Triggers: Tools to Shift from Fear to Action

What's your trigger?

I don't mean the things that set you off in an irritated or unproductive way - I mean the words or actions that can help you break through inertia and fear.

I've been speaking with friends and clients this week about dealing with fear, and how you can use it to propel you forward to action and high-performance, rather than keep you paralyzed. Notice I didn't say remove the fear, or pretend it doesn't exist. I said "deal with" and "use it."

Any honest fighter (MMA, boxing, or otherwise) will tell you that they always feel fear before a fight. But the most successful fighters will also tell you how they use that fear--and manage it--to move forward with confidence anyway and take control of their destiny. One of the methods that is highly effective in doing this is to use a "trigger" or, in scientific terms, a metacognitive starting ritual. A trigger is a word, phrase, and/or physical action that helps you propel yourself into action before self-doubt or over-thinking takes over.

Mel Robbins uses the 5-Second Rule: counting down from 5 to 1 in order to "launch" yourself into the action you're thinking about taking instead of staying stuck. Ed Mylett uses a trigger word like saying to yourself that you're "fired up" (telling your brain that your fear is excitement) and then using a snap or a clap to physically connect with that trigger word and start your action. Anyone can use the 5-Second Rule or the words "fired up" as triggers, and the critical aspect is the habit you form by responding to that trigger with discipline. But I've found that (like a good mantra) choosing words or actions that resonate with you work best.

For me, my metacognitive starting ritual--my trigger--is "Green light." It reminds me of my fighting days, and the excitement that the phrase always gave me because it meant I was unleashed to take action and use all of my skills and power to do my best. It helps me convert apprehension to anticipation. It takes "I don't know if I can" or "I don't want to" and flips it to "I can do this" and "I get to." To be clear, it doesn't remove or deny the fear, but it allows me to quiet it, and to replace it at least partially with enough excitement and optimism to do the damn thing anyway, and to give it my best.

So, do you have a trigger that you use to propel yourself through inertia or fear? I'd love to know what yours are.

And if you don't have a trigger word or action yet, today is a great day to try one on for size, and break it out for your best start to your week yet. I'm pulling for you!