Real Fears Protect Let’s look first at “real” fear—that is, fear or concern that’s based in reality and that you must look at and evaluate rationally to maintain your physical, emotional or spiritual health. This kind of fear often acts as nature’s warning signal. There are definitely times when we are fearful of pursuing our hopes, dreams and desires for some very good reasons. Feeling “afraid” to start your own business when your financial reserves are lacking is a healthy fear. Your intuition is sending you signals to get your financial house in order before embarking on a new venture.

Imagined Fears are Obstacles On other hand, imagined fear is not healthy. When our fear is basically in our heads, it can be unreasonable and paralyzing. Imagined fear needs to be examined very closely. Is what you consider a reasonable fear really a rationalization or an excuse for not trying. Do these sound familiar? “I’m too old to do something new.” “It will take too long.” “I won’t be any good at it.” “People will laugh.”

Driving time can be a great source of stress if you let it be, but if you are intentional, and creatively think of new ways to use time, you’d be surprised what a difference you can make in your own life.

If you can handle multi-tasking, here are some ways to make use of your car time constructively. 1. Listen to inspirational and motivational tapes.

This is a great way to reduce stress of driving and work on your attitude and self-talk. You could arrive at your destination quite inspired or motivated! Yesterday UI had a 5-hour drive home from a cruise. I used time to listen to tapes I needed to hear in order to prepare for a teleclass I was presenting this coming week. Worked great.

2. Listen to your favorite tape.

This is a time when you can reward yourself and do something you enjoy. Keep your favorite tapes in car and think of it as "my time to enjoy". Better yet, record your own tape of special favorites.

3. Meetings.

When my oldest son was in college, our conversations were often like this: How are you? Fine. What's going on? Nothin' much. I always made it a point to drive him back to Waco (from San Antonio). About 30 minutes down road, he would open up and start talking. Car time is good for family, friends and also colleagues. It isn't face-to-face, it's a good time to ease into sensitive subjects, it creates an opportunity, and car often has a soothing effect on people. You'll get to know another side of someone you work with.

4. Phone calls.

With right equipment, a phone call in car is no more distracting than a conversation. I used to have to drive all over town giving presentations and was in car a lot. I would call my secretary and go over day, delegate, check in and dictate letters . She would read me emails. You can return quick calls from office, and save longer ones for car. I have a friend who's a busy lawyer who uses car time for social chatting. You only have so many hours during day!

5. Dictate.