Be fearless under pressure

The old wisdom that what doesn't kill you make you stronger works super well in entrepreneurship. For example, if you are scared of pitching to VCs, once you do it a couple of hundred times, you don't dread them anymore, and at some point you get good at it, even. Getting exposed to tough situations (an employee leaving, almost running out of cash, or not being sure of the next steps) and surviving through them makes the next encounter a lot more easier. However, over the years, I learned there are ways you can accelerate this learning process and become fearless faster. Here are the tricks that will do:

• Being comfortable with bein uncomfortable: In tough situations you panic because you are very uncomfortable in that situation. However, panicking makes it even tougher. You have to ask yourself whether you have any control over the situation. If it is our of your hands, panicking and getting nervous about it won't do any good. 
• Turn it around: In adverse situations I comically remember the episode from the sitcom "How I Met Your Mother" when Barney is ademnat to try to turn an eventful night into a romantic night to be remembered with his new girlfriend. In the face of any bad event, he tells himself that "he can turn it around", and he sets out to do just that. In entrepreneurship, things are similar. You have to ask yourself how can you turn things around and use this bad situation to a good ultimate outcome for you.  
• Step outside: Tough situations are messy. More often than not, things come crumbling around you at the same time. If you are in the middle of a crumbling building, it's difficult to stay focused. A mental exercise of stepping outside the mess and looking at the situation from different angles turns things under your control. 

Here are the top three questions one can ask in tough situations to become fearless:

1. What are the things I can control and those that I cannot?
2. How can I use this situation to create an ultimately better outcome?
3. What context am I missing that I can work with if I step outside the mess?