Quick Tip: Be Scared Together
Once upon a time, my friend made a confession.
She told me, "I've gotten myself into credit card debt. It's pretty bad. I need to log in and see how
much debt I've accumulated so I can figure out a plan to pay it off."
She explained, "I keep avoiding logging in because it feels scary to look at the Big Number. Can you sit next to me while I do it?"
"I don't need advice, just accountability," she clarified.
She simply
wanted someone to be there by her side, providing love and support, while she did the scary thing.
"If you sit next to me, then I will actually do it," she added, "But if nobody is there with me, I will probably keep avoiding it."
I told her, "Of course," and said, "I need to do a scary thing, too."
I needed to email a quote to a potential client. It was a larger amount than I'd ever charged before. I had concocted a story in my head that they were going to take one look at my proposal and say, "No." I didn't want to feel the sting of rejection, so I kept procrastinating on sending it.
My friend and I scheduled a co-working date and made a plan.
She would click "log in" to the credit card website and I would click "send" on my email—at the exact same moment.
"We can be scared together."
And that's exactly what we did.
