Amelia Harshfield is fascinated and motivated by what impact makers can achieve as they become more resilient. With a solid education and a master’s degree in economics, she has been creating passive income in Real Estate investing for over 5 years. Her key foundational work is The Overcoming Anxiety Method™, a powerful 4-step formula for playing a bigger game without being crushed by fear. This process is paramount to finding an authentic version of freedom and wealth. Mentoring and educating high-level operators is her passion, her work has been featured in magazines, podcasts, conferences, and she has been a trainer on Sir Richard Branson's Necker Island.
Amelia Harshfield, Mentor
What are a couple of things people find interesting about you?
Something that people comment on often is my curiosity. I ask a lot of questions. People also notice my ability to learn very quickly. Both skills help me absorb information about a lot of topics. Because of that, I have many different skills, experiences, and perspectives to find solutions for myself and my clients. I’m also deeply aware of emotions while balancing the effectiveness of my time and energy. For a long time, I felt like I needed to be either highly emotional or use my analytical side. As I’ve combined the two my life has felt more authentic, and I’ve had more fun.
Tell us a bit about your background.
When I started to live on my own after college, I realized that my stress and anxiety management skills were essentially nonexistent. I also had little emotional intelligence skills. Trying to operate as an adult I was often anxious, making bad decisions, not thinking things through, and unsure about my vision.
I’ve learned how to address my concerns directly and respectfully, to understand when I’m triggered and feeling off, to say no, and to stop repeating the same mistakes over and over. After becoming proficient with those skills, focusing on my vision has become easier and simpler. I can now sort out my personal life so I can use most of my time to go after what I want in life. It is such a wonderful shift.
I’ve also been investing in real estate for over 5 years now. I’ve bought properties highly undervalued, I’ve found ways to create passive income that works for me, and I know how to understand which properties are going to likely make money and which are not. As I kept learning how to be less impacted by stress and uncertainty, I’ve gotten much better at investing and making money.
Anxiety is one of the most covered topics in your work. Why do you spend so much time on that subject?
Anxiety seems to impact a lot of entrepreneurs and visionaries. They often have tremendous pressure to look after themselves, their family, their team, and fulfilling their vision. Entrepreneurship and going after a big goal often bring different challenges. These can be worrying if someone is not equipped with effective personalized stress management skills.
There are a lot of tools out there to reduce anxiety. Not all of them are helpful for reducing anxiety. I’ve found once someone finds the reason why they are anxious and know how to soothe their fear, they can move on from being triggered in that way.
I’ve also had lots of success with reducing my own anxiety. From not having psoriasis on my face and neck anymore, to not having seasonal depression, I’ve learned what a difference simple steps can make if someone has a personalized anxiety-reducing protocol. I would love to see people spend less time being knocked down by anxiety and more time focusing on helping the world. This skill set just frees people up so much.
According to your experience and working with others, how does anxiety stop visionaries from realizing their vision?
The world needs visionaries. Those big dreamers are necessary to make life better for everyone. However, when they are struggling with anxiety, several things will keep their vision from becoming a reality. They usually do not make good decisions when they are anxious. They may trust the wrong people, listen to bad advice, and not believe in themselves. When someone has a lot of anxiety, they often attract people who want to take advantage of them (knowingly or unknowingly). This can stop people’s momentum in building their vision or subvert them down the wrong path.
Visionaries who have these tools will not be as impacted by the stressors of life, being an entrepreneur, and trying to help the world. When visionaries can calm themselves down, it can help to understand how to soothe themselves. The Anxiety Workbook I’ve written covers several reasons why someone may be triggered and how to get some control over their distress. It will go more in-depth with simple options and solutions. The first section is at no cost and can be found here.
Visionaries need many small wins to achieve their goals. For their vision to become actualized, they need to be holding themselves back as little as possible. Removing anxiety’s impact on their vision is a massive step forward as they are not burdening their vision with their personal stressors. Otherwise, they will be trying to drive to their destination with the break on the entire time. They won’t be getting there quickly.
How has anxiety held back your clients?
Anxiety is not a fun place to be. Someone's mind can run constantly. Someone might be uncertain about the next step forward. They might be hearing two voices wanting different outcomes and not sure which one is right. They might feel out of control. Their body is likely tense with stress.
The tough thing about having anxiety is that it can lead someone not to trust themselves. They may be uncertain when it will come back. They might feel like anxiety has total power over them. How can someone lead if they do not trust themselves? How can they get their team, investors, and business partner focused in the same direction when they are questioning themselves?
But what is interesting is as someone gets better at handling their anxiety, they are able to relax more. For example, a business owner and I worked privately for three months. By the end of that time, was able to delegate better, she was not regularly checking for updates on her business, and she was able to set boundaries that allowed her to make more money. She was able to be more present with her personal life and business. She felt more confident by understanding why she was anxious, how to look after herself and make better decisions.
What do you think is the most helpful thing a visionary and/or entrepreneur can do with their anxiety?
Honestly, it’s a tough question because I believe it’s a process that is unique for the person. People have different fears, self-doubts, and experiences that can trigger them. The easiest and most effective way to start working through the Anxiety Workbook. The first of four sections can be grabbed at no cost on my website or at the link at the end of this paragraph.
The workbook has simple questions and exercises to help someone focus while cutting through their overwhelm. These methods have helped mom-and-pop business owners deal with their everyday stresses as well as high-level impact makers. It has received many comments on helpful it was in reducing the pressure and stress they were experiencing. As a bonus, the workbook can be repeated anytime someone is triggered. So, they don’t have to figure out why they are anxious or what can make them feel better. They can just sit down and let the workbook guide them to feeling calmer. Here is the link.
Thank you Amelia for your time and expertise.
Thank you for the opportunity!
