How Being Scared Can Help You Make Better Decisions

Several years ago I started to embark on a transition to move across the country. And I was feeling terrified. I woke up every day with a knot in my stomach for weeks.

“What was wrong?” I asked. “Am I making a bad move?”

Then I realized it had been a while since I did any transitioning.

And over the years, I’ve learned that something is wrong when you move ahead without fear.

Yes, you read that correctly.

You can feel really brave and come across as confident. But in fact, when you’re taking a big risk, you ought to feel some fear.

Of course, no principle applies 100% of the time. Sometimes you just know you’re on track and you forge ahead. But I believe that fear ultimately will be your friend.

If you’re afraid you’ll call around to everyone you know to get information. You’ll haunt the search engines, seeking every piece of information you can find. You’ll consider the downsides as well as the benefits — looking at them squarely and asking the tough questions.

Several years ago my friend Julie bought her first home. We were all surprised: she just jumped right in, even though the market was tight, her job was not secure and she didn’t know anything about real estate. In her…