Name the excuse out loud. “I’m scared” sounds a lot different than “I’m just not feeling it.”

Vague reasons cannot be examined, which is most of their appeal. Not feeling it explains nothing and settles everything, while the accurate version opens a door, because fear responds to being looked at and a mood does not. Saying the true word out loud tends to shrink it a little, even when nothing else changes.

Try it the next time you are talking yourself out of something. Say the real reason to yourself in plain words. Then ask what the smallest version of the thing would be, since fear usually objects to the whole of it rather than the first step.