How I go from Terrified to Confident (With One Simple Trick)

It was years ago, but to this day I can still recall every detail of how utterly terrified I felt when they called my name on stage.

For the first time in my life, I was about to sing in front of a live audience, alone with my guitar.

I asked for a chair because I didn’t want anyone to see my legs shake.

I could feel the fear coursing through my veins.

I remember taking a deep breath, closing my eyes, and starting my first song. I kept telling myself: “just get to the end of the song, then you’ll be ok.”

But it didn’t go the way I hoped it would. Not even close.

After the chorus, there’s a bit where I usually whistle and I hadn’t noticed that my mouth was completely dry from the anxiety…

Instead of a clear whistle, the audience heard a very loud: “pfffftthhhhgghhhhhffftr”.

I heard someone muffle a laugh.

The absolute worse case scenario had just happened: I was on stage, in the spotlight, in front of an audience, and people were making fun of me.

I wished I could disappear.

Worst of all: it wasn’t over. I was only half way through the song.

The second chorus was coming up and I was supposed to whistle again. My mind was racing. I didn’t know what to do. I had to make a decision before I got to the whistling bit again.

Should I cut the song short? Should I try to whistle again? What if I went for it and the same scenario happened? What would they think of me?

Then it hit me: I’d already gone through the worst case scenario. I couldn’t experience anything worse than what had already happened — getting laughed at on stage. The only direction from here was up.

My whole mindset changed.

So, when the last verse ended I made sure to lick my lips and heard a lovely whistle come out of my mouth.

I felt amazing and was noticeably more relaxed for the next song.

More importantly, the realization of what had happened was transformational.

The humiliation did sting at first, but it was a far cry from what I had imagined it would be. The pain dampened quickly and gave way to a feeling of freedom. Nothing could stop me now. I wasn’t scared of messing up anymore. My relationship to fear had changed:

Hey Fear; wanna play?

Most of us are often held back by fear of failure or ridicule.

• Fear will convince you not to talk to the cute person at the bar.
• Fear will keep you from learning a new skill.
• Fear will trick you into discarding your dreams.
• Fear will make you postpone the meaningful.
• Fear will find ways out of responsibilities.
• Fear will lock you into a maze of eternal todos.
• Fear will seduce you into taking the easy way out.
• Fear will hold you prisoner.

So how can you learn to dance with Fear?

Ever since I experienced that whistling mishap, when I try something new or scary I start by identifying the worst case scenarios to I see if I can provoke one as soon as possible. I actively look for the feeling of freedom that comes right after. The feeling that creates an environment that allows for huge leaps in the learning process.

I continually see amazing results with this very simple — yet slightly scary — trick.

And not only for myself.

In fact, I make every single one of my students confront their biggest fear on the first day of a 12-week course (I teach beginners how to play guitar).

After learning a simple tune on their guitar, each student has to write their own lyrics (or borrow some), film themselves playing (and singing) the song they just created, and send me that video. All of this on day one of a 3-month course.
It doesn’t take long, everyone can do it (and has), but it will definitely make you feel uncomfortable.

This changes everything for the next 12 weeks.

I ask my students to feel ridiculous so that they can forget about feeling ridiculous.

Once they’ve purposefully made themselves feel uncomfortable, they’ve given themselves permission to make mistakes without feeling bad.

In other words, they’re free to play without consequences.

So what about you?

Has something similar ever happened to you? A situation where you experienced a worse case scenario and came out of it feeling free and energized?

If you currently feel held back by fear in your life, take a minute now to think about how you could provoke an uncomfortable situation in order to get over the barrier and set yourself free.

Here are a two (general) examples for inspiration:

• Are you constantly afraid of stepping out of your comfort zone? Noah Kagan recommends you go to your favorite coffee shop and ask for a 10% discount on a cup of coffee (I know this actually sounds crazy but please trust me on this. You will feel the results immediately).
• Are you scared of speaking in public or want to feel more confident in group settings? Go to an improv class, it could change your life (I’ve been going to Improv classes for months now, and it’s been an incredible experience).

Isn’t it time you danced with the Fear?