9 Scary Things You Can Do Right Now To Improve Your Life

This article was last updated on December 30, 2015

“The best piece of advice someone has ever given me was ‘do it scared.’ And no matter if you’re scared, just go ahead and do it anyway because you might as well do it scared, so it will get done and you will feel so much better if you step out of your comfort zone” Sherry Sheppard

Are you are feeling discontent and dissatisfied with your life? Do you desire contentment, satisfaction and a sense of fulfilment in life? Do you want to live a life with no regrets? If you are saying yes to these the questions then I believe I have the answer on how you can improve your life.

By doing these 9 scary things your life will improve hugely. In fact these 9 scary activities will take you so far out of your comfort zone that you will never want to go back.

You will also find that once you do these 9 scary things, mediocrity, disappointment, dissatisfaction, regret, fear, low self esteem and feeling like a failure in life will be replaced with the feelings of satisfaction, contentment, fulfilment, joy, optimism, self belief and hope.

So, here are the 9 scary things you can do right now to improve your life.

By the way, all of these scary things I have done! There is no way I would be telling you to do scary things without me having done them! This means if I can do these scary things then there is no reason why you cant give them a go.

You wont regret it – trust me! Oh and another thing what scary things you start with is totally up to you. You chose how scared you want to be!!

1. Set a dream goal and then tell people about it.

“Writing down your goals and sharing them with others can be the difference between you achieving your dream and having it vanish” Unknown

Tell everyone who loves and supports you about your desire to achieve this dream goal. Share with them your plan as to how you will be achieving this goal. Take one step further and tell them that every week for as long as it takes to achieve your goal you will update them on your progress.

Go on step out and announce to the world your plans!

2. Stand up and Speak Your Mind

“When you give yourself permission to communicate what matters to you in every situation you will have peace despite rejection or disapproval. Putting a voice to your soul helps you to let go of the negative energy of fear and regret.” Shannon L Alder

For me speaking my mind was the scariest thing for me to do. I joined Toast Masters to overcome my fear of public speaking. Before I gave my first speech I broke out in a sweat, my knees were knocking and my heart was pounding. It wasn’t the greatest speech but I did it and I have never looked back. Today I earn a living as a motivational speaker and love it. I often wonder what would of happened if I had chosen not to overcome my biggest fear?

Speaking your mind is empowering and builds your belief in you. Step into your power and change your life – scary yes, but very simple to do if you choose to.

3. Face Your Fears

“You gain strength, courage and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You are able to say to yourself, ‘I have lived through this horror. I can take the next thing that comes along.’ You must do the thing you think you cannot do.” Eleanor Roosevelt

There is no way you can pretend that you don’t know that when you face overcoming your fears your life can only get better. Deep down you know what you need to do to turn your life around but for many of us its just too scary to face our fears.

Stepping into what we perceive to be the unknown is a scary thing to do but once you do, you will find that your life can only get better. Your fears will still be with you but you have faced them and now it is you that controls them.

4. Find the courage to forgive yourself

“Love yourself—accept yourself—forgive yourself—and be good to yourself, because without you the rest of us are without a source of many wonderful things.” Leo F. Buscaglia

We make mistakes, we have regrets and we do some really dumb things in life. Wishing we could be better, more intelligent, richer, faster, prettier, successful, skinny, stronger is just a waste of time and energy.

It takes courage to forgive yourself, so go find your courage and forgive yourself. When you accept and love yourself for who you are, you will experience joy, happiness, optimism and hope in your life. Forgiving yourself is the key ingredient to your living a great life.

5. Consistently do daring things

“It’s daring to be curious about the unknown, to dream big dreams, to live outside prescribed boxes, to take risks, and above all, daring to investigate the way we live until we discover the deepest treasured purpose of why we are here.” Luci Swindoll

To be daring you have to practise lots. The more daring things you do, the more courageous you become. In fact when you look back at the very first daring things you did, you will find that they are actually now normal events in your life.

Everyone is different when it comes to deciding what are the “daring” things to do – so spend some time considering your list of daring challenges to undertake. This list will of course be a work in progress as you tick off all these daring things you have accomplished. Being daring in life is the best way in which you can live your life to the fullest and of course improve your life. So go be daring!

6. Give a random compliment to a stranger

“Too often we underestimate the power of a touch, a smile, a kind word, a listening ear, an honest compliment, or the smallest act of caring, all of which have the potential to turn a life around”. Leo Buscaglia

Our fear of rejection is a self limiting belief that can hold us back from the experiences of life. When we let our fear of rejection control our life we choose to live a life of mediocrity. We let many opportunities pass us by because we are too scared to grab it.

Engaging with a stranger and paying them a compliment is only scary the first time you do it and after that you are away. There is no way you can ignore the feeling of joy that you get when the stranger smiles back at you and thanks you for making their day.

7. Embrace change and the unexpected in life

“Your life does not get better by chance, it gets better by change.” Jim Rohn

The one and only thing that is constant in your life, is change. You can choose to fight change or you can choose to embrace it. When you embrace change, you then embrace life.

Those who embrace change choose to go with the flow of life which of course means dealing with the unexpected events of life. We can not control what happens to us in life however we can control how we respond to these challenging events.

It is a scary thing to do, let go of our control of life and to go with the flow of life. Once we do though our life is more fulfilled and happier.

8. Learn to love your vulnerability

“Vulnerability sounds like truth and feels like courage. Truth and courage aren’t always comfortable, but they’re never weakness.” Brené Brown

Vulnerability is scary but it is also the most powerful and authentic way for you to live life. Many of us believe in the myth that being vulnerable is a sign of weakness. It definitely is not, for the more you step into your vulnerability the more powerful you become.

When you are at your most vulnerable and you share this with others, you connect with them – your failings, your fears are their fears and their failings. Being vulnerable takes courage but it is so worth it when you do because you become fearless.

9. Write down a bucket list of all the crazy and weird things you want to do and then go do them

“Something you need most might be something you turn away from, something you turn away from might be something you regret, and something you regret, in the end, might cost you the one chance you ever had”

Brian Judge

Writing a bucket list of all the crazy, weird and wonderful things you want to do in your life is a life creating exercise. Sometimes you have to create the moments to experience life and that is what a bucket list is all about.

It is also your dream list where you identify all the activities you want to do in your life that enables you to live your life to the fullest. To dream big and identify all the crazy things you want to do in life is scary however having bucket list means you can not help but live a memorable and meaningful life.

To improve your life you have to accept that feeling scared and taking action is the only way it is going to happen. Your life is not meant to be lived feeling discontent, dissatisfied and full of regret so do these 9 scary things now and your life will change forever.