How to Give Fear the Finger

“If you are distressed by anything external, the pain is not due to the thing itself, but to your estimate of it; and this you have the power to revoke at any moment.”
-Marcus Aurelius

The formula to look better, feel better, and live better is deceptively simple.

Eat better, move smarter, live the good life.

Master these basics and you’ll be surprised at how well you can maximize your health and fitness without it completely taking over your life.

But why does it feel like it is so difficult to actually do these things?

Fear is the emotion that keeps us from doing the right thing.

And by learning how to give fear the finger, you can drastically cut back on the friction you come up against in your quest to lose fat, build muscle, and live longer.

A Fear Primer

Fear is one of the most primal emotions, and for good reason.

Fear is the body’s response to an external threat. If we never felt fear, we’d never survive any of the legitimate threats in our environment.

If you are hunting for food and come across a saber-tooth tiger, fear is the automatic jump-start you need to get the hell out of dodge before you become dinner yourself.

But unfortunately, like most emotions, they work best for those living a lifestyle that few still do.

Fear. Anger. Anxiety. Although these so-called “negative” emotions cause more harm than good for most people, we evolved them to survive and reproduce back when we were living in nomadic tribes of hunter-gatherers.

But you aren’t a hunter-gatherer. And you are getting screwed over by fear as a result.

Although fear appears as a result to real objects and events, it also happens for things that you think about.

You can literally scare yourself by thinking about imaginary things, and this is what cripples most people.

My Own Fear of Fitness

I’ve shared elsewhere the fears that I experienced when I first started working out.

As a guitar-playing and non-athlete skinny dude with dyed blue hair, I was risking making myself look like a fool in the small town where I knew everybody.

And the worst thing ever happened: I threw up in front of my buddy the first time I worked out… even though I told him I went to the weight room all the time!

Over time, I learned how to lift weights properly by keeping at it. Eventually, people started noting that I looked like I’d been working out instead of busting my balls for barfing!

What’s giving you fear?

Maybe you’re at the supermarket to go shopping for real food for the first time. Perhaps you’re at home with fresh meat and veggies and getting ready to cook your first pot roast.

Or maybe you aren’t doing anything, paralyzed by the fear of what terrible things will happen when you start doing what you know needs to be done.

Kicking Fear’s Ass

Fear is a good thing. It means you are getting out of your comfort zone. If you never feel fear it is because you are living the same day over and over again.

Most people will only feel 100% fulfilled by their life if they are constantly improving themselves. So they will be feeling fear all the time.

But that doesn’t mean they have to let it make all their decisions for them.

If you want to give fear the finger in your life, here’s a five step blueprint to help you do it. The following five step list will help you get through literally any fear-related problem, health-related or otherwise.

1. Acknowledge Your Fear– One of the sneakiest things about fear is that you don’t always recognize when you are experiencing it. I’m sure you can remember how it felt when you were afraid once before. From now on, whenever you have those feelings, try to think to yourself that what you are experiencing is fear.
2. Identify the Triggers– Fear doesn’t happen for no reason. There is always a trigger, either in reality or (more likely) in your mind. The next time you feel afraid, take the time to figure out what specifically you are afraid of. Maybe for you it happens when I mention that you really need to learn how to cook in order to get healthy and fit in the long term.
3. Know What You Want– As I mentioned, fear can be useful, but it more often than not pops up when we are trying to get something we want. Perhaps you want to live a long life, one with a minimal amount of illness and injury, and one where you are always feeling energetic and have the “fuel” to accomplish anything you want to do with your life. (And let’s be honest, you probably want to look good naked, too!)
4. Understand the Consequences– When fear comes up, you have two options. You can let it hold you back from doing something, or you can give it the finger and do it despite the fear. By letting fear hold you back from learning how to cook healthy meals, you are choosing to go the route of deprivation and fad diets, always working hard to avoid certain foods and nutrients… or you decide to put your health and fitness on the back burner entirely.
5. ACT– If you’ve acknowledged your fear, identified what triggered it, and decided that it’s more important to do whatever needs to be done despite it, then it’s time to take action. If you have decided that it is worthwhile to learn how to cook to improve your overall health and fitness, it’s time to get started. Buy yourself the equipment you need. Get some real food from the supermarket. Find a recipe you could eat over and over again, and get cracking. (You could also sign up for my free Kitchen Hacking 101 course if you’re really looking to make things happen here! 🙂 )

What are the fears that are keeping you from learning how to eat better, move smarter, or live the good life?

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