Do it 100 times.

The truth I've learned about fear and happiness.

I heard a great line the other day.

When people ask Mark Manson for writing advice, he tells them to go write 100 articles and come back to him.

It’s a twist on the fable about the greatest salesman in the world.

The point is, if you do something enough times, and you’re paying attention, you’ll figure it out. You won’t need advice. You’ll have something else.

I’ve been thinking about this idea a lot. Especially when I hear about all of the mental health issues people are facing these days.

Life’s never been easier, and people are still unhappy. Maybe it’s a part of the human condition.

The more I think about this the more I believe that people don’t really want to be happy.

What they really want is to be confident.

Think about it. Anxiety presents itself as dread over future events. Literally extreme fear over something that has not happened yet.

How do you overcome fear? You have to act. You have to confront the thing you are afraid of.

The more you rely on products and services to do everything for you, the more you avoid discomfort.

The more you avoid discomfort, the less able you feel to deal with new situations.

You spiral into compounding feelings of inadequacy until you have unreasonable, completely made up fears: dread over future events.

I know for me, I feel the worst when my daily actions don’t line up with my aspirational identity. The key here is my “daily actions.”

It’s not about how I measure up to others. It’s not about how far away I am from a goal. It’s about whether or not I am taking action, doing things.

I am not perfect at this. I procrastinate and avoid things on a weekly basis. There’s a list of sales calls I need to make right now, and I am writing this article instead. (It’s the advice I need to hear.)

I just know from experience that the best way to feel better about yourself, to be happy, is to build confidence. And, you can’t build confidence without taking action.

Fear is the most intense right before experience.

And I know the catharsis of overcoming fear.

It’s worth it.

Now, go do something.