A feeling spreads over my body, more scratchy really than itchy.
It’s tight and as it tingles its way up my legs and finds my chest, its constrictive nature makes it hard to breathe.
My insides start to churn and with each lapping crest of stomach acid, I find an accompanying voice of self-doubt.
Even with these suffocating feelings of anxiety, I have a choice.
I can let them win and fear leaving my comfort zone… or I can use this fear to fuel the beast motivation I need to go after my big dreams.
None of us are strangers to these uncomfortable feelings of fear and anxiety. If you’re anything like me, you’ve probably spent a significant amount of time trying to push them away.
However, if we can just do the opposite — stare fear straight in its face without getting distracted — then we will be on the edge of activating our beast motivation from within.
In this article, I’m going to tell you why these scary, scratchy, horrible feelings of fear and anxiety are vital for success, and share the three things you need to know if you want to activate the kind of motivation that makes the impossible, possible.
Beast motivation is the insane kind of fuel responsible for those times when people achieve the unthinkable way faster than anyone could ever expect.
It’s the reason our eyes pop open in the mornings.
And the motivator behind us shooting out of bed at sunrise.
When our beast motivation is activated we are incentivized from within by a fire that propels us forward.
Once you start to pay attention, you’ll know when an opportunity like this is on your doorstep.
When the chance to use fear as a motivator comes, you’ll notice a feeling that burns in the pit of your stomach that’s accompanied by resistance and riddled with excuses.
It’s this sensation — when our stomachs start to flip and our monkey minds get defensive — that tells us we’re exactly where we need to be for this powerful catalyst to spark.
There may even be an inner monologue that sounds something like, “I don’t wanna… No, I could never… ahh, but damn I wish I could!”
When we hear this voice, this is the moment we know we’re on the edge of something great.
From here the choice is ours…
Will we choose to let fear limit us and keep playing small?
Or will we allow ourselves to fully feel the fear, hold onto it, and allow it to be the kind of insane beast motivation we need to crush our three-year goals in a ten-month timespan?
This powerful accelerator is certainly enticing…but we can only tap into it if and when we get comfortable facing one of society’s biggest fears.
Have you ever noticed when we try to explain away our fears with logic and reason the anxious thoughts just bounce around from problem to problem without ever really going away?
That’s because when we’re doing this, we’re trying to do the one thing I’ve personally spent the majority of my life doing… we’re trying to avoid feeling.
If our goal is to stop feeling paralyzed by fear and find the beast motivation to leave our comfort zones, the best thing we can do is to feel the fear.
Because our brains are masters at routing the path of least resistance, our monkey minds will enlist an army of distractions to avoid feeling this fear.
It’s up to us whether or not we chase these distractions.
Just as we cannot control the presence of a dragonfly flitting past us in a garden, neither can we control the monkey mind.
Yet it is our choice to follow it, or not.
So, the next time you find yourself feeling overwhelmed with fear, take note of whatever you have a pressing urge to run off and do.
Is it suddenly imperative to check social media, text a friend, clean the house, or turn to a vice such as alcohol, food, sex, or drama?
Instead of allowing these distractions to route you away from feeling, take a pen and reflect upon the following questions:
The important thing to remember is in order to tap into your beast motivation you must cultivate courage.
And courage isn’t just the absence of fear, my friends.
So buckle up — it’s time to start embracing some uncomfortable feelings.
I remember the first time I let myself really feel my fear.
The chilly breeze blowing against my numb face went unnoticed as I tried not to think about how close my toes were to the canyon’s edge.
At this point, I was 134 meters above ground, strapped into the world’s third-highest bungy.
The blood continued to drain from my face until it seemed to have evacuated my whole body.
I was paralyzed with fear.
Logically, I knew I didn’t have to make the jump. I could turn around and go home and things would remain exactly as they had been.
I considered this thought, standing with my toes over the ledge and my feet velcroed together, allowing myself to do something I had never done before.
However, instead of listening to the terrifying chatter in my mind, I looked at the situation from a different perspective.
I began a mental list of all the ways my life would be better if I freed myself from this fear.
I was young and about to graduate university in the wake of worldwide economic recession.
Like most my age, I had taken on student debt to study, and now there was so little work in my field that even unpaid interns were being laid off.
My future was uncertain and the cards were stacked against me, yet at that moment I knew what I had to do.
I knew that if I could face my life-long fear of heights, then I would walk away from this feeling unstoppable against any future task.
I knew that if I could do this then I would activate the beast motivation needed to accomplish anything I set my mind to.
So I felt the fear, and I leapt.
And god, was it anything but pretty.
The fear washed over me as I stood on that bungy platform deliberating for twelve full minutes — six times longer than anyone else — and I shed more than a few tears.
But I did it.
I tiptoed one foot in front of the other until I tumbled off the ledge in a style that was certainly not graceful.
I’m here to tell you it doesn’t matter how it looked, or how much I cried, the ensuing motivation from facing this fear was the catalyst that began a lifetime of turning my dreams into reality.
You see the truth is, a lot of people think leaders are supposed to be fearless and that courage is supposed to be glamorous.
Well, I’m here to tell you that it couldn’t be further from reality.
Courage, as I define it, is a determination in the face of fear.
And the courage to face the things that scare us the most… that’s the one thing that fuels our success more than anything else.
You’re supposed to be scared, it’s a necessary predecessor to cultivating courage.
Unfortunately, modern living makes it harder than ever to build the inner resolve needed to face our fears.
Too frequently, common obstacles work against us so that just the thought of feeling our fears is overwhelming.
And having the motivation to overcome them becomes unthinkable.
It is possible, though, to stop feeling overwhelmed in the face of fear, and guess what?
It’s easier than you might think.
All of the world’s greatest thought leaders seem to agree: if we want to achieve success we have to take risks and we have to face the fear of failure.
We’ve heard it time and time again, so when it comes to pulling the trigger why do so many of us falter?
How can we move past this limitation and cultivate the beast motivation needed to soar through life’s challenges?
When the body’s wellbeing is compromised it requires additional resources just to stay healthy and able.
Entering into a situation of risk when our bodies are full of inflammation and toxicity is like a caveman trying to take on a hungry lion when he’s already hurt and bleeding.
The odds aren’t lookin’ good.
Fear is literally a survival mechanism that is meant to paralyze us in place and our bodies are literally hardwired to keep us safe inside our comfort zones.
Tapping into beast motivation means we’re going against what our brain’s software is designed to do.
Essentially, we’re going into battle.
So we need to be our fittest.
Optimizing our physical health means we require fewer resources to function and the body increases its ability to withstand extreme discomfort elsewhere.
Increased physical health makes it easier for us to set sail from our docked port of comfort.
Adopting an alkaline diet, participating in cold therapy and/or Wim Hof breathing, practicing yoga, and healing the digestive tract are all vital steps for optimum health and beast motivation.
From the foods we eat to the way holding our phones disturbs our posture, modern circumstances prevent motivation for growth in many ways.
Luckily, there is something we can do about it.
I’m not sure I can even count how many times throughout my childhood my mother walked up behind me, grabbed my shoulders, and yanked them backward to correct my posture.
Leaving behind slumped shoulders and the famous “S” curved spinal posture that I was so accustomed to wasn’t easy but it was worth it.
Nothing makes me feel instantly braver than aligning my spine, tucking in my chin, and pulling my shoulders away from my ears…But doing this all day every day would be really hard if I wasn’t in shape.
Consistency is key, and practicing these exercises to build strength in the supporting core muscles is the best way to boost motivation for this quickly.
Remember, just like many things in life, perfecting our posture is only difficult and fatiguing at first.
As we become more and more optimized physically, we find we have the motivation to stand determined in the face of our biggest fears.
We discover we have the choice to activate the beast motivation from within, and that we have the tools needed to accomplish any dream we wish to see come to fruition.
Have you experienced a drop in motivation lately? Are you searching for something to inspire you into that next level of awesome? Perhaps you have your own actions to develop beast motivation? Share your stories with us in the comments below!
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