Does fear stop you from doing what’s important or performing your best? Three acting techniques on how to dance with fear and not get your toes stomped on.

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On This Episode

Rhythm of Life – The Price of Essentialism
Tune-up Tip – How Mason Jars Can Rescue Your Willpower
Random Riffs – Eating Corn, Part Deux
Feature Segment – Let Your Super-Power Dance With Fear

Rhythm of Life – The Price of Essentialism

Episodes 18-20 talked about the beauty of getting to what is truly essential in your life.

I have continued to actively practice this over the course of the year. I've found one of the biggest challenges is saying no, and I’ve re-listened to my own podcast to remind me of the importance of doing this. In my own life, I’ve had to make choices between things that I love, and things that I love and are part of the long-term life goals I’ve set for myself.

That said, it doesn’t mean the choices are always easy, or that you don’t often second guess the choices that you’ve made. Emotions are tied to many of our choices, and can linger and hold us down.  Reading Brene Brown’s new book called “Rising Strong”, I saw myself in her book.

The important thing is to not stay stuck in the emotion. Feel what you feel, but then rise strong.

You can do the same. It isn’t over until you say it is.  Don’t let the story own or define you.  Defy the ending by rising strong.

Tune-Up Tip – Lack Willpower? Mason Jars to the Rescue

I am a big proponent of eating a whole foods diet as much as possible. Foods that look the way nature made them; not processed.  Apples, carrots, strawberries, quinoa, beans.

I know this isn’t always easy to do because processed foods are EVERYWHERE. Whole foods can be more expensive and more work to prepare.  They also spoil more quickly because they lack the preservatives that give shelf life to processed foods.

What can we do to lessen this challenge? One great way is to use mason jars.  Why:

1. Ability to store a single-serving for grab-and-go
2. Food lasts longer in glass
3. Can easily see the good, nutritious food in the fridge or cupboard.
4. Stackable in your fridge, come in various sizes for portion control

You can now see that mason jars solve problems of convenience, storage time, and proximity. And if you store in your refrigerator at eye level, when you’re hungry, what you see first is what you are most likely to reach for and eat.

(c) Kathleen Thompson

You can get even more creative:

Keeper of the Home lists 31 uses for mason jars.
Spoon and Saucer had a few refinements on some of the ideas.

So if you want to eat more healthy food and also want convenience, try using mason jars. Let me know if it makes a difference.  And post pictures of your fridge or pantry to my Facebook page or attach in the comments.

Random Riffs – Eating Corn, Part Deux

The previous Random Riffs analyzed the different ways people eat corn-on-the-cob, and what researchers report it may say about personality traits.  I conducted an informal survey, available to all listeners.  I also talked to my family to find out if my assumptions were accurate.  Do we eat corn in a similar way?  I asked my father, mother, and one sister, and found I couldn’t have been more wrong.  Each gave a different answer, and none eat corn the same way.   Not only that, but few followed the patterns listed by the articles I had found.

So, this led me to a new question: which hand do you put the stem end of the corn in – left or right?

How do you eat corn?

1. Method (across and then down; around and then across; random; or cut from the cob and eat from a plate
2. Direction (left to right; right to left; or random)
3. Stem end (left – dominant hand; left – non-dominant hand; right – dominant hand; right – non-dominant hand; or alternating – indecisive

I’d love to hear from you to further my research. Let me know by commenting below.

Feature Segment – Let Your Super-Power Dance With Fear

This is the first episode of the Life Design mini-series to touch on Defying Fear. Today we will learn to defy fear by dancing with it.  How?  By putting on a character.

My theater background has taught me how to play a role, embody a character.

At a recent Ray Edwards workshop, we were each given an assignment to create a super-hero alter-ego for ourselves. Why?  Because as each of us were starting a new business for the first time, Ray knew we would be afraid.  And his antidote for the fear was to put on a character.

If you want to learn how to dance with fear and be empowered to do things you’ve never done before, create your own alter-ego.  Call up your character when the pressure is on.  Use these 3 techniques to help you:

1. Story – Create your own back story for this character. Repeat that story again and again. Commit to memory. Own the story.
2. Costume – They say that clothes make the man or woman. Clothes affect not only how others perceive us, but how we perceive ourselves and how we behave. What costume could you wear to help you embody your character? It could be a talisman of some kind.
3. Movement – Different movements connote a different character. How would your character move?

The story, costume, and movement are tools to help you feel like your alter-ego. Walk in your character’s shoes.  Showing a part of you that has not been developed.  Still you, only not quite.

Who would you like to be? Pick a character to be your alter-ego.  Whenever you’re afraid, tell the story, put on the costume, and move.  You will find yourself running faster, flying higher.

Leave your comments below.

Catch the entire Life Design Mini-Series

Episode 021 – 6 Simple Techniques For Living in the Moment
Episode 022 – What Can You Bring to Every Day?
Episode 023 – Four Powerful Results From Effective Communication
Episode 024 – Designing Your Future – How Do You Start?
Episode 025 – Fear Hides When You Have a Killer Project Plan
Episode 026 – Get in the Game – the Entrepreneurial Option
Episode 027 – How to Be a Successful Intrapreneur