Clarity dissolves resistance
In How to Be Yourself, Ellen Hendriksen describes an ingenious strategy for quieting your inner critic just enough to do anything that holds you back, be it leading a meeting, conversing with strangers, or doing something that feels like a risk.
The gist of it is this:
Replace your doom and gloom thoughts with ones that are more realistic.
Embrace your thoughts by being a little more empathetic with yourself.
The former involves decatastrophizing, a technique borrowed from cognitive therapy, where you confront the worst-case scenario of a feared event, using reason to suppress your exaggerated feelings. For those interested: this is exactly the same idea as fear setting, the technique popularized by Tim Ferris for defining and overcoming your fears.
The latter technique involves embracing your feelings, but to a point. By empathizing with yourself—the same way you would a close friend—you can better acknowledge why you feel the way you do (and what you can do about it), rather than convince yourself you’re incompetent or a wuss because you have feelings you don’t admire.
On their own, these are two great techniques for objectively identifying our terrors, concerns, and apprehensions, enough to paint a realistic picture of what’s going on beneath the surface of your fear. Together, they pack a precise sucker-punch that might pack enough clarity for you power through it.