WHEN I WAS 19 I hopped on a plane headed for San Jose del Cabo in Mexico. I was to work in an all-inclusive resort for six months as part of the activities staff. I was scared as hell. I didn’t speak Spanish; I’d never traveled anywhere on my own before; I didn’t know what to expect. But one thing I did know is that what I was doing at that point — taking business classes in college — was the last thing I wanted to be doing. Once I had that motivation for my actions and took the first step, it was like a snowball rolling downhill. Fears be damned, there was no turning back.

In the slideshow below, Harish Kumar from Launch Your Genius explains how to tackle the very human emotion of fear and turn it from something that stops you to something that teaches and drives you. The 10 points he hits on are:

  1. Awareness of fear and fearful situations
  2. Types of fear
  3. The basis of fear
  4. Recognizing cues and triggers that sustain fear
  5. Getting a proper perspective of fear
  6. Action dispels fear
  7. Fear as a teacher
  8. Transforming fear
  9. Community support: Finding examples
  10. Managing your energy

What fears have stopped you from doing something you wanted to do?