Living Without Fear: Gaining Courage By Knowing Who You Are

#fear #anxiety #courage

Courage isn't the absence of fear, it is moving forward in spite of fear.

There are many things that frighten us, and they seem to originate from one of two possible causes. Either the source of our fear is unfamiliar, or it is outside of our comfort zone.

What is our comfort zone? When we are asked to do something that isn't aligned with our human operating system, when we must do something that is counter to our strengths, we feel fear. Our comfort zone is defined by the type of activities that align with our primary and secondary psychometric profile energies.

When we come across an activity that requires us to do something or behave in a way that is out of our emotional comfort zone, we experience anxiety. It can feel similar to a micro-dose of imposter syndrome, where we doubt our ability to succeed at the task.

Can you imagine working at a job where everything you do is out of alignment with your personality's DNA? (See Overcoming Anxiety At Work With The CVI.)

It's not possible to become familiar with every possible situation, so the better approach is to identify your strengths and accept your weaknesses. Move forward with the understanding that nobody is good at everything. As a first step, we recommend taking the Core Values Index psychometric assessment.

After taking the CVI, you will discover two key things about yourself:

1. You are happier in some activities and less happy in others. The CVI will help you identify what those are.

2. It is okay once you have this understanding to find paths that suit your strengths and avert your energy away from those that don?t. Know yourself and engage in activities that align with your true self.

Name That Fear

The first step toward reducing or eliminating fear is to name it. By understanding your own personality?s DNA and the types of activities that are least pleasurable, you will be able to name those sources of anxiety, thus reducing their negative impact on you.

When you take the CVI and read your full report, you will identify the kind of activities that make you feel most anxious. This essentially helps you name your fears, thus weakening their negative power over you.

Your full CVI report includes a Weighted Energy Preferences graph. This graph shows your four core value energies — Builder, Merchant, Innovator, and Banker — and six contribution types — Community, Independent, Cognitive, Creative, Practical, and Intuitive.

For each of these personality descriptors, the graph shows a percentage of which type of activities you would be happiest spending your day engaged in. For example, I am an Innovator/Banker, and my Weighted Energy Preference states that I would be happiest spending 60% of my day engaged in Cognitive and Independent activities.

Conversely, I would naturally prefer to only spend 11% of my day on Practical and Community type tasks.

These coincide with the type of activities that can potentially cause me anxiety. I can still perform in these tasks, but the less time I spend doing Community or Practical tasks and the more time I spend on Cognitive and Independent tasks, the happier I?ll be and the less anxiety I will experience.

When you take the CVI and read your full report, you will see the percentages of how you would be happiest spending your day.

By understanding these ratios between different personality types and activity energies, you can name your fears and adjust your day to minimize them. Most importantly, you will be able to maximize your happiness and effectiveness.

As mentioned, courage is action in spite of fear. When you learn how you tick, and identify what kind of activities make you happiest, the fear of new things lessens. You go forward in your day ready to focus on the areas where you will shine the brightest.