I recently appeared on an entrepreneur forum as a panelist. One of the questions asked was, what was the biggest challenge you faced when launching your business? My answer? Fear.

Fear is like annoying text messages that won’t stop until you reply.

Fear has been described as ‘False Evidence Appearing Real’. I get it. It’s a way to dampen those lizard brain signals of, Danger, Danger Will Robinson! (you had to see Lost in Space to get that). When you calm that lizard down, you can take a step back, see that not everything is a disaster, and see a way forward.

However, something really important about fear is lost. Fear is not false. It’s telling you something really important.

Fear may not be proportional to the observed threat. You may be misled about its origin. That doesn’t mean it’s not evidence of something.

Fear is evidence that something is wrong. Wrong for you and your safety, that is.

Fear is a healthy response that tells you something has gone wrong. It may not indicate an existential threat to many of us, although people of color regularly face that when they’re in the wrong company, whether they’re in uniform or not. Outside of these scenarios, fear is an indicator of something less immediate and existentially threatening.

Fear evolved to warn us of danger. Now that we’re past the days of saber-toothed tiger attacks, what could it be warning us about?

It means that you are entering uncharted territory.

We are all experiencing fear of the unknown around this pandemic, so there is a general buzz of fear underlying everyone’s existence right now.

On top of that, for an entrepreneur, stepping into the unknown is pretty common, so the cumulative effect is that your reaction may be stronger than it normally would be.

I have experienced it myself. As I evolved impact advance intensive in a 12-week program earlier this year, it should have been business as usual. It’s not unusual for me to change an offer to match the needs of my clients or to develop content. I do it all the time.

So why, when I started diving into this work, was I so scared? Having all kinds of concerns about whether it would work, if it would be good enough, how my clients would see it, with a higher intensity than I would normally see.

First, it is cumulative. In the early stages of the pandemic, I wasn’t as aware of the underlying fear that the pandemic was causing me. That’s more apparent now, so I’ve been able to acknowledge it and increase my daily centering practices like meditation, gratitude, exercise, and more. Still, it’s in the collective air, even when you’re doing the simplest tasks, like grocery shopping.

Second, I want my work to be excellent, to be of the highest quality. I love my clients and want them to have a truly transformational experience that I know impact advance provides the process. It is my values ​​of mastery and excellence that were producing there.

Do you see what I did there? I broke down my fear into its triggers: the uncertainty around the pandemic and the desire to live up to my values.

When I did that, everything started to feel a lot more manageable. When I understood where she was coming from and what she was trying to tell me, I was able to do something about it.

I really don’t like those disgusting 5 easy steps to massive wealth memes you see so often. They are manipulative and don’t really cover the whole story, far from it. So that’s not what I’m trying to do here.

What I’m doing is pointing out helpful things you can do when you’re feeling afraid, which will help you get closer to addressing whatever it is that’s triggering it.

I also want to do justice to the fear. Although at first I don’t see it as valuable either, fear can be a true friend for you.

To sum up:

• Acknowledge the fear. Admit that you are afraid.
• Find out what is causing it. Delve deeper into your circumstances and your values. What do you want to be heard?
• Reflect, what can I do about it? If the fear is intense enough, doing anything, no matter how small, can reduce it enough to help you control the most important things you need to do to address it.

You’re reading this, so I know you care about impact. Fear will prevent you from doing it, if not by shutting yourself down, then through distractions.

As an entrepreneur, you have people who trust you. Your clients, your team, the people who collaborate with you to deliver what you offer, such as your suppliers and those with whom you collaborate.

Those are good reasons why knowing how to interpret your fear becomes even more important.

I have found this approach really valuable in managing my fears. I hope you do too.