Feel the fear, and do it anyway

I welcomed a new client into my Women In Negotiation coaching group this week. She told me she had almost cancelled the discovery call we had scheduled because she was so SCARED of “actually facing my fears”, as she said.

And I get that.

There’s a reason my clients have never (successfully) negotiated their careers and salaries. They haven’t grown up being encouraged to speak up for themselves and they lack the experience. Perhaps they got a “no” on one or more occasions.

All of that has successfully scared them enough to not have these conversations.

So getting on the phone with me, which could potentially lead to doing exactly what they fear most is… well, frightening.

See, from my side it’s easy. I am very selective in who I invite into my program, and I only do so when I am sure I can get the woman on the call the results they’re looking for.

So when I invite them in, I know and trust that success is awaiting them. That wonderful promotion, that exciting new job, that amazing salary that will change the trajectory of their lives. I’ve been there, done that with a host of other clients and so I KNOW how good the future looks for them once they commit.

But women who do not have my experience, who are new to the process, they are simply responding to the inherent uncertainty that may come from joining my program. And instead of those understandable scaries stopping them from transforming into the badass women that they are, my clients choose success. They choose themselves. They choose control.

And bloody hell, THAT makes me one proud mama!

I often say: the antidote to fear is action.

And that’s exactly what these women are doing. Taking action by joining the program, and facing their fears. Practicing the thing they dread so much: negotiating their worth. Doing that until they’re completely comfortable with it, and even get excited about having these conversations.

And then: getting massive success in their careers, achieved by overcoming the mindset blocks that were holding them back before, by facing their fears, by taking action.

So. Freaking. Proud.