Don’t run from, deny, or minimize your fears. Really take a moment and pause to think about ALL your fears. Recognize them, acknowledge them, and identify them. If you are having a hard time articulating your fears, the last chapter discussed the most common fears; that should be a pretty good guide. Don’t worry if this list is long. It should have at least a few fears, and if it has a bunch, then so be it. In fact, the more you list (that are true), the better. That means you are being honest with yourself. STEP 2: ASK YOURSELF, “IS THIS POSSIBLE?” For each fear, ask yourself: “Is this fear possible? Is there any chance it will come to pass?” Many times people are anxious about vague and undefined fears. If that’s the case, forcing yourself to name the fear and realize it’s not even possible at all can make it go away. For example, we have authors who work with us that say, “I’m afraid that I’ll write this book but that I won’t be able to get it published.” That’s not a realistic fear. They’ve paid us to do the publishing, we are going to do it. This being said, most fears will be possible, even if only a small possibility. For example, continuing with the above example, you could say instead, “I’m afraid that I’ll write this book and I will look bad, and it will hurt my professional reputation.” That’s a real fear with real consequences—if you write a bad book, you will look bad. Yes, it is highly unlikely that the book will be bad, but it is possible. 44 · ThE SCriBE METhOD