From Treetops to Startups: How Facing Fear Builds Real Confidence

Hanging by a Cable

A few weekends back I strapped into a harness, helmet on, staring up at a course that looked designed to humiliate me. Platforms high in the trees. Wobbly bridges made of two planks. Zip lines disappearing into the forest.

Problem: I’m scared of heights.

By the time I stepped onto the first bridge, my hands were slick with sweat. My legs shook so bad it felt like the whole forest could see it. My brain offered every possible out: “Fake an ankle sprain. Say you forgot something in the car. Quit now before you embarrass yourself.”

But there I was — clipped in, staring at a cable that wasn’t going to cross itself.

That exact moment? It’s the same one founders feel when they pitch investors for the first time. Or when career pivoters apply for jobs they know they’re under qualified for on paper. Different arena, same fear.

You don’t wait for fear to go away. You move with it strapped to your chest.

Fear Is a Compass

Here’s what surprised me: fear wasn’t random. It showed up right when the stakes went up. Walking on the ground? Nothing. Balancing on a swaying cable 30 feet up? My nervous system went full red alert.

That’s not weakness. That’s data.

In startups, the easy stuff doesn’t trigger fear — Slack messages, Monday standups, tool stack debates. What spikes your nerves is the work that actually moves the needle:

• Presenting to investors who could write the check that keeps you alive another 12 months.

• Firing your first underperforming hire.

• Putting out your first blog post when your name’s tied to it.

Psychologists have shown that fear isn’t random — it spikes when we face something that feels both important and uncertain (American Psychological Association).

The fear is a compass. It tells you: “This matters.”

Exposure Shrinks It

The first bridge looked impossible. By the third one, I wasn’t calm, but I wasn’t frozen either. My body had already learned the rhythm: clip, step, balance, breathe.

That’s the power of exposure. The only way fear shrinks is by walking straight into it, again and again.

This is textbook exposure therapy — the same principle clinicians use to help people gradually rewire their response to fear (Verywell Mind).

Same thing in business and career moves:

• First cold call = panic.

• Fifth cold call = nerves.

• Tenth cold call = routine.

When I first started publishing on Sharp Starts, I hesitated over every line, second-guessed every headline. I thought people would roast me. But the more I wrote, the more I realized: most people don’t even notice unless you show up consistently. I unpacked this exact tension in Fake It Till You Make It.

You can’t think your way out of fear. You have to step into it enough times until your nervous system stops treating it like a tiger.

Systems Are Your Harness

The only reason I didn’t freeze completely up there? The harness. The clips. The cables. Every time I unclipped and re-clipped, the system told me: “You’re scared, but you’re safe.”

Startups and career pivots need the same setup. Systems don’t erase risk, but they make it survivable.

For founders, that might be:

• A repeatable hiring process so you don’t gamble every time you grow the team.

• A sales playbook that makes cold calls less like roulette and more like a checklist.

• Templates, CRMs, and ops tools that keep the basics from slipping through the cracks.

For career pivoters, the “harness” is things like:

• A tight LinkedIn profile and resume that sell your transferable skills.

• Mock interviews with a friend or coach before you sit in front of a real hiring manager.

• Side projects that give you proof-of-work when your background doesn’t line up.

This is why I hammer on tools like Jira and Confluence. They’re not just software — they’re scaffolding. I wrote about this in the Proven Method for Confluence & Jira Implementation. You don’t climb higher without a safety net.

Confidence Comes After Action

When I unclipped at the end of that first section, I didn’t feel like a champion. I felt wrecked. My hands were shaking. My heart was pounding. I was already calculating excuses to bail out before the next obstacle.

But then something weird happened halfway through the second section. My brain finally stopped screaming, and a small thought showed up: “You’re doing this.”

That’s confidence. And it never shows up before you start.

Career studies back this up: confidence builds fastest after taking action, not before (Harvard Business Review).

This is where most people stall out in their careers. They wait to “feel ready” before they apply for the bigger role, launch the business, or publish the first post. Truth is, readiness is a mirage. It only appears in the rear view mirror once you’ve already done the thing scared.

Every founder I know, from scrappy side hustlers to people running teams of 50, started out under-qualified and overwhelmed. Every career pivoter I’ve coached has said the same line: “I’ll go for it once I feel more confident.” My answer is always the same: you’ll never feel ready. Clip in anyway.

Fear Can Fuel Focus

On one of the zip lines, I hesitated too long. Standing on the platform, staring out over the trees, I felt my body start to lock up. Finally, I pushed off — and as soon as the line caught, fear flipped into adrenaline. Suddenly I wasn’t frozen. I was alive, alert, locked in.

That’s the shift nobody talks about: fear can paralyze you, but it can also sharpen you.

Think about your last job interview, your last pitch, your last presentation. Were you nervous? Good. That’s energy. That’s your body prepping you to care enough to focus. The trick isn’t killing nerves, it’s redirecting them.

The founders who treat nerves like fuel instead of flaws are the ones who grow fastest. Same goes for career pivoters — the ones who treat interviews as live reps, not threats, build momentum faster than the ones who rehearse forever but never step into the room.

From Fear to Thrill

By the last section of the course, something shifted. My legs were still shaky, my heart still racing, but I realized I was actually enjoying it. Every wobbly bridge, every zip line, every step that once made me freeze now felt like a challenge I could meet.

The fear didn’t disappear, it transformed into a thrill. That rush of accomplishment, that mix of adrenaline and focus, made me see the obstacles not as threats, but as opportunities to prove to myself what I could handle.

Startups and career pivots work the same way. The first time you pitch, launch, or pivot, your stomach knots. The tenth time? The nerves are still there, but now they come with a spark, a thrill of growth, progress, and the satisfaction of pushing your limits.

The lesson is simple: fear is temporary, but the thrill of overcoming it can last. And once you find that, you start looking for the next challenge.

📚Further Reading

• Overcoming the Fear of Public Speaking (Forbes) — Practical ways to shrink stage fright, with clear parallels to startup pitching.

• The Psychology of Fear (Psychology Today) — A breakdown of how fear shows up in the brain and what it really signals.

• How Successful People Handle Stress (Inc.) — Habits used by high performers to keep stress from derailing them.

• Growth Mindset and Career Change (Mindset Works) — Research-backed insights on reframing challenges when pivoting careers.

• Risk-Taking in Entrepreneurship (Entrepreneur) — Why calculated risk is non-negotiable when building something new.

TL;DR

• Fear is a compass pointing at what matters.

• Exposure is the only way fear shrinks.

• Systems are your safety harness.

• Confidence shows up after action, not before.

• Fear can fuel focus if you redirect it.