Expert Interview: Encore–Facing Your Dragon, Facing Your Fears

Brad Axelrad

Brad Axelrad is a consultant, speaker and spiritual adventure tour facilitator. He supports coaches and consultants to leverage their fear, freeing them to create the lifestyle they desire. Having produced more than 100 live events with top thought leaders and best-selling authors, he’s transformed the lives of thousands with his Face Your Dragon message.

Brad is a founding member of the Association of Transformational Leaders and has been featured on NBC Nightly News, PBS Television, The LA Times and many other media outlets. He currently resides in Costa Rica, catalyzing leaders, leading them on spiritual adventure tours.

Facing Your Dragon, Facing Your Fears

“Facing your dragon is understanding how to find, face and ride your dragon; very simply, how to train your dragon. The entire Face Your Dragon platform is based on the quote, ‘The cave you fear to enter holds the treasure you seek.’ Our greatest fear is possibly our greatest gift and our money-maker. I challenge folks to look at what they’re most afraid of.”

Why Is This Important?

“The more we can admit and get in touch with our greatest fear—and actually face it—the more we can learn to use all those biochemicals from that amazing pharmacy in our head, without letting them force us into fight, flight or freeze. This really creates an opportunity for us to understand and use the adrenaline, dopamine, oxytocin and all these naturally occurring neurochemicals to our benefit. When we do have those moments of fight, flight or freeze, we can learn how to be courageous enough to surrender to this field of energy around us. We can trust that it’s going to work out, instead of letting our intellect get in the way and create a push-and-pull, tugging effect. It’s about that gap—that split-second of time—between choice and action, when you can make a different choice.

What Are the Key Lessons Learned Here?

“In all of my years in the transformational leadership space—almost 10 years—I’ve found that we all have these five core blocks, or dragons, or fears that keep us stuck. They keep us from taking action and move forward. They’re the fear that:

1) You’ll be found out as an imposter or fraud (whatever that is to you).

2) People won’t want what you offer.

3) You’ll never have the courage to charge what you’re worth, so you’ll undercut yourself.

4) People won’t understand the difference you can make for them. Whatever you’ve created for them just won’t fly.

5) If you achieve the dream, you’ll be criticized, or your personal life will suffer. The fear of success.