The best performers in the world aren't fearless.

They're curious.

When you're standing at the edge of something hard—a big project, a difficult conversation, a new challenge—the default is to tense up. But if you can shift from What if I fail? to I wonder what will happen next? everything changes. Watch how young kids move through the world. They tinker, stumble, and get right back to exploring. Nobody taught them this. It's in their nature, which means it's in our nature, too. The problem is that somewhere along the way our focus shifts from exploring to safeguarding our egos. Research shows that curiosity and fear compete for the same neural networks.

You literally cannot be curious and scared at the same time. Next time you feel the fear creeping in, try replacing How am I going to do this? with It’s a new day, let’s find out.