For those of you following along with this year’s book “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” by Susan Jeffers, PhD, here’s a bit of Chapter 7 (“How to Make a No-Lose Decision”).
“The most difficult thing is the decision to act, the rest is merely tenacity. The fears are paper tigers. You can do anything you decide to do. You can act to change and control your life; and the procedure, the process is its own reward.” Amelia Earhart
Prior to reading Chapter 7, I thought I feared taking action. Now I see I really fear making a decision. When I look at my options, a laundry list of “what if’s” pop up all over the place. What if I don’t like it? What if I make a mistake? What if I change my mind? What if it upsets people? What if I look stupid/weird/foolish/etc.? In the end, I just find myself ignoring all my options without taking any action.
Dr. Jeffers offers a different approach to making decisions. Rather than racking our brains trying to figure out which option is right or wrong, we need to look at all of your options as offering goodies…”opportunities to experience life in a new way, to learn and grow, to find out who you are and who you would really like to be.” Put simply, each option provides a different experience.
She brings us back to Chapter 1’s Type 3 Fear: the lack of trust in ourselves to handle whatever comes our way, which is at the core of our fear of making decisions. Just know that despite the outcome of our decision, we can handle whatever happens.
“The knowledge that you can handle anything that comes your way is the key to allowing yourself to take risks.” Susan Jeffers
In response to those of us who fear looking like a failure because something failed to work out as planned, Dr. Jeffers tells us to remember:
You’re not a failure if you don’t make it;
You’re a success because you try.”
Towards the end of the chapter she goes in depth about what to do prior to making a decision and what to after making a decision. I highly recommend reading this if you can.
Our mantra for this month: “So what! I’ll handle it!”
Our assignment for this month: Make the decision to color Section 7 of the 2012 Mandala of the Year. See…that was easy! 🙂
UPDATED 7/2/12: Found this timely blog post today that ties in nicely with this section’s theme: “How To Make Decisions” by Chris Guillebeau
Happy Coloring!
joyfully,
Maureen, The Mandala Lady
www.facebook.com/TheMandalaLady
Be sure to download/color the July 2012 Mandala of the Month.
Mandala of the Year 