What’s behind the door?

A few years ago, a coworker told me a short story about a king, a criminal, fear, and freedom.

The story really left a long-lasting impression on me.

In fact, I visualize the door from the story in my mind almost every single day.

Let me pass the story onto you — it goes like this:

A criminal committed a crime and was brought before a king for sentencing.

The king told him to choose between two punishments:

1. Hanging by rope OR

2. Taking whatever was behind an ominous, mysterious ironclad door

Without hesitation, the criminal chose the rope.

The king, not shocked, mumbled “everybody chooses the rope” while he ordered to have the noose put around the criminal’s neck.

Seeing the king’s reaction, the criminal asked:

"So… out of curiosity, what’s behind the door?”

The king paused, then said:

“Freedom — but everybody is so fearful of the unknown that they immediately choose the rope.”

HOW TRUE!

I don’t know about you, but I believe that it’s unreasonable to be completely fearless —

To reach a point in your life where you never, ever feel fear.

Life is too dynamic nowadays.

Situations present themselves in a flash and leave you:

Fearing how your trying will end in failure

Fearing how you’re not good enough

Fearing how your ego or reputation will be bruised

The good news is, like many emotions, I do believe fear has its place…

AS A TOOL.

You just need a strategy to face it so it doesn’t completely overwhelm you.

If it does, you’re paralyzed…

And you’ll most certainly “choose the rope”.

When I’m facing the fear of a limiting belief, big lift, or business risk, here’s how I prevent the overwhelm:

(I call it the triple B strategy!)

I breathe to create space between me and my fear.

Just a sliver of space — a moment of detachment — and, in that space,

I bring awareness to the gift (yes, I said gift) that this fear is presenting to me, such as:

Increased brainpower to focus

Increased motivation to move

Increased opportunity to grow

And then comes the hard part:

I barrel towards the fear.

For you, it could be public speaking, learning a new skill in a group setting, starting a difficult conversation with a coworker, changing careers, ending a relationship —

Whatever it is, remember that fear doesn’t have to confine you…

It can actually be the thing that frees you.

If you value freedom as much as I do, give my strategy a shot and let me know if it helps you out!

Here’s to turning fears into freedom this year,

Joey