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How To Overcome Fear and Achieve Your Dreams with Lisa Bilyeu #289

Jul 5, 2022 1h 42m 43 insights
CAUTION: This episode contains mild swearing. What’s holding you back from pursuing your dreams? What if the ‘when’ you’re waiting for never comes? Today’s guest believes confidence is a by-product of taking action – and she wants you to take action now. Lisa Bilyeu is a British-born but now American-based entrepreneur who co-founded the billion-dollar company Quest Nutrition. She also hosts a weekly YouTube show, Women of Impact, and is the author of the brand new book, Radical Confidence. It’s a lively and inspiring read – part memoir, part self-help manual for anyone who wants to rewrite their own script and overcome ‘the purgatory of the mundane’.   In this conversation, Lisa explains how she went from being a supportive, stay-at-home wife to husband Tom (Bilyeu, who you may remember from episode 110) to someone in hot pursuit of her own dreams. Being a housewife for eight years was an arrangement she and Tom agreed on, to enable him to make their fortune. But with time, her gratitude for their comfortable life was holding her back from fulfilling her potential. She explains how her own ‘radical confidence’ came as the result of taking a risk and trying something new.   I think that’s such a powerful way of looking at it, that confidence is a consequence. It’s a useful way of seeing so many areas of life where we might be telling ourselves we can’t change, be it losing weight, getting fit or getting that new job. The truth is, says Lisa, we already know what we have to do. We just need the conviction to get going.   This conversation is packed with other gems of wisdom from Lisa’s life. From the intentional communication that underpins her marriage, to the realisation that the only hero she really needed was herself. From finding the solution to her gut-health problems, to the ‘No BS’ trick she and Tom use for working out what they really want from life. All this, and much more, in this fantastic episode. I hope you enjoy listening. Thanks to our
Actionable Insights

1. Define Concrete, Succinct Mission

Define your end goal or mission in one or two concrete sentences, specifying the ‘what,’ ‘who,’ and ‘why,’ to serve as an unwavering North Star that guides you through obstacles and maintains alignment even when motivation wanes.

2. Take Full Health Ownership

Take full ownership and agency over your health, rather than blaming others or passively waiting for external solutions, by actively seeking information and making informed choices.

3. Adopt a Learner Identity

Adopt the identity of a learner to overcome fears of failure, imposter syndrome, and ego, allowing you to embrace corrections and seek knowledge from others without feeling threatened.

4. Embrace Radical Confidence

Practice radical confidence by fully accepting your flaws while simultaneously recognizing your sole ability to transform your life, rather than waiting for confidence to arrive.

5. Play ‘No Bullshit: What Would It Take?’

Play the ’no bullshit, what would it take’ game by honestly assessing the realistic actions and sacrifices required to achieve a dream, then decide if you are truly willing to do the work.

6. Challenge ‘I’ll Do This When’

Reflect on and question the ‘when’ statements you make about pursuing dreams or making changes, considering what if that ‘when’ never comes, to motivate immediate action.

7. Balance Self-Acceptance & Growth

Hold the dual perspective that you are beautiful and good enough as you are right now, while simultaneously demanding more of yourself for growth, change, and transformation.

8. Redefine Your Present Self

Understand that your current self is a foundation, not a definition, allowing you to accept where you are without self-criticism and lay a path for future growth.

9. Attach Identity to Resilience

Attach your identity to being a ’learner’ or ’the person who can get back up’ after falling, which makes you unbreakable and prevents staying down after setbacks.

10. Cultivate Conviction to Start

Recognize that you likely already know what steps to take towards your goals, and cultivate the conviction needed to simply start.

11. Identify Self-Limiting Stories

Ask yourself what stories or beliefs you are holding that prevent you from pursuing your dreams (e.g., ‘I’m not smart enough,’ ‘I don’t have confidence,’ ‘I don’t have money’) to identify barriers.

12. Do Internal Work on Triggers

When repeatedly triggered by a partner, do the internal work to understand why you are being triggered, tracing back the origin of the trigger (e.g., childhood experiences) to take ownership.

13. Communicate Triggers, Seek Support

Honestly communicate your identified triggers to your partner, explaining their origin and stating that you are actively working on them, and ask for their support (e.g., avoiding specific words).

14. Recognize Trigger Signals

Become aware of and identify the physical ‘flags’ or signals in your body (e.g., racing heart, flushed face) that indicate you are being triggered or your emotions are escalating.

15. Prioritize Self-Care & Hobbies

Re-engage with hobbies and self-care activities you enjoy (e.g., drawing) that you may have neglected due to overworking, recognizing their importance for well-being and preventing burnout.

16. Prioritize Self-Care Over Ambition

Consciously prioritize self-care even during demanding periods (e.g., book launch), acknowledging your natural tendencies and ensuring your actions serve your long-term well-being.

17. Set Strict Self-Care Boundaries

Implement strict boundaries for self-care, such as turning off your phone every Saturday morning for dedicated personal time, and communicate these boundaries clearly to others.

18. Delegate for Boundary Enforcement

Delegate or redirect urgent matters to other contacts (e.g., a partner) when you are observing your self-care boundaries, ensuring that only true emergencies warrant disturbance.

19. Evaluate Relationships via Boundaries

Use boundary pushback as a filter to evaluate the depth and respect within relationships, recognizing that those who don’t respect your self-care may not be close enough to warrant access during that time.

20. Proactively Plan for Well-being

Proactively plan for your well-being, especially during disruptive events like travel, by laying out necessary preparations (e.g., packing food, supplements, water) without complaint, accepting it as part of your life.

21. Implement Personalized Diet Protocols

Identify specific food sensitivities and implement strict dietary protocols (e.g., calling restaurants about oils, avoiding specific ingredients) to manage gut health.

22. Eat Mindfully, Peacefully

Prioritize eating in a peaceful environment, free from distractions like business calls, to support digestion and overall well-being.

23. Heal Gut for Clear Intuition

Recognize that a compromised gut can impair your intuition and emotional regulation, making gut repair a priority to restore its function in providing reliable signals.

24. Track Personal Health Data

Track personal health data (e.g., sleep with an Oura ring, glucose with a CGM, food intake, bowel movements, feelings in a diary) to identify correlations and understand your body’s responses.

25. Proactively Seek Health Info

Take proactive ownership of your health by independently seeking out and obtaining your own blood and hormone panels to gain deeper insights into your body’s functioning.

26. Define Shared Relationship North Star

Define a clear, shared ‘North Star’ goal for your relationship (e.g., happily married for life) and align on the strategies and rules to achieve that goal.

27. Establish Proactive Relationship Rules

Establish clear rules and agreements with your partner before difficult situations arise (e.g., always be honest, don’t apologize unless you mean it) to guide interactions.

28. Remove Ego from Arguments

When debating with a partner, consciously leave ego at the door and focus on alignment towards a shared goal rather than winning the argument, as who is right or wrong often doesn’t matter.

29. Respect Vulnerabilities

Make a conscious agreement with your partner to never use each other’s vulnerabilities against them, fostering trust and a safe space for honesty.

30. Express Unmet Expectations

Prevent relationship friction by expressing unmet expectations and desires to your partner, rather than assuming they should know or allowing resentment to build.

31. Clarify ‘Base Assumptions’

When miscommunication or arguments arise, ask your partner ‘what’s your base assumption?’ to uncover underlying beliefs that might be causing misunderstanding and facilitate alignment.

32. Agree on High-Value Signals

Agree with your partner on specific, high-value words or signals (e.g., ‘important’) that, when used sparingly, convey immediate urgency and require unquestioning response, to ensure critical needs are met.

33. Create Visual Cues for Boundaries

Establish clear visual cues or signals (e.g., a specific lamp turned on) to communicate when you are in self-care mode and unavailable for work-related discussions, especially when working from home.

34. Persist in Finding Strategies

When a strategy isn’t working, don’t give up; instead, mutually agree on the problem, acknowledge the need for a new approach, and persist in trying different strategies until one works.

35. Always Ask, Overcome Fear

Overcome the fear of rejection by always asking for what you want or need, recognizing that if you don’t ask, the answer will always be a ’no’ by default.

36. Be Honest About Rejection

When facing rejection, be radically honest with yourself about what it might truly signify (e.g., current skill level, not personal worth) without letting it derail your goals.

37. Strive for Undeniable Excellence

Adopt the mindset of ‘be so good they can’t ignore you’ by continuously practicing and refining your craft, using current limitations as motivation for improvement rather than self-criticism.

38. Use Logic for Step-by-Step Plans

When overwhelmed by emotions, use logic to create a clear, step-by-step game plan for addressing fears or insecurities, enabling you to move forward regardless of how you feel.

39. Deconstruct Fears with Game Plan

Address fears and insecurities by identifying them one by one, then creating a specific game plan for each potential scenario, which reduces anxiety and enables action.

40. Grant Grace in Daily Effort

Grant yourself grace to show up each day in a way that aligns with how you feel, understanding that progress towards your mission won’t always be a leap, but can be small steps or even just a ’toe’.

41. Confidence Through Action

Take action right now, even if you lack confidence, because confidence is a byproduct that develops from the act of doing.

42. Align Actions with Goals

Ensure your daily actions are aligned with your stated goals and dreams, recognizing that a disconnect between the two means you are choosing not to pursue your goal.

43. Remove Judgment, Be Honest

In important conversations, especially with a partner, remove judgment and simply be honest with each other’s truths to foster open communication and avoid punishment for honesty.