Feel the Fear (and Do It Anyway)

A couple of weeks back, I was lucky enough to spend the week skiing with my family. We’ve done this for years almost every year, a few times a year since the kids were little. And after 10 years, it’s fair to say my entire family now well and truly out-skis me.

We’ve reached a rhythm: a few warm-up runs together, then we split off and agree to meet later at the Donut Hut. They head for the steep, fast black runs. I stick to the safety of the blues.

But here’s the thing it’s not that I can’t ski those harder runs. It’s that fear grips me. The steepness, the narrow trails, the thought of falling it’s so paralysing that I talk myself out of it every time. And I’ve noticed, as I’ve gotten older, that fear seems louder.

But that same kind of fear? It shows up in the workplace too.

It’s the fear that holds us back from speaking up in a meeting.
From pitching a new idea.
From saying, “I don’t know how to do this, but I’m willing to try.”

And when we give in to that fear, we miss opportunities.
We dim our creativity.
We muzzle our potential.

So how do we move through fear?

Well, I haven’t nailed it on the slopes just yet. But I’m working on it going a little faster each time, resisting the urge to brake when it gets steep, reminding myself: you can do this.

In the workplace, here are a few small but powerful strategies to feel the fear and do it anyway:

1. Pause and breathe.
   I’ve always said: “If in doubt, just breathe out.”
   A deep breath calms your nervous system and helps you re-centre.

2. Ask: what’s the worst that could happen?
   If the answer is “I might get it wrong,” then do it anyway.
   You’ll learn more from trying and failing than from staying stuck in fear.

3. Remember: mistakes are not the end.
   In fact, they’re the beginning of growth.
   One of my favourite animated movies, Meet the Robinsons, explores this beautifully. It’s all about time travel, yes but also about how mistakes shape us, stretch us, and lead us to become better versions of ourselves. (Seriously, if you haven’t watched it, you should.)

So whatever you’re facing this week a tricky conversation, a bold idea, a new challenge
feel the fear, and do it anyway.

You might fall.
You might fly.
But either way, you’ll grow.