Fear and Uncovering Your Unique Genius

Ok, so I call this blog Fearless Endeavors and when I started the blog, it was all about facing your fears head on and conquering them. Kind of bold considering I still have a crap-load of fears that knock on my door on a daily basis.

By far, the biggest fear I have….the one that keeps me up at night…the one that I still to this day am not certain I’ll overcome is the fear that I won’t find meaningful work, that I won’t find work that is enjoyable and that I won’t find work that gives me a sense that I’m contributing and helping people. Am I helping people in my current role? Sure, but there’s always been this small voice in the back of my head telling me something isn’t quire right (more shouting at me) and I’m deathly afraid that I’ll be sitting in the same place in 10, 15 or 20 years regretting that I didn’t do something about this.

Over the last year to year and a half I have been doing a lot of work on this, one of the results being this blog. Writing here has been a way for me to better organize and really explore what it is I’m interested in and think I can help people with. Two major themes have crystallized in much of the writing I have done: work and mindfulness. Much of this came through in the recent manifesto I wrote here.

I’m still continuing to mull over some ways I can help people with this….I know it’s there and something will come out of it, but it’s getting a bit frustrating to me that I can’t seem to organize these interests into a tangible way to help people. There are also the inevitable voices in my head and doubts that come up, such as ‘is this really my true passion?’

So Why Am I Telling You All This?

First of all, I want to be brutally honest so that you know where I’m coming from. If I’m having the same thoughts, I’m sure there’s a lot of you out there having the same thoughts as well. There’s a lot written out there on personal development, finding your passion and doing work that is meaningful. There’s so much advice out there that we can get extremely overwhelmed. Hell, I got extremely overwhelmed and jaded about six months ago and almost gave up thinking that it would be easier and less stressful to go back to living my life as is.

Whatever you do, please don’t do this. Don’t give up. Don’t let that fire in your belly extinguish, even if it’s down to a small flame. In fact, it’s even more important during this time to tend to the fire with loving kindness.

I’d also like to share with you what’s helped me the most over the last year and what I think you need if you’re feeling stressed, overwhelmed and ready to give up your search for meaningful work (quick tangent: I say ‘search’, but meaningful work could be closer than you think. A lot of it may involve changing your perceptions and view on life):

1. Mindfulness and Meditation
2. Collaborating or simply talking with a group of like-minded individuals
3. Participating in programs

Lastly, it is extremely important to understand that you do have unique talents to share, you are more important that you realize and that you can do anything you want – you are innately free. It’s so easy to see those who have achieved success (as you view success since it’s such a subjective term) and think ‘nah, that will never happen to me,’ or ‘I can’t do that.’ The thing is, any of the people you have seen who have achieved the success you seek have had the same doubts and fears. You’re not alone.

Your Unique Genius

I’m currently taking a program called Unique Genius created by Aaron Ross. The program has been nothing short of amazing. I think the reason being is two-fold.

First, a HUGE part of the program…as you would guess from the name…is discovering what your unique genius is. I think so many programs, while their content is great, focus on the more technical aspects of starting a business/blog/etc. without placing an emphasis on doing some serious inner work first. Starting a business can be seen as the ‘golden ticket,’ but it’s not. In fact, you don’t necessarily have to start your own business. What’s much more important is understanding what your strengths are, what you’re naturally gifted at, what gives you energy and how you can help people with that. Aaron understands this and teaches it very well.

Second is baby steps. Aaron repeats this phrase…and repeats it…and repeats it some more AND I LOVE IT. In fact, I want to steal the phrase and shout it from the rooftops as well . The biggest lesson I’ve learned so far is that no step is too small as long as you are taking some steps.

The only way you can possibly fail is if you don’t do anything. So, some may say you should be working x hours a week on your project or you need to be doing this or that every single week. I don’t necessarily agree with that and I think Aaron is kind of on the same page with me, which is why I LOVE the focus on baby steps.

Don’t get me wrong, he pushes you to do stuff, but he knows how to push you based on where you’re at. For some people a HUGE step might be having a simple conversation with a friend or loved one about what they’re going through. For another person, a baby step might consist of throwing an event with a bunch of friends to throw around some business ideas.

While I still have a lot of fears, doubts and stresses I’m working through (see first few paragraphs of this post), I’m much better at accepting where I’m at right now and not thinking I have to be at a certain place.

The Unique Genius program has introduced me to a super cool network of supportive, like-minded people going through the same process. Having this kind of network and support is so important in my opinion. If you don’t have this kind of network right now, make it a priority to find one. I’ve also found a great network of like-minded people in the meditation classes I’ve been taking at the Shambhala Center I go to as well as another online course I took about a year ago. These groups can be found, you just need to be pro-active and go out there and find them.

Again, don’t give up and don’t think you need to be at some certain place. Everything these days moves at such a quick pace. We expect immediate responses and immediate results. You may be feeling lost as a result of being so misaligned and out of touch with your true genius. This is ok. Simply be mindful of this. Feel free to ask questions here as I’d certainly love to help you.

You can find info on the Unique Genius program here. Also, you can check out Aaron’s blog Pebblestorm, here. IMPORTANT NOTE: NONE of the links in this blogpost are affiliate links. I simply wanted to openly share some of the stuff I’m going through, what action I’m taking and hopefully help you out if you’re going through some of the same ‘stuff.’ If any affiliation relationship develops in the future, I’ll make sure to let you all know. Regardless, I absolutely LOVE promoting cool stuff from cool people and this definitely falls under that category.

Photo Credit: carlaarena