Fear or Courage: What’s Your Strategy for Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship? On Decison Making | Leadership for Introverts

Let’s talk about Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship. We know purpose is crucial, but what role does clarity play in determining this purpose? Sometimes we ask for clarity and expect it to show up instantly. But God often gives us light one step at a time. This is leadership for Introverts.

In this episode, I reflect on Chapter 7 of The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman and the one question that helps me move forward in faith, especially when the path is foggy.

I also share how I wrestled with launching PodGround, a platform for podcasters, and what I learned about fear, courage, and purpose-driven entrepreneurship.

If you’re making a big decision right now, or wondering if fear is calling the shots in your life, this conversation is for you. Tune in if you're interested in how to develop Leadership for Introverts

This is Purpose-Driven Entrepreneurship. Are You Being Led by Fear or Courage? If you're an introspective introvert, an introvert leader, or someone wondering how to get unstuck and move forward with building dreams and ideas, this is for you.

Loved this episode? Share it with a friend who’s facing a big decision.

And if it helped you, leave a quick review—I’d love to know your takeaway.

Got a question or reflection? Email me at thedrivenintrovert@shepact.com  

Thanks for being here! If you'd like to support the show, please visit buymeacoffee.com/remiroy to give a one-time or monthly gift. 

And if you can’t give financially right now? A rating, a review, or simply sharing the show with a friend goes such a long way.

Thank you for being here. I see you. I appreciate you.

Transcript

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SPEAKER_00 0:00

Hi, friend. Welcome to another episode of the Driven Introvert Podcast. We're continuing reading the book The Next Right Thing by Emily P. Freeman. And I have to say I'm really enjoying this series. Can I ask you a favor? Please send me an email and let me know two things. Number one, are you enjoying this series? Be honest with me, right? And number two, is it helping you as you think about the decisions you have to make in life? Because the truth is, it doesn't matter who you are, where you live, or what you do for work or fun. We all face decisions. Some are big, some are small, but they shape the way you know the cost of our lives play out. So whether you're a super driven person like me, or you're more laid back, it doesn't matter. You still have decisions to make. Sure, you can choose to avoid them. You can delegate them, you can make them hastily, but decisions are unavoidable. Let me know if this series has been helpful. And also, are there any specific questions you'd like me to cover on decision making? Alright, I would love to hear it. Let's get into it. You're listening to the Driven Introvert Podcast, the place to be for dreamers, doers, and entrepreneurs who are ready to birth the dreams, callings, and ideas the Lord has placed in their hearts. Do you sense that God is calling you to step out and do something new, but you're held back by fear and uncertainty? Do you struggle with believing that you can do great things because of your quiet, reserved, and introverted nature? Welcome here. I'm Remy Roy, your host and founder of ShePact.com. I'm an author, an entrepreneur, a creative, and a committed trier. I'm here to help you get on stock and make progress on your God idea. Let's go. Today we're talking about chapter 7 of the book, The Next Right Thing, and the title is Ask This Question Before Every Hard Decision. There's a quote at the beginning of the chapter by John Johnson from his book When the Soul Listens. He says, and I quote, It may look like the clouds are gathering for us dumb, but I can rest because I have God's companionship. And that is enough. Decisions aren't so harrowing because I know the light won't come suddenly, but it will come as needed. End quote. Isn't that beautiful? The light won't come suddenly, but it will come as needed. And that's one thing I've learned in life. We don't expect or we often expect clarity to strike like lightning, right? You just wake up one night like Eureka, I've got it. Now you know everything. But it doesn't always happen that way. Sometimes clarity comes step by step. You take one small step, and that step lights up the next, and then another, and then another. This chapter focuses on one very powerful question that the writer of the book, Emily, was asked during a time she was wrestling with a big decision. It really stuck with her and now guides many of her choices. And I find this question very important for me as I navigate this season of my life. So she tells a story about growing up in South Carolina when a storm, Hurricane Hugo, was approaching. Her mom reassured her because of obviously she was afraid. And she kept saying, We're far inland, we don't have to worry, we're out of the way of the storm. And Emily took away this idea from that conversation. We may not be able to control the storm, but we can get out of its way. All right. Now let's flip that. Sometimes we're not running from real storms. We're running from the fear of a storm. Fears about losing our job, about being alone, about failing. All of those things. And we let those fears create storms in our minds. Then we make decisions based on those perceived storms, not actually reality. And this is something that plays out over and over. If you look at your life, you will find that some of the decisions you've made is because you were afraid of losing something. You were afraid of experiencing something that might cause you anxiety or pain. And then we make decisions based on those things. Emily shares another story. When her kids were growing up, uh, she lived in fear, fear that they will get sick, fear that she will get sick and she won't be able to take care of them, fear of making the wrong decisions about where to live or how to school them, how to raise them. And I am certainly experiencing those fears, you know, as a mom today. And for her, when she published her first book, she started getting speaking invitations. She said yes to things she didn't want to do out of fear of missing out, we know that, for more. And then she said no to other things she really wanted to do. But because she was afraid that she couldn't handle it, she said no to them. Isn't that crazy? The things that you really want to do, because you want it so much, you get so afraid that, oh, I might show up and not be good enough. And then the things that just kind of come your way that maybe you really shouldn't be doing, you just follow those decisions and chase those things because you think you're gonna miss out on something. She says, and I quote, fear works both ways, keeping you from doing things you might want to do and convincing you that you have to do things that you don't want to do. That really hit me. That really hit me. So eventually, in this chapter, she talks about having an opportunity to go on a compassionate international trip. I think that's uh a nonprofit. Uh she was gonna go on that trip as a writer, and she really couldn't decide if she should go or not. She spent days pretending she said yes to that invitation, and then another day pretending she said no, just to kind of see how it feels in her body, you know, in her mind, how she was feeling about that decision, but still she had no clarity. Finally, someone told her, quote, you can have many reasons to say no to this strip, but don't let fear be one of them, end quote. And for her, that was the key. Don't let fear be the reason. There's so many reasons why you choose to do things or not do things, but please don't let fear be the reason why you make decisions. I know it's easier said than done, because when they are in the thick of things, in the thick of making a decision, or feeling pressure, or maybe you're feeling some sort of desperation. But usually fear drives decisions in those spaces. But please don't let fear be the reason you do anything. And here's the question she now asked before every hard decision. And the question is, am I being pushed by fear or led by love? I want to tweak that a little for me personally. And the way I've been asking myself this question is, am I being pushed by fear or led by courage? Is fear driving your choices or are you choosing courage in the face of uncertainty? Because there will be uncertainty. There will be things you cannot understand. There will be situations that you cannot fully account for or have clarity in. But are you going to choose courage even in that situation? In November of last year, 2004, I was in my closet praying, thinking, trying to decide if I wanted to move forward with Podground as a company. I didn't have clarity. There was no blueprint, no manual. It was all unknown. But I had to make a decision. If I said no, it would have been because of fear, plain and simple. And if you don't know, if you're listening to this podcast for the first time, Podground is a company I'm building. It's a technology platform for podcasters to find community resources and insights to succeed at podcasting, basically. So here am I really contemplating and praying about this decision. And I had the choice to lean into courage or fear. So I leaned into courage. Messy, uncertain, incomplete courage. So I want to ask you, are you being pushed by fear or led by courage? Whatever your decision is, maybe you're starting a business, you're leaving a job, you're you're getting married, you're taking a trip, you're saying yes to an idea, whatever it is, ask yourself, is it fear talking, or is this courage working? You'll know the difference, you will know the difference. If you are honest with yourself, you will know if you're moving forward or not because of fear, or if you're actually leaning into courage. Okay. If this is resonating with you, I want to also point you to an older episode I did on fear setting. It's a concept popularized by Tim Ferris, and it's kind of like fear setting is kind of like goal setting, but for your fears. I know. You write down everything you're afraid of related to a particular decision, right? You're afraid, you're confused, you're uncertain. Write down everything you're feeling, everything you're afraid of. Shine a light on this. Break it down. Ask yourself, what am I afraid of? What could go wrong if I make this decision? What is actually realistic here? And who can help me figure it out when I'm confused? The thing is, fear thrives in the dark. But once you expose it to light, you gain perspective. Even if it's still scary, because it doesn't always take light doesn't always take away the fear. It doesn't always take away the thing that is uncertain. But what it does, it gives you a certain amount of clarity. Now you know what you're working with. Now you know what you're facing. It's no longer in the dark, it's no longer like shrouded in um this mystical, I have no idea what is going on. Now you see it, and now you can tackle it, and now you can take the right steps, find the right resources, find the right people, find the right community, find what you need to actually break through. It might still take a while, it will still take work, but at least you are not groping around in the dark. So think about that. Here's your practice from Emily's book. She ends every chapter with a practice, and she says, and I quote, if you're facing a big decision, perhaps your next right thing is to ask, in this decision, am I being pushed by fear or led by love? That may offer all of the insight you need to take your next right step. So there might be a lot of good reasons to act or not to act, but don't let fear be one of them. So I'm sitting right here thinking about all the things with part ground that hasn't gone according to plan. We've shifted our timeline, the MVP got delayed, nothing is neat and nothing is perfect. I have had to push aside the fear, the overthinking, the sleepless nights, and just move forward with courage. Even when I have incomplete information, I just move forward with courage. So if you've said yes to something, whether it's a relationship, a dream, a child, a calling, I want to encourage you to lean into courage. Because whatever comes next, you can handle it. We always feel like, oh, this is gonna be the end of me, but it's never true. It feels like a like the end of the road, like a dead end, but no, it's an illusion of a dead end. It's not a dead end. There's always somewhere else you can go, something else you can do. And whatever comes, you can handle it. Ask for grace, ask for strength, ask for wisdom, ask for the right people around you. And don't let fear be the reason you say no to what God may be calling you to do. All right, let me know if you have any questions or want me to explore further another angle of decision making. I would love to hear from you. You can email me anytime at thedriveninteret at shepact.com. Thank you so much for listening, and I'll see you in the next one. Thank you so much for listening. If you enjoy this conversation, please take a moment to follow or subscribe to the podcast. I'd also love your feedback on this episode. You can scroll down on your app and click write a review. I'd love to read your takeaways from this conversation. As always, don't forget to take courage, trust God, and go pursue your big ideas. See you next time. The Dreven Introvert is produced by Sheepack.com and Remy Roy. Want to ask a question or share a comment on a future episode? Click on the link in the show notes to record your question in a voicemail.