Unleash Your Potential: Conquering Fear to Achieve Career Success S5E05

If you feel stuck, scared to make a change, or frustrated that you’re not following through on the ideas and dreams in your heart… this episode is for you.

Today, Sheri unpacks the real reason ambitious, successful mid-career women freeze when they feel called to something more. It’s not lack of clarity. It’s not motivation. And it’s definitely not time management.

Using research from Harvard Business Review, Duke University, McLean Hospital, and the KPMG Women’s Leadership Study, Sheri reveals what’s actually holding you back — fear, doubt, emotional avoidance, and the confidence gap.

You’ll learn:

✓ Why 95% of ideas never make it past the starting line
✓ The Attitude Wheel: the cycle every woman hits when starting something new
✓ What really happens at 6:00 — fear, freeze, distraction, and self-doubt
✓ The difference between clarity and confidence (and why clarity alone isn’t enough)
✓ Why successful women avoid career-changing risks (KPMG study)
✓ How to move from 6:00 to 9:00 faster, with less spiraling
✓ What Sheri sees in her clients at the end of her 10-week program — and why most stall
✓ The new Calling Creator Collective™ and how it supports you through fear and follow-through

If you’ve been feeling called to a new direction but can’t seem to take the next step, this episode will help you understand why — and give you the pathway to move forward with confidence.

Take our free 12-question quiz to see if it's right for you and get your next action step. https://discoveringyourcalling.com/quiz

Transcript

Sheri Miter: 1:20

Did you know most dreams never make it past the idea stage? Harvard Business Review reports that around 95% of new ideas never make it to market. And Duke University's School of Business found that less than half of people with a business idea ever take even the simplest first step, like even talking to one potential customer. Not because the idea was bad, not because the person wasn't capable, but because fear stops them before they ever even start. Welcome to the Discovering Your Calling podcast. I'm your host, Jerry Miter. I'm here to help you unleash your strengths and get clarity on your calling. I believe when you find your purpose in life, fulfillment, joy, and success will follow. If you're ready, pop in those earbuds, hit that follow button, and join me on this journey toward discovering your calling. And it's not just business ideas. A widely cited University of Scratton study shows that only about 8% of people achieve the goals they set, which means 92% of goals quietly die in the background of everyday life. And if you've ever stalled out on something important to you or didn't follow through, or find yourself asking, why do I stop before I finish my goals or plans? You are not alone. And you're not broken. You're human. You're experiencing a cycle every single one of us goes through. Anytime we are doing something new, something outside of our comfort zone, we are going to go through this cycle. And it can happen when we're buying a house, when we're training to run a marathon, or even when we're creating our calling. Or maybe I should say, especially when we're creating our calling. And it's a cycle I teach inside of the Discovering Your Calling Academy, and I call it the attitude wheel. And once you understand it, you will hold the key to not letting fear ever keep you from achieving your biggest goals again. So what is the attitude wheel? So I want you to imagine a old-fashioned clock. You know, the ones with the hands on it that have the 12, you know, have all the numbers going around in a circle. I know in this digital age, some of you may not even know what that looks like. So imagine a circle. And at the top you have 12. Over on the, if you keep going clockwise, uh, you have three o'clock, then down on the bottom you have six o'clock, and then up on the other side, you have nine o'clock. So picture this clock, picture this circle. And at 12 o'clock is the excitement stage. This is the stage once we've committed to achieving a goal, to doing something new. It's the excitement that we feel when we make that commitment. It's the place where we are, where the idea feels amazing, you feel super energized, and you think, this is it, I can do this. That's the place we want to stay. Unfortunately, what happens is we slowly start sliding down the clock and we hit three o'clock. And around three o'clock, where is where a little bit of doubt creeps in. Now we're still excitement, excited, we still feel like we can accomplish the thing, but we start to have some what ifs creep in and we start questioning: is this the right thing? Am I capable of doing this? I'm not really sure. Did I make a mistake? But we still feel motivated to achieve the goal. But then what happens is we continue to slide down and we hit six six o'clock. And this is the bottom of the circle. And it's six o'clock that is the danger zone. This is the place where we you know have that fear. We freeze up, we start overthinking, distraction happens, procrastination, we start blaming others or our circumstances. And unfortunately, it is at six o'clock where a lot of dreams and goals die because they don't, we don't recognize what's happening. And what happens at six o'clock is we think it's a sign. We think it's it's just us. We think we made a mistake of even setting the goal or making the change or going after a big dream. But in reality, it's just the attitude wheel. It's normal for us to feel this way. The key is to recognize what has happened and to pull the tools out of our toolbox, our mindset toolbox, so that we can get back up to nine o'clock as quickly as possible. Because when we can get that momentum going again and get back up to nine o'clock, nine o'clock is where we start remembering who we are. We reconnect to our strengths, we reconnect to our resilience, we remind ourselves of past wins and we say, I have done hard things before and I can do this. And we remember why we started in the first place. And the great thing about nine o'clock is once you get that momentum going out of six into nine, it's very easy to keep on going to get back up to 12 o'clock, where that excitement lives again. Now, here's the thing: this cycle is inevitable. It happens anytime, and I dare to say, every time we start something new. You probably recognize time you can think back and recognize when you've been in this cycle. Maybe you know exactly where you're at right now in this cycle, whether it be 12, 3, oh no, 6 o'clock, 9 o'clock, or back up at 12. It happens when in business, it happens when we're making career changes, it happens in fitness routines and diets, it happens anytime there's a lifestyle shift. It just happens. And we can't stop it from happening. But what we can do is equip ourselves again with the tools to move quickly from six to nine. And I will tell you, I've reckoned, I learned about this attitude will, I don't remember what my mentor at the time called it, probably 20-something years ago. And it is stuck with me. And I see myself slide around this cycle so many times. The key thing is I can honestly go through this entire cycle in about five minutes flat now. Times that it used to take me to go through the cycle in about five days, now is that five minutes, depending on what it is, because I have the tools. I have, I recognize what's happening, I pull out the right tool to get me quickly from six o'clock to nine o'clock. Here's the emotional truth, though, behind six o'clock. Why do we even get stuck there? Why does it even happen? Now, according to McLean Hospital, which is a Harvard Medical School affiliate, procrastination isn't a time management issue. It's an emotional avoidance. And procrastination is one of the reasons we get stuck at six o'clock, because procrastination happens to avoid fear, anxiety, overwhelm, self-doubt, or that feeling of we're just not enough. And in today's world of constant distractions, our phones, notifications, social media, it's so easy to just numb that discomfort instead of facing it head on. And that's why sometimes we get stuck at six o'clock because we procrastinate, because we don't want to face our fears. And honestly, it's your nervous system trying to protect you from emotional risk. But the key is it's learning how to work your way through it instead of avoiding it. Here's another stat I want to give you. I know I'm full of stats today, but um, this is why it's so important for the women I work with, women like you. One more stat said according to KPMG's women's leadership study, only 43% of women are willing to take bigger career risks, even when those risks align with their goals or calling. And that number one reason they avoid those risks, lack of confidence, not lack of talent, not lack of experience, not lack of skills, but confidence. And I've always said that one of the ways to overcome that lack of confidence is knowledge. And it's overcoming the fear because you see procrastination, that lack of confidence, that fear, all of those are the signs, are the things that happen when we get stuck at six o'clock. And I see this happen all the time, unfortunately, in discovering in my discovering your calling academy. I see brilliant, talented women with expertise, expertise, strengths, and purpose-driven business ideas finish our 10 weeks together with clarity, a calling aligned plan, and ideas that can genuinely make a difference in the lives of others. They know the problem they're meant to solve, they know the people they're meant to help, they know the steps they need to make because we have built a strategy plan together. But sadly, once our one-on-one time ends, many of them hit six o'clock. Fear creeps in, life gets busy, their confidence wavers, the idea gets pushed aside, procrastination sets in. Not because the idea wasn't good, not because they aren't good, definitely not that one, but because clarity alone doesn't overcome fear. Now, some of those clients recognize it because we've talked about this and they filled their toolbox with the right tools and they can get themselves quickly back to nine o'clock, but some of them never make it past six. And honestly, my friends, that breaks my heart. I hate seeing so many great ideas left along the roadside. I hate seeing so many brilliant women not fulfill their calling because of that fear. And that is also why I am expanding the Discovering Your Calling Academy in 2026. Because I've realized clarity isn't enough. Strategy isn't enough. You need the tools, the support, the community, the accountability, and the strengths aligned momentum to move through the fear and actually build what you're called to build. So I'm excited to say starting in 2026, every Discovering Your Calling Academy student will not only get 10 weeks of powerful one-on-one clarity and strategy with me, but they'll also get a full year inside the Calling Creator Collective. Or I might be calling it C3 for short. That year is going to be full of monthly workshops by myself or other mentors and experts, monthly coaching, but it'll have the support. It'll have the strengths, it'll have the community and the tools to move from six o'clock to nine o'clock quickly, consistently, and confidently. It'll be a year designed to help you overcome procrastination, break through the fear, and step into that 8% of goal achievers. This is where dreams stop dying at six o'clock and start becoming the work and life you were created for. Discovering your calling academy plus C3 is how the clarity becomes creation, creation becomes community, and community builds the confidence so you can go live your calling. Here's the little selfish truth behind it all. I want to see these ideas become reality for my clients. I feel like we have so many breakthroughs together and ideas are planted. I want to see the fruitful harvest with my clients. And that's what will happen with this new addition to the Discovering Your Calling Academy. So, my friend, as we wrap up this episode, what tools do you need to put in your mindset toolbox so that you can swiftly move through the six o'clock phase the next time you are working on a big goal? Let me know. The other thing to know is now that you know this attitude wheel, just be mindful of it and recognize that when you start sliding down from three to six, it's not a sign that you should stop. It's not a sign that you're on the wrong path. It's just normal. It's just part of the process. So quickly pull out those tools and get back up to nine o'clock and up to 12 o'clock. Now, if this episode today has stirred something up in you regarding your future work and life, your next step is simple. Book a clarity call with me. It's a no-pressure conversation to explore where you are, what you're being called to do next, and see if this is the right program for you or not. The link is in the show notes. And if you'd rather, feel free to DM me over on Facebook or email me at sherry at sherry mitreco.com. And remember, Sherry's S-H-E-R-I, Sherry Mitre Co. S-H-E-R-I, M-I-T-E-R-C-O.com. I would love to hear your story. And remember, my friend, you've been created to live a life of fulfillment, freedom, impact, and joy. We'll see you back here in two weeks. Thank you for spending this time with me. My hope is something you heard today inspires you to take action toward discovering your calling. I just have two favors to ask of you before you go. One, if you found value and enjoyed this episode, please leave us a review on Apple Podcasts or Spotify, and you might hear your review read on a future episode. And two, can you share this episode with three friends who will also enjoy it as much as you did? By doing these things, you will help us grow the podcast to make a bigger impact on the world. And until next week, remember, you've been created to live a life of fulfillment, freedom, purpose, success, and joy.