How Project Fearless Helped Me Find a Mentor and Unlock New Career Growth Opportunities

Hi GoodHuman! I love you for being here today! 😊

I'm super excited to be sharing more about Project Fearless and how I used it to open doors when I was feeling incredibly lonely and isolated in my career.  

The elusive nature of finding a mentor has been a mystery to me since my early 20's.

I'm an optometrist and was someone who was closely attached to my dad (also an optometrist) as my "mentor", my "advisor", and "my confidant". This was a big mistake for me (more about that later), but hindsight is 20/20 and Project Fearless has taught me it's never too late to right a wrong or learn a new skill. Because of my close relationship to my Dad, I unconsciously stopped putting myself out there to connect with anyone else because to put it plainly, I had my Dad, and in what world could that not be better? Or, so I thought. Now, this may have been less of a problem if I hadn't been internally longing to connect deeper with someone who had not only come before me, who could help me with my hopes, dreams, and goals, but most importantly could understand and accept ME. Something my Dad failed at and typically made me feel small in our many conversations. This spiraled my confidence even further down the drain over the many years I spent with him as my "optometry" guru. 

Fast forward 9 years in my optometric journey,

to August 2023 when I began experiencing extreme reoccurring dread to get out of bed for work. It was the second time in 9 years. Determined to understand this pattern, I took a deep look at myself, my life, and my actions. What I came to recognize was a significant crack in my foundation that rippled throughout my life, personal and professional. It was clear—my self-confidence sucked.

I was so envious of those who were accomplished,

who created things, who shared their skill set with the world. What was their common denominator? What did they have that I didn't? I was not willing to accept the external factors of education, money, or beauty as an answer because what I envied felt deeper. I looked at these people with a longing for how they carried themselves, how they believed in themselves, and the energy they created around them. What was it that equated to my lack of self-confidence?? 

Facing my Self* with honesty, I came up with this solvable equation:

 My Fear + My Lack of Follow-through = My Insecure Nature.

Taking ownership for my life was the only way to break this reoccurring dread cycle. So channeling my envy for good vs self-destruction, I set out to rewrite this equation using "actionable change" as my guide post. 

Follow-through + Accomplishment = Confidence

The mantra that lead me: "I can become fearless through actionable behavior and intentional disciplined follow-through." Within a few weeks of repeating this mantra and "actionable change", I named my personal project: Project Fearless.

Once a week by Monday, I would do anything and everything that gave me fear, anxiety, or nervous excitement. This was the outline of my Project Fearless. 

I definitely did not start off with big actions like applying to professional programs or asking people I admired (and were totally intimidated by) to connect for coffee, but eventually the initial small personal actions of Project Fearless like journaling one minute in the morning and consistently moving my body in any way (50 crunches, a 10 minute walk, or an hour workout class), lead to more confidence, more follow through, and more accountability both personally and professionally. 

Confidence is built on follow-through and accomplishment.

Regardless of the outcome, the act of action alone defines character, giving words meaning. So even if I was going to be rejected or fail at a first try, I'd be using courage to put my Self out there, giving my Self the opportunity to create something, to become accomplished, or to share a particular skill set with the world—  just like the people I envied. 

Getting back to the mentor part,

I completed the applications, sent the emails and the texts (totally terrified), but the fear didn't matter. The only ask I had of myself was following through and completing the actions regardless of the potential outcome ignoring the negative dialogue I created with myself. Within a few months, I blinked and I found myself in a position of having a mentor! She was someone who cared about who I was, listened to what was important to me, and advised me on how I might go about obtaining my goals. I started having more conversations with people I never dreamed of and exploring growth opportunities outside of what I thought was possible for me. 

As mentioned in my other posts, there are so many ways to apply Project Fearless. This is just another example of using Project Fearless to open your life to connection, to possibilities, and create the best version of yourself. Before Project Fearless, I doubted my capacity to be a GoodHuman because I felt such a deep level of insecurity, envy, and unhappiness, but through Project Fearless I was able to erase my doubt, knowing that Becoming A BetterHuman is an equation that I can solve. With Project Fearless I have the power to start at zero and create the best version of myself.

I urge you to initiate the practice of Project Fearless when you are feeling stuck, envious, insecure, anxious, or uncertain

and join me to Becoming a BetterHuman and creating the life you dream of with the confidence we all deserve to feel.

I'm rooting for you.

With so much Love and Gratitude for reading this, 

Taryn 

**Take note: I will be referring at times to self/selves with a capital S because this for me symbolizes my insides, a part of me that deserves recognition; myself is the physical me, my Self is my spiritual me, and she deserves a capital S, as a Proper Noun.