This is something I’ve heard people say a lot. And after a week in the Gold Coast where pretty much all we did was eat, sleep, ride coasters and wait in queues, I found myself thinking quite a lot about the comparison. There are the ups and downs (obviously), the slow progress climbing to a peak and then the mad rush as you plummet back down. But more than that, there’s the commitment to do it, the boring hours you put in waiting to move to the front of the queue, the fear and the rush of exhilaration.

I’ve always loved roller coasters… bizarre for someone with a fear of heights. However, I really did not enjoy going on them with my tall-enough-but-incredibly-slim daughter, as none of the harnesses were tight on her, and there was this hideous fear that she would fall out! With one exception (a water ride ton which I was convinced I was going to capsize the raft the four of us were holding (tightly) onto), my nerves, while unmistakably present, were easily controllable.

That made me think about fear… how does the sensation and emotion we feel before going on a roller coaster differ from how we feel when we’re about to do something in life or in business, that we know we should do, but that scares us? It seems to me that the difference is all about our attitude… roller coasters are supposed to be fun (but scary), so we’re willing to pay a lot of money to experience the rush (and the fear; although at a theme park we would probably call it either nerves or excitement).

So our challenge could be to take something that scares you and think of it like a ride… reframe the fear as excitement, and look forward to the rush you’ll get when you’ve done it.