What if the choice that scares you most is actually the easiest path to success? While it’s tempting to stick with what’s familiar, that “safe” option often leads to more stress, delays, and hidden challenges. Meanwhile, the intimidating path—the one that pushes you into the unknown—can be faster, simpler, and far more rewarding. Today, discover why fear might be the clearest signal pointing you toward growth, better decisions, and a more successful outcome.
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The Scariest Thing Is Often The Easiest
The Scariest Choice Is Often The Easiest Path To Success
I’m going to tell you something that may initially seem like, “There is no way that is true,” but then I’m going to explain how it is, and it could change the way you live the rest of your life. What if when you’re looking to make a decision between two things, I told you that the one that scares you the most is almost always the actual easiest one? It looks more daunting up front, but it is the easier one. It will get you to success faster, it will be more fun getting there, it will be so much less strife than the one that seems less scary. Let me tell you what I mean.
Familiarity Can Lead To Harder, Slower Outcomes In Business Decisions
I was talking with someone who had the option to buy a company that they had worked in, and that company was something they were very familiar with. They had had a lot to do with building on the processes and the infrastructure, etc., but this company was tanking. It had been run poorly for years, and buying it was really akin to buying a headache. This person had been an employee in this company and the things that were good about the company, they were responsible for. They knew how to deal with the problems and the things that were good, they had created. They didn’t want to walk away.
It seems like that would make sense. The devil you know. Stay and do this. In evaluating it for them, I looked at it and said, “You know what? You could build a cashflowing profitable company in a matter of months with the processes, things you’ve learned, things you’ve built in the failing company. It would take you six months to a year to turn around the failing company. You’d have to deal with any other hidden bodies that are buried.” I got to tell you, no matter what company you’re buying from somebody, there are some bodies buried somewhere. Sometimes it’s not that big of a deal, but they’re normally things that you wouldn’t have to deal with if you were starting from scratch.
Choosing Fear-Based Avoidance Leads To Greater Long-Term Difficulty
The thing is, starting a company from scratch can be terrifying, and a lot of times people want to gravitate towards the thing that will be much harder just because it’s familiar. Think about how many times you’ve seen this in movies where you could go on one path or you could go on another path and you, as an objective observer, are like, “Do this. That’ll be so much easier,” but the heroine or the hero chooses the thing that is so much harder.
We even see it with people’s health. People say, “I don’t have the time or effort to eat right and exercise. That’s too hard.” When actually, doing that is easier than having open-heart surgery later in life, easier than being sick and on tons of medications. Sometimes, because of our fear of the unknown or trying something new, again, we stay with the thing that is actually far harder for us.
Sometimes, because of our fear of the unknown or trying something new, we stay with what is actually far harder for us. Share on XThis is my challenge for you this week. The next time you’re faced with a decision where 1 of the 2 things scares you far more than the other, first do you know me? I like to run towards things that scare me so see if the scary thing will help you develop and become a better version of yourself, give you more skills, give you more experiences. If you’re like, “April, I don’t care about that. No,” then at least do this. Find someone you trust and ask them, “Is this thing so scary because it’s new, but it would actually be easier for me instead of doing the thing that I know that is way, way harder?”
You’re only allowed to ask them if you will follow their advice, because we all hate that friend that asks for our good advice and we give it to them and then they don’t take it and then we still have to console them at the end anyway. Keep in mind, most of the time, the thing you are most afraid of would actually be easier, more fun, and much more successful if you’d just take the leap. Here’s to your success.
