An email exchange with Alison Levine yesterday required me to focus on "fear" and on being fearless. Alison knows a thing or two about this topic, this is after all, the 85 Broads member who lead an expedition up Mount Everest and named her company Daredevil Strategies. My conversation with Alison had me wondering, when do you embrace your fear, when do you dive in and live it and when do you flick it off your sleeve like a speck of dust?

Good questions to ponder.

As I was emailing with Alison, I recalled that the very insightful Danielle LaPorte (another 85 Broads member) had posted a blog on www.whitehottruth.com titled "Fear Management vs. Fear Leadership". The killer paragraph for me is:

"Don't manage your fear. Lead your fear. Take charge. When fear climbs on your shoulder and starts nattering in your ear, here's what you do: You stand as a master. You tell Scaredy Cat where you're going, risks and all, and you convert Scaredy into a champion to help you get there. You say, lovingly but firmly (because ultimately the Scaredy Cat in you just wants some love and you've got plenty of it to give,) "Yep, we may fail, it's possible. This is risky shit. But we'll still be okay. Because that's who we are. We're the kind of people that are okay, no matter what. So remember that invincibility and let's get to work. There's a new land to discover and the only way to find it is to keep going - cliffs, cash flow, agony, adulation and all. If you keep your mouth shut and your eyes wide open, we'll get there sooner. We're doing this. We're doing this because we want to. Because this is what it means to do life."

Don't manage your fear. Lead your fear. Pursue those challenges, honor your passions, embrace the anxious moments, ride the adrenaline rush - live your life.