One of the most common impediments to achieving any goal in life, business, or career is fear.
Fear often causes a gnawing feeling in your gut. It can make your insides feel like they have been scratched by sand paper.
Fear causes many to walk in a lack of confidence. They may take steps toward achieving a goal but their steps are unsure.
Every human on the planet experiences fear. Whether, it is regarding your health, your family, your money, or a major decision that you must make. Fear is a challenge that we all face.
Where does this uneasy feeling of fear come from? How can we blast passed it every time we face it?
Fear often comes from a thought. Fears are often fueled by something your thinking. Fears are kept alive by your speaking. The more you think of something, the more likely you are to speak about it. The more you speak about something, the more life you give it. This works in the positive and the negative. Fear feeds off of negative thoughts and words. People often fear because of a negative experience that they or someone they know has had in the past. They think about the negative experience that they have had or heard about, and it causes a reaction.
Your thoughts cause physical and emotional responses. That’s why some people’s palms get sweaty when they get ready to give a public talk. That’s why even some professional athletes get a queasy stomach before a big game.
If I told you to close your eyes and imagine you were in a peaceful, quiet room with a table and a chair and a tall clear glass of cold water. You would probably be feeling pretty calm right now. Staying with this same imaginary scenario, what if I told you that in the room next to you there is a hungry lion that hasn’t eaten for three days? How do you feel now? Also, I forgot to mention that the lion I was referring to in the next room was toothless, declawed, and is actually a documentary playing on cable TV. Now how do you feel?
This is what happens when you break your fears down. You see how ridiculous and powerless they are to hinder or harm you.
Here are some keys that you can use to break fear the next time you are faced with it:
1) You can control fear by controlling your thoughts.
Just because you failed before does not mean you will fail again. Who cares if you had an unsuccessful attempt before? That was just practice. That was then. This is now. The chance of failing again is no reason to be afraid of trying again. Your mind will process whatever you put in it, positive or negative. Stop re-playing failure scenarios in your mind and start pre-playing images of you succeeding at a certain task. If you find a thought difficult to control, then speak out loud to yourself a positive affirmation until the positive thought is ingrained. For example, I will lose 10 lbs by this date… or I’m going to do an excellent job on that presentation next week.
2) Fear retreats when you take action.
If you act in spite of how you feel, then you will see how little power fear has. One of the most effective ways to break intimidation is to take bold action. You stop fear in its tracks, when you take huge loads of action. Fear may seem to hinder you, but the truth is it cannot stop you; unless you allow it. Fears are like flies. They can bother you but they can’t stop you.
3) What’s the worst thing that can happen?
Ask yourself these questions: What’s the worst thing that can happen to me, if I do or don’t take action? What’s the best thing that can happen to me, if I do or don’t take action? Examine your answers to these questions and you will likely be filled with the courage for whatever appropriate action you decide to take.
4) Dismantle the thought.
Since most fears come from something you are thinking, break the thought down. Ask yourself, what or who am I afraid of? Why? Sit in a quiet place with a pad and a pen or your laptop and get to the bottom of this “fear” that has seemingly immobilized you. Finding solutions to your problems on paper dismantles and destroys the thought that was fueling the fear. Get the fear out in the light of day through writing or brainstorming. Dismantling the thought that fuels fear exposes it for the weakling that it is. Your fears are actually declawed and toothless lions.
5) Stop believing a lie.
“Nothing is ever as bad as it first appears.” –Mike Murdock
Fear has been described by many as the acronym, F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real). After you’ve dismantled the thought that had you afraid, you will see that it was just a lie. Dread is a close relative of fear. How many times have you absolutely dreaded a particular task, only to see that you actually enjoyed it? You thought that the meeting with a particular person or organization was going to be one of the worst things you’ve ever done. After you completed the meeting, you found out it was one of the best things that you’ve ever done. Don’t let F.E.A.R. (False Evidence Appearing Real) hold you back. It’s just a lie.
6) Make it a game.
Since fear is a lie, do the opposite of what you fear. Perform reverse psychology on fear. For example, if you are a person who typically is afraid to speak in front of an audience, act like you love it! Act like you can’t wait to do it. Practice as much as you can. Make it a game and see how well you can outsmart fear by acting like you are an “old pro”. Act like this is no big deal for you. You’ve done this a thousand times before or at least you’re acting like you have. Prepare like an actor who is preparing for a role. Laugh, sing, and dance about it. This is nothing but a routine exercise. If you approach the dreaded task like this, you will increase your chances for a positive outcome.
7) The thing you fear usually never happens.
Since the things you worry, fret, and fear about usually never happen anyway. Why in the world would you want to obsess over them? Someone said worry and fear is like a rocking chair. It gives you something to do but it doesn’t get you anywhere. The energy you spend fearing can be more effectively used taking positive action on achieving a goal. List all of the positive things you could be doing to shift your cause forward instead of wasting time being stuck in the gear of fear.
The voice of fear tries to get the attention of both champions and losers. Champions ignore the voice of fear; losers listen to it.
Use the above 7 keys to break any fear in your life.
What’s your answer to the following question?:
Why do you believe people allow fear to stop them from reaching their goals?
I look forward to reading your responses!
Turn Your Setbacks into Accelerated Comebacks!,
Craig L. Sanders
“The Comeback Specialist”
I also talk about dealing with fear in my book, “Keys to Manifesting Your Destiny”.
P.S. To inquire about Craig's book, "Keys to Manifesting Your Destiny", his coaching packages, or to have him speak at your event, please visit his website: http://www.craiglsanders.com/
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Copyright 2010 Craig Sanders Unlimited, LLC
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