One of the biggest excuses people give for not trying new things, or making changes to their lives is Fear. Most often, the fear of failure, or not being accepted.
But to truly be successful, you sometimes have to face your fears, and do it anyway.
Firstly, you need to understand that failure is a fact of life. Believe it or not, the most successful people in this world are those who failed the most!
Some of the most brilliant minds of our time got there because every time they failed to achieve the result they wanted, they looked at it as another step closer to getting it right next time.
Everything you’ve ever wanted is on the other side of fear. — George Addair
How do I face my fears then?
Having the power to face your fears isn’t as difficult at it might seem. At least not when you understand a bit more about them. Take the usual problems that people cite when speaking about their low self confidence, things like “I have fear of public speaking”, or “I fear my opinions will be thought of as silly”, or “I fear I won’t be accepted by the group”, etc.
The FEAR in all of these examples and for that matter, pretty much any you could name is;
F alse
E vidence
A ppearing
R eal.
What’s the worst that can happen?
No one is going to kill you for having a different opinion. They may think that your opinion is wrong and they’re entitled to their opinion. Although, all it really means that their map of the World is different from yours. The whole point of a democracy is that everyone’s view is equally as valid.
The decision to face your fears isn’t always going to be an easy one. But it is very likely to made a huge difference to whether you achieve your objectives.
Fear is a very useful emotion under the right circumstances, but unless there’s a legitimate reason to activate the fight, or flight response, it’s a pointless waste of energy. Franklin D Roosevelt said it best during his Inaugural Address on March 4th 1933……
…let me assert my firm belief that the only thing we have to fear is fear itself – nameless, unreasoning, unjustified terror which paralizes needed efforts to convert retreat into advance. One of the biggest excuses for not trying new things, is fear of failure. But usually, successful people are those who failed the most!
So, even if it’s a small step, start to take some action addressing one of your fears TODAY. Success breeds success and it gets easier the more you do it.
Let me know in the comments what your biggest fear is.
