A couple of days ago I was faced with a challenge at work that was so towering and unflinching in nature that I trembled in its shadow.

This challenge was a couple of large projects I’ve taken on for a global ad agency, and taking them on meant that I had to deliver. Trouble is, they’re big, messy, amorphous, high profile projects with seemingly impossible deadlines.

For a moment, I felt as small as a flea sitting on the arse of a cow who’s chewing the cud in a field that you drive by at 70mph.

I wanted to leave the building and not come back. That would be easier than having to deal with all the crap, wouldn’t it? They could always find some other mug to manage these projects, and then I could be sitting at home writing articles and trying to find words that rhyme with ‘cop-out’.

Then I recognised that my fear was talking to me, and that if I didn’t do something the following would happen:

• The challenge would beat me before I’d begun. If I continued down that road then the challenge would have beaten me before I had the chance to even try to rise to it. I saw the challenge as bigger than me, and that meant that I saw myself as no match for it.
• My negative self-talk would tell me I’d fail. With fear waving at me with one hand and gripping my balls in a vice-like grip with the other, I was telling myself that it just wouldn’t work. I was automatically creating the scenario where things would go wrong and saw the chance of failure as more of a cert than the chance of success.
• My pride wouldn’t let me take a fall. My pride told me that I didn’t have to do something that I knew wasn’t going to work, that I’d be much better off keeping my reputation intact and getting out while the going was good. My identity and my pride threw made-up reasons at me for not going forwards, and if left unchecked those reasons would embed themselves in my identity and constrain everything I did.
• My Gremlin would have all the proof it needs. My Gremlin – the part of me that will use every trick in the book to keep me away from change and risk – would have some fantastic evidence to use in the face of any future challenge. “Remember those big projects you avoided Steve? Remember how you were really brave and took a step back and didn’t screw up or fail? I kept you safe Steve and we can do it again.” My confidence would be lost.

Luckily for me, I know a thing or two about this confidence malarkey. Phew.

I saw that my Gremlin was revving up to full speed and spotted what I was telling myself for what it really was – excuses and cop-outs that would damage my self-confidence and self-esteem.

How I Beat the Voice of Fear

The first thing I did was to take a deliberate step back, because I know that allows me to be radically honest with myself and see things as they really are.

It’s only when you create some space that you give yourself room to make a better choice.

Once I had the space to think and move, here’s what I did –

1. I looked at the evidence.
I took a moment to look at the evidence of what had gone before. From performing on stage, to delivering a keynote speech to delivering Big, Messy Project at a previous agency, I knew I’d faced bigger challenges and won. If I’d previously risen to challenges that at first glance seemed bigger than I was, then this was no different.

If I’d previously risen to bigger challenges, then there’s a good chance that this was gonna be easier than I thought.

2. I trusted the process.
I can’t tell you exactly how these projects will turn out in the end, for the simple reason that they’re not finished yet. Could be good, could be bad. Could be great. What I do know is that if I follow the process of delivering a complex project then the project will get delivered, and the chances are that it’ll get delivered just fine. I know that if I start with a, b and c that I’ll be ready for d, e and f when the time comes.

Looking at the whole it seems impossible, but if you start at the start and take one bite at a time then you’re able to devour the whole thing. None of us are fortune-tellers, but if you trust yourself to engage with a process the logical conclusion is the end of that process.

How do you eat an elephant?

One bite at a time.

3. I simplified things.
If I make things complicated for myself then I know I’ll have a complicated, frustrating experience. Queen Victoria famously said, “Simplify, simplify, simplify.” Or maybe it was Delia Smith. Doesn’t matter, the point is that I asked myself “How can I make this easier?” and found ways to simplify where I am right now.

4. I reminded myself of what’s important.
Ad campaigns come and go. There will always be another project, another campaign, another Big Scary. What’s important for me to is to enjoy what I’m doing, know that I’m doing my best work and to give myself space to engage with the other projects that really matter to me. If I can’t work with laughter on my lips then something’s very wrong.

There will always be a Big Scary

The projects are still challenging and will need me to think on my feet. But I’m more than up to it.

And there are other, perhaps scarier challenges I want to face. The date with the beautiful girl didn’t work out, chiefly because I was sick as a dog and just wanted to go to bed. Not with the beautiful girl for a healthy bout of horseplay, but to close my eyes and fall into a coma.

But the fact that we didn’t click isn’t going to stop me from asking the next girl out because I want to meet the woman I can laugh myself silly with, read the Sunday papers with, have riotous sex with and who challenges me in ways I can’t even imagine.

I want to move to New York City to expand my working and personal experience. I want to take my coaching business to a whole new level of expertise, exposure and fun.

And those are just 3 of the challenges out there for me.

There’s always going to be a Big Scary that makes me – and you – want to run and hide. That’s just as it should be. If there was never another Big Scary that would mean I’ve given up on life, I’d simply be going through the motions until the guy with the heavy cloak, big scythe and bad breath came for me.

Either I’m ready for the next Big Scary, or I get myself measured for that casket.