Posted by Katerina Cozias. For more, follow her on Twitter @katerinacozias
A year and a half ago, I took one of the biggest career leaps of my life. After spending years in the extravagant world of yachting, heading up the Global Marketing & Media division for luxury yacht builder NISI Yachts, I decided to leave my lucrative job in Miami, my beautiful ocean-side condo, my exclusive social circle and all of my other familiars and move to Los Angeles in pursuit of “my passion”. I decided to take the leap!
Enter friends and family: — “You’re going to do what?” — “You’de be crazy to leave the amazing gig you have. No no no.”
– “Why don’t you just take a vacation. I think maybe you just need a vacation…”
And my personal favorite:
— “You’re too old to head to Hollywood now — you missed that boat sweet heart”.
Enter me:
— “Bull!” Put fingers in ears “La la la la la la la”
Now, if you’ve read any of my previous material, you’ll know that the decision to move out to LA in pursuit my dream wasn’t nearly as spontaneous as I just made it out to be. Chances also are that if you’re reading this post, you too are exploring ways to throw yourself into something new. But how do you take that leap and actually go for it? You know the “leap” I’m talking about, The Big One. The “I’m going to write that book” leap. The“ I’m finally going to take that career break and go travel” leap. The “I’m going to move to that dream city whether you like it or not” leap. Whatever that leap might mean for you, the one thing I know for sure is that each and every one of us, if gifted with a million dollars tomorrow, have something that we would want to leap towards.
But making the decision to take those kinds of life-changing leaps without that million dollars in our bank account, is not an easy one. Why? Because more often than not it requires us to not only to move out of our comfort zones, but do so while still juggling the reality of having to come up with that monthly mortgage payment. And that my friends, can be petrifying.
Enter: The Terror Barrier.
Now, the terror barrier is not something easily faced, gotten through and freed from. No, the Terror Barrier is often something that you live with for a long period of time leading up to that leap. The “terror” is caused when you attempt to move into an expanded version of yourself. Why the terror? Well, because your intellectual mind recognizes that you are about to move into territory you’ve never been in before. And that sets off your “survival” instincts, the very same ones that kick in when you put your hand too close to a hot stove ie: ** pull back, pull back, pull back **.
The thing is, it’s only when you break through that Terror Barrier and take that leap that true growth is achieved. And it’s only with the achievement of personal growth that personal contentment can be realized.
Ok, so we agree that making the leap can be scary, but never fear, there are definitely some things that you can do to make it less so. Whatever your dream, here are some of my proven go-to tips:
A) Surround yourself with other dreamers. That’s right, leave the “practical people” on their practical plateau and start aligning yourself with others who are thinking bigger, thinking better. Not only only will they help you to follow through, they will likely help you have a lot more fun in the process.
B) Say your dream out loud. By saying your dream out loud, you start to imprint the though of it, the sound of it, the feeling of it onto your subconscious mind. And by having your subconscious mind on board, your dream becomes “familiar” to self, even though you haven’t even done it yet. Thus it eases that “hey this is new, pull back, pull back, pull back” flight response I mentioned above. See, we’re slowly starting to shatter that Terror Barrier.
C) Share your dream with friends and family. Because although they may not be receptive to your idea when you initially share it with them, ultimately, they are the ones who will be in your corner, because they are the ones who truly love you and will want to see you happy.
D) Set a plan. Identify and outline the steps that might be needed to really make your dream a reality. Once you have it all on paper, you’ll likely see that it isn’t nearly as daunting as your mind made it out to be. Rather than feeling the overwhelmingness of “how do I do this”, identifying the things that might be needed helps move it from “dream” to “attainable goal”.
E) Start saving money. Whether we want to admit it or not, money makes the world go round. If you can alleviate the financial stress, you can more often than not enjoy the experience. One way to save money — cut out that $5.35 double whip, non-fat, triple shot, extra hot latte that you’re drinking twice a day. Trust me when I say that your bank account, and your booty will thank you for it.
F) Start having conversations with yourself. Remind yourself that although it may never be the perfect time, the time that you do have is right now. Why put off something for tomorrow that can be done today? As the self-development guru Bob Proctor says “Most people tip toe through life, only to arrive safely at death.” Don’t be most people.
So go ahead, do it. Set a goal to achieve something that is so big, so exhilarating that it both excites you and scares you at the same time. Let yourself dream. Get yourself ready to take that leap! Have you taken a leap lately? If not, what the heck are you waiting for!?
Originally published at medium.com