David Blaine's answer to this is everything.

How do you overcome fear?

In a recent interview, David Blaine (Magician, Illusionist & Endurance Performer) was asked, "How do you overcome fear?"

This is a guy who does stuff most of us would consider "CRA-ZEE", like sit in a plastic box hoisted high above London for 44 days without food or water. What-eva. 🙄

His answer is awesome, though... "I announce whatever scares me to the world, before I've even figured out how I'm going to do it. And then I start working back from there. Knowing that I've committed to delivering X magic trick at Y date, forces me into action."

When I heard this, I realized I had just done the same thing and it worked brilliantly. Several years ago, I had an inspiration that I wanted to host workshops for mothers and daughters, at the beach, where we build community, connection and collaboration. Last year, I even went so far as to hire someone to help me run this event, but when it came time to execute, those Elphaba (Wicked reference) voices in my head jumped in, "What if no one shows up? What if too many people show up? What if people don't like it?" What if, what if, what if...

Panic set in, I realized I had never "announced" my date, (whew), I was free to go on about my life pretending like it was never even a thought in my mind. Feeling a bit of shame that I never took a swing, but at the same time my inner critic, said, “Yes, but you didn’t fail, either.”  Right? Wrong.