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Name Your Fears and Punch Them in the Face · The Daily Writer

• 0:00
  SPEAKER_00: Hey my friend, welcome to The Daily Writer, where we help writers become authors of their own lives.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: Here's a quick story that is going to show my vulnerable side a little bit, but I trust that you'll relate to what I'm saying here.
• 0:14
  SPEAKER_00: Somewhere around 2017, so this has been almost 10 years ago, one of my good writing friends got in touch.
• 0:20
  SPEAKER_00: He was working on a project related to fear, and he asked if I would name some of the fears that I have as a writer.
• 0:26
  SPEAKER_00: And because I really like this friend, and this friend is actually still very important to me in my life, because I wanted to help, I started making a list to send to him.
• 0:35
  SPEAKER_00: I thought this was kind of a simple creative exercise, but the truth is that once I started on this list of naming my fears, I couldn't stop.
• 0:44
  SPEAKER_00: And I was amazed at how many things I was honestly afraid of.
• 0:48
  SPEAKER_00: Here are a few of the fears that I wrote down.
• 0:51
  SPEAKER_00: Now keep in mind this was almost 10 years ago.
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: I wrote down things like this, and I've got a list of five or six things here.
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: Number one, I'm afraid that I'm never going to build an audience and make any money from this writing thing.
• 1:03
  SPEAKER_00: Number two, I'm afraid that people are only humoring me and just being nice to me.
• 1:08
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not that great after all.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: Number three, I'm afraid that nobody actually respects me.
• 1:15
  SPEAKER_00: Number four, I'm afraid that I'm never going to be as successful as, and then I listed a well-known author at the time.
• 1:22
  SPEAKER_00: Number five, I'm afraid that people would actually respect me more if I had a book deal with a traditional publisher.
• 1:29
  SPEAKER_00: Number six, and this is probably the most vulnerable one of all, I'm afraid that I have become what I always feared.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: A middle-aged guy with thinning hair who needs to lose about 50 pounds and has barely had any success.
• 1:42
  SPEAKER_00: I have become that guy, and I wrote that guy in all caps.
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I have become that guy who everybody is nice to on the surface, but they make fun of once he has left the room.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: Well, as I mentioned, those are some of the vulnerable fears that I wrote down on that list that day back in 2017.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: And I shared those with you because I wonder if you can maybe relate to some of those and if you have had some of those same fears at different times.
• 2:07
  SPEAKER_00: You know, the truth here is that there is great power in naming your fears.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And way back in 2017, when I first did this exercise, once I started to write those fears down, I saw how ridiculous most of them were.
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: And in the years since I made that list, all of those fears have been proven false.
• 2:25
  SPEAKER_00: Well, the truth is that fear grows when we keep it in the dark.
• 2:28
  SPEAKER_00: And when you drag your fear into the light and you write down your fears, you see them for what they really are.
• 2:34
  SPEAKER_00: They are distractions that keep you from moving forward.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: Better yet, when you write down your fears, you can name them and you can punch them in the face.
• 2:43
  SPEAKER_00: Honestly, this little exercise has great power to boost your courage and help you to focus on your work.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: And the truth is that I still do this exercise sometimes.
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: If I'm having a day where I'm feeling particularly anxious or frustrated or fearful, I just write down those fears and it immediately takes their emotional power away.
• 3:02
  SPEAKER_00: So the next time that you feel afraid, give this exercise a try.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: It only takes a few minutes, but it's really, really powerful.
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: By the way, I talk a lot more about courage, persistence, and creativity and other qualities for success in a book that I wrote for my son way back in 2022.
• 3:19
  SPEAKER_00: The book is called 18 Words to Live By A Father's Wisdom on What Matters Most.
• 3:24
  SPEAKER_00: It's a super quick read and it's perfect for giving you little shots of inspiration when you need it the most.
• 3:30
  SPEAKER_00: You can grab it with a link in the show notes.
• 3:33
  SPEAKER_00: As always, thanks for listening.
• 3:35
  SPEAKER_00: Keep writing, keep showing up, and I'll see you tomorrow.