don’t need employees. You can do this yourself. Leverage technology. We are in a connected world. You can run your venture from your smart phone. All you need to sell is $17 a day worth of your product or service to make this work.  You can do this. You can sell $17 a day of something.  Figure it out. Be resourceful.  

Welcome to the world of upward mobility.

(Photo: David Boyle in DC, Creative Commons License, Some rights reserved)