Coaching practices for Do it Scared
Describe almost anything you are working through and IX Coach finds the practices whose real-world fit is closest. For Do it Scared, these are the strongest matches in the current practice library.
Does this sound like the set of challenges you might be facing?
- The thing I’m scared of sits in my mind as one giant wall of dread, and just thinking about facing it freezes me
- I’m finally ready to face this fear, but when I picture confronting the whole thing head-on I freeze
- I have the thing I want to say right there on my lips
- Even when I face the thing and nothing bad happens, my mind just shrugs it off as "I got lucky this time" and the dread stays exactly the same
- When I try to picture what I’m actually scared of, it’s just this huge gray nothing
Practices that may help
- Build an exposure hierarchy
List every feared situation and rank them by distress (0–100) before you do anything else.
The Fear Ladder: Graded Exposure Made Practical - Build a fear hierarchy
List feared situations from mildly anxiety-provoking to most feared, then work up from the bottom.
Exposure Therapy: Facing Fears to Shrink Them - Use the count for courage to speak or share
Count down and say the thing — raise your hand, send the message, ask the question — before fear edits it away.
The 5 Second Rule, Made Practical - Set realistic expectations before each exposure
Before you enter the situation, write down your feared prediction — then check it against reality afterward.
The Fear Ladder: Graded Exposure Made Practical - Define the worst case in specifics
List the worst things that could happen if you take the action — concretely, not vaguely.
Fear-Setting, Made Practical - Build a personal discomfort gradient
Rank your avoidances from mildly uncomfortable to overwhelming, then start at the bottom.
Embracing Discomfort: Turning Resistance Into Growth - Graded exposure
Approach a feared situation in planned, increasing steps instead of avoiding it.
Cognitive Behavioral Therapy (CBT), Made Practical - Fear-setting (define, prevent, repair)
Write down the worst case in detail, then list how you’d prevent it and how you’d recover.
Premeditatio Malorum, in Depth - Stay in the situation until anxiety drops
Remain in the feared situation long enough for distress to fall — leaving early teaches the wrong lesson.
The Fear Ladder: Graded Exposure Made Practical - Act before you feel ready
Take the competent action now and let confidence catch up, instead of waiting to feel sure.
Overcoming Imposter Syndrome, Made Practical
Related concerns
- Fear Setting Exercise
Fear-setting is Tim Ferriss’ structured alternative to goal-setting: instead of only picturing what you want, you write down the worst things that could happen if you act, how you’d prevent or repair each one, and — critically — the cost of doing nothing. It’s a practitioner technique, not a tested protocol, but it’s a structured variant of the Stoic practice of premeditating adversity and overlaps with how exposure reduces fear.
- How To Define Your Fears
List the worst things that could happen if you take the action — concretely, not vaguely.
Define the worst case in specifics
- How To Overcome Fear Step By Step
List every feared situation and rank them by distress (0–100) before you do anything else.
Build an exposure hierarchy
- Naming Fears To Overcome Them
List every feared situation and rank them by distress (0–100) before you do anything else.
- When Counter Conditioning Build An Anxiety Hierarchy
List feared situations from least to most distressing before any exposure begins.
Build an anxiety hierarchy
- When Exposure Therapy Fear Hierarchy
List feared situations from mildly anxiety-provoking to most feared, then work up from the bottom.
Build a fear hierarchy
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