31 May Livelihood Ep. 5 – Facing Career Fear

Can you feel fear and design your dream career anyways? In this week’s episode, we’ll talk about why feel fear isn’t something to be afraid of. It’s all a part of the process. Learn why fear isn’t the reason that’s keeping you from your dream career and how a few Brazilian bull riders overcome their fears on a daily basis to follow their dreams. 

See ya there! For more career tips and coaching visit christytowns.com or follow me on Instagram @christyltowns


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..episode transcript..

*transcripts are rough auto generated. Transcript may not be 100% accurate. 

I’m Christy. And I believe that a career is so much more than just a job. It’s an extension of your life and an expression of who you are. A career might be something you fall into, but your dream career is created and the dream starts with you. Learn what it actually means to fall your passion, how to get unstuck for good, and how have a meaningful career that supports your life and your soul. If your career doesn’t make you feel alive, then it’s not your livelihood.

Hello how are you? It’s is Thanksgiving week and still COVID So I hope all of you are staying home safe safe eating healthy and stuffing yourself listening good food. I love Thanksgiving. I think it’s one of the best holidays because it’s really just about gratitude. And I just, I think gratitude is what we all need a little bit more of anyways, today’s episode was kind of inspired by a documentary I’ve been watching on Netflix. I really love Netflix documentaries, they just fun. And so this documentary is about these Brazilian bull riders. And I know you’re probably thinking like what the hell does bull riding have anything to do with my career. Let me tell you, I could find a career coaching message in anything. It’s kind of crazy because once you learn these messages, what you learn these lessons about what life is and how to do it. You see it everywhere. It’s really weird. It’s kind of like there’s been this color in front of you the whole time. And then you’ve never seen it and then one day you see it and then you see it everywhere. 

So I’ve been watching this bull riding documentary. It’s just so fascinating because these guys are putting themselves in the most dangerous sport ever. Like seriously scary. I mean, bulls are huge. I mean, thousands of pounds and they’re just jumping four, three feet in the air, bucking these guys all over the place. It’s really crazy. I used to go to rodeos all the time. And they were really fun but also really scary. I think some really gnarly stuff, but the reason that I bringing this up, the reason that I was really inspired because you’re watching these guys do the insanely scary. And they have to put their fear aside. They’re all very scared. They all they have fear getting onto these giant animals while they’re in the paddock waiting for things to happen waiting to for them to open that day so they can go out and this bull can just like thrash them around. And it’s so fascinating because how they deal with fear is a very extreme, literal sense of dealing with fear. What I mean by that is that they’re going out and doing something that’s literally about to kill them, or could kill them or paralyze them or something horrible could happen. They’re fighting this fear that’s telling them they could die, and yet they’re still going out and doing it. How to they deal with that fear? How do they calm the voice that says,”Hey, don’t do this.”? You’re getting on a giant animal that could kill you how do they deal with that? You deal with that same fear everyday. It is the same fear we deal with that when we are taking risks, any risk whether you’re riding bull, or you’re investing in coaching for the first time and getting paying someone a lot of money or you’re quitting your job or changing careers or higher ed or getting married. Those your voices come from the lower brain trying to keep you safe and say don’t do this. This is not okay. It’s scary. It’s different. It’s dangerous. 

This is always happening. It’s always happening in your brain. Your lower brain brain is meant to keep you safe and it’s actually very primitive. It’s that fight or flight mode that keeps you alive. The brain doesn’t like things that are different. brain wants to keep you safe. The primitive brain wants to keep you safe. So these guys getting these giant scary looking bulls. And they have the fear still they still feel the fear because they still have that primitive biological response. They’re not fearless.

They still have the fear deal of it, but they put it aside. They leave it at the door and they use their higher brain, their prefrontal cortex, their more advanced decision making brain to go out and do this and the the way they speak to themselves. When they speak to themselves, it is so similar to how you would speak to yourself when you’re doing something scary say getting up in front of a group of people to give a speech or a presentation. They’re talking to themselves using their higher brain. 

But you wonder why they put themselves in this type of danger. What is it about riding a bull that’s so appealing to them? Because not many people are gonna go do this. I mean, it is little bit crazy to get on this thing that’s going to kill you. Why do people do it? And this is what I noticed. All of them say the passion. They have this feeling towards it, this draw to it. It’s something almost like magical and mystical because of how they are when they are writing. Everything leading up to riding the bull, they’re saying, “Yeah, it’s crazy. It’s dangerous. I don’t know what’s going to happen.” And yet, they get on that bull. And it’s like their mind just clears they’re so present with what they’re doing. There’s so tuned in to what they’re doing on the bull with the bull is doing that is what they keep coming back to is why they ride the bull. 

The bull is the present moment. They’re so focused on what they’re doing. And when you’re not focused on what you’re doing when you’re not focused on that bull. That’s when bad things happen. That’s when you get bucked off. One of the bull riders, one of these world champion bull riders, he says, “When you focus on winning, always lose when you focus on the bull, you win.” What that means is that you’re focused on the goal and you’re focused on the outcome you’re not focused on the present moment. You’re too busy thinking about the goal. You’re too focused on winning. And when you’re focused on those things, you always lose because you’re always thinking about what you don’t have and how to get there. You get too caught up in the details of HOW to do it, 

But, when you focus on the present moment and you’re focusing on your life, the process of what you’re doing, you’re focusing on all the the wonder and joy that is in that moment. You’re less concerned about how to do it and you’re able to go with the flow of your own process and life. You still have the end goal in mind, but every single moment you’re seeing your progress and celebrating your those as little wins on the way to the big goal. You focus on what you do have instead of worrying about what you don’t have. It’s a much easier place to create from.

And I know that having a career that you love and creating something that you’ve never created before is what you want to do. We are always thinking about how to do that and how to how to get there you missed opportunities you miss living life, because you’re so focused on the future. Figuring out your career is figuring out your life and it’s figuring out what is in that present moment, and the following the present moment, and letting life guide you instead of fighting against it. 

Bull riders have to be so present, because their lives depend on it. And of course, they want the championship. They want that. I think it’s a gold belt. They want to win they want the money. But when they’re focused on the money, they’re not focused on the bull. They’re not focused on what they’re doing in that moment. And so when you’re not focused in that moment, how are you going to win? You have to be focused on exactly what you’re doing to get what you want. 

It sounds counterintuitive, and maybe you don’t see it in the context of your career yet but focus on your life now. You realize what is working and when you realize what’s working, that’s when that’s when you can move forward. It’s all about going with the flow of life. And when these guys are out there riding this giant, massive bull, they’re not fighting against the bull. They’re not trying to make the bull go one way or the other way then they’re not just trying to hold on. What they’re doing is they’re going with the bull. Don’t fight the bull. They go with the bull. 

Again, this is such a like huge metaphor for life because it’s life is your goal. This career is your goal. When you’re fighting against the flow, everything feels like an uphill battle when you’re trying to make something happens so badly. It’s because you’re not going with the bull. 

Figuring out your career is life changing, because you’re figuring out how to move with life. How to go with the flow. And how to be present. I really believe that your career figuring out your career is a spiritual awakening because you learn so much about yourself when you’re present. You learn so much about yourself. When you just allow yourself to enjoy what you want to enjoy. You find out who you are and what you’re capable of, by feeling fear, and doing things anyways. 

Fear is such an interesting emotion because we make it mean something when we feel fear. We make it mean we’re not supposed to do something. That we’re not supposed to quit our job. We’re not supposed to do that new things that we’ve never done. But fear is just a default reaction. And it doesn’t mean that you don’t move ahead. That’s what your prefrontal cortex is for. That’s how you make decisions. You get to feel that fear and do things anyways. 

I always know when I’m on the right track and then I’m growing when I feel fear and excitement. When I feel really scared and I think about this could fail. I could mess up I could regret it. I feel that fear. But I also feel excitement because I think about all the things that I’m going to do, what I can create, how my life might be different and what if things do work out. That is the feeling of growth is when you feel scared and also excited. 

So these bull riders, I think that they feel that every single time that they can report they feel scared and excited. And they focus their attention on exactly what they’re doing. Don’t fight against it. You don’t have to take up bull riding I wouldn’t recommend you take up bull riding.  But see your career as your bull you’re struggling with. That’s your bull. 

You don’t need to fight against it. You need to go with it. 

I really hope I encourage you too. Get on your own board and I that because what else are you going to do? Struggling doesn’t work. We already know that. So why not try something different? Why not? Take the risk? Get on the bull. Go with the flow. 

I will put a link to that documentary in the show notes. And I want to hear what you’re struggling with. I want to hear what is it even fighting against that meeting you just need to be more present with or maybe what year are you? Feeling that’s been holding? You back? What if you just let go. So feel the fear. So you’re scared but if you felt the fear and did it anyways. All right. I want to hear from you come over to Instagram and leave me a note. I want to hear what your thoughts are, what your experiences aren’t, what kind of questions you have. And I will see you on the next episode.

If you enjoyed this episode, and come connect with me at christytowns.com. I want to hear your biggest takeaways, your aha moments. And I want you to ask me any burning questions you might have about what it means to create your livelihood. And don’t forget to help spread the joy by leaving me a five star review in iTunes and sharing this episode with a friend a loved one colleague, because I am on a mission to revolutionize the way we think about careers because I really truly believe that every single one of us deserves a career that makes us feel alive. I’m so excited to be on this journey with you and I will see you on the next episode.