All information is first processed through your brain’s amygdala - the brain’s fear & emotional reactivity centre.

So most of the time, fear is actually running the show, even when we don’t know it. If we leave this unchecked, we miss out on our potential by playing it safe, consciously or unconsciously. So when you need to, you can take yourself through this fear-setting exercise to get you motivated to take action instead of being frozen by fear!

Define The Fear

What exactly are you afraid of?

Be specific, and follow the fear all the way to the bottom. Try to focus on the imagined consequences you’re afraid of.

Step 1

Preventative Action

What could you do to stop this fear from becoming a reality?

List every potential thing. It can be helpful to include even bad ideas - this gets different brain circuitry working that we don’t often use and can actually be a conduit for creative thinking.

Repair

Imagine the worst has happened & your fear becomes a reality. What would you do to repair & move on?

This part of the exercise forces us to think pragmatically.

Being afraid of a conversation, for example, gets confused by the nervous system with a live or death fear response. We can often benefit from realising that we can handle setbacks if and when they arise, and that a setback does not equal the end of the story.

Change Your Perspective

This steps gets your prefrontal cortex (the rational, thinking part of the brain) involved in this process, and gives us a more realistic, refreshing approach.

Brainstorm all of the potential benefits of making an attempt, or having a partial success.

Step 2

Harness the Power of Your Amygdala

This step is there to help create motivation. This step does not need to be carried out by people struggling with a lot of anxiety about the situation. But for those who are ready to harness the power of the amygdala to get motivated, you can really lean into this exercise by imagining the worst possible scenarios in a way that leverages your brain to be on your side instead of working against you.

List the potential costs of inaction (emotionally, physically, financially) in 6 months, a year and 3 years.

Step 3

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