The Panic That Slips In After Doing Something Bold {3.18.26}

There’s a moment no one really prepares you for in business.

It’s the moment after you do something bold.

The moment when you hit publish, raise your prices, say the hard thing…and then suddenly wonder if you’ve completely lost your mind.

In this episode, Jen breaks down what’s actually happening in that post-bold panic and why it’s not a sign you made a mistake. 

It’s a sign you’re growing.

More importantly, she walks you through how to move through that moment without undoing the very thing that could change your business.

Thank you for listening!


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Transcript

0:44

There is often a moment right after you've done something bold in your business. Something like pressing publish on a stance, taking post, raising your prices beyond your comfort level, or saying no to a prospect who is not an ideal client. There's this moment when a thought suddenly enters your mind and it asks you, have you lost your ever loving mind? And in that moment, that moment of doubt and panic. That is an inflection point, and what happens next determines whether you step into the next level of your business or you retreat back to your comfort cave. I recently published a post about how I intentionally non-renewed two of my clients I shared something that I've been noticing for a while, but I hadn't seen anybody else talk about, and that is that the coaching industry is creating long-term dependency between coaches and clients because the recurring revenue. From the clients becomes more important than client independence. Now, this post was way outta my element way out. I was used to being someone who stayed in the shadows and never said anything that might provoke someone else to disagree. But I wrote the post and I felt bold as I did it, I hadn't seen many people say anything publicly, so I decided to go first. I wrote the post and I pressed publish, and then the panic showed up. What if I get pushback? What if people judge me? What if I overestimate myself? What if, what if? What if? My mind immediately started spinning through all of the worst case scenarios. But this time I handled it differently. Instead of letting those thoughts carry me down the familiar slope of panic, I stepped back and I watched what was happening in my brain, and what I noticed was fascinating, those thoughts. They were telling me that I had just made a very dangerous move that I had exposed myself and that I should delete the post before anyone saw it. But that emotional wave of panic, it really did not last very long because I was not feeding it with more emotion. Normally, I would've fed those thoughts and increased the drama and convinced myself that I had made a mistake and deleted that post before anyone saw it. But this time I didn't. I let the thoughts pass through without arguing with them or acting on them, and a few minutes later, the panic was gone. The post stayed up and I made a major deposit in my self-trust bank. The panic that I experienced after pressing publish, it was real. I could feel the uptick in my heart rate. I could feel my muscles start to tighten, but what was actually happening is that panic was more drama than truth. Could I have experienced pushback from this post? Yes, but I can handle pushback. Could readers have judged me or disagreed with me? Of course, everyone is entitled to their own thoughts. Could I have thought that I was braver than I actually was? Now, this one, I say no way to I have decided that I am in my bold era. Those panic thoughts, they felt so convincing in the moment, but they weren't the truth. They were just protection to my primal brain, the part of my brain responsible for keeping me safe. That bold post was seen as a threat, not a physical threat, but a threat to the identity. That once kept me safe, staying agreeable, not saying anything too controversial and avoiding too much attention. The panic that I experienced was simply my brain trying to pull me back into my old way of being, not because the move was wrong, but because it represented a leveling up in my identity. That panic that I felt was trying to lure me back into my comfort cave where everything stayed safe. And predictable. And if I had deleted the post, that is exactly where I would've gone. Instead, by watching my thoughts, I gave panic space to pass without the need to act on it. And so the post stayed up. I didn't give into my panic. My self-trust bank got a major deposit. I started seeing myself as someone who can say hard things. And I will say that that post that I published on LinkedIn is my highest viewed post ever. The me of 2025 would never have done this. She would've deleted that post right away. She probably would never have even written the post in the first place. But the me of 2026 knows that boldness is a part of my growth plan. There is a moment in business that almost no one is talking about, and it's the moment right after you've done something bold. You hit publish, you raise your prices, you share your opinion. You say the hard thing, you send the pitch email to the podcast, you want to be on and for a brief second, you feel really proud of yourself and you should, you and your future self are celebrating. But then the panic rushes in hard and it tries to convince you that you have made a terrible mistake. And that, my friends, is the moment that you have a choice to make retreat or level up. And honestly, that's the moment I see many entrepreneurs quietly choose retreating. They edit their post, they lower their prices, they walk back the opinion. They tell themselves they move too fast. And just like that, they slide right back into their comfort cave and remain who they've always been. But for those who level up, they choose to see that panic as something else For these entrepreneurs, that panic is simply the emotional turbulence that comes with expanding beyond who you used to be. Because growth rarely feels calm in the moment that it's happening. I'm going to say that again. Growth rarely feels calm in the moment that it's happening. It feels like uncomfortable exposure, uncertainty, unpreparedness, a little bit reckless and crazy. But every time you allow yourself to move through that panic without abandoning the decision you made in a moment of clarity, something really important happens. You make a deposit in your self-trust bank. You prove to yourself that you can feel discomfort without immediately retreating, and you begin to see yourself a little differently. And that to me is the coolest part. Not as someone who stays quiet to avoid judgment, but as someone who is willing to say what they believe, even when their primal brain would prefer that they stay safe and small boldness. We know it is not a personality trait. No one is born with it. Boldness is a practice. It's one that is available to anyone willing to step up to the plate. And sometimes that practice begins with letting the panic pass without letting it decide who you are allowed to become. Because you, my friend, are sitting in the driver's seat on your journey through life and business. Keep looking forward. Because that is the way you're headed.