Confront Your Fears and Grow
Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you want to be successful, you must be willing to be uncomfortable.”
To achieve your goals and realize your potential, you must be willing to be uncomfortable -- to do things that you’re afraid to do. That’s how you develop your potential!
Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? And yet, what do most people do when they face a frightening situation or new activity? They back away from the fear.
They don’t take action. I know... because that’s what I did for the first 30 years of my life. And I can tell you without hesitation that it’s a losing strategy.
Show me a successful person and I’ll show you someone who confronts his or her fears and takes action!
Examining Our Fears
Have you ever been afraid or anxious before trying a new or challenging activity? Has that fear ever stopped you from taking action? I’m sure you’ve been paralyzed by fear at one time or another in your life. I know I have. That’s simply part of being human.
Of course, every person has a different fear threshold. What frightens one person to death might have little impact on someone else. For example, to some, speaking in public or starting a new business is scary. Others might be fearful about asking someone for directions... or for a date. Regardless of how trivial or silly you believe your fears may be, this lesson applies to you.
When I talk about fear, I’m not referring to physical risks that might injure you or endanger your health, such as diving off cliffs in Acapulco or bungee jumping. I’m scared of those things, too -- and I have no plans to do either of them. What I’m talking about here are those challenges that stand in the way of your personal and professional growth. These are the things that scare you -- but which you know are necessary if you’re going to get what you want in life.
The Comfort Zone
When you’re gripped by fear and anxiety, it’s usually because you’re stepping out of your comfort zone. Let’s take some time to discuss this important concept -- and how it relates to your success and the development of your potential.
Each of us has a comfort zone, a zone of behavior that is familiar to us and where we feel comfortable and safe. Think of your comfort zone as the inside of a circle.
The Most Common Fears
1. Public Speaking or Giving Presentations. In virtually every group, this is the #1 fear. The vast majority of people are terrified about speaking in front of a group of people.
2. Hearing the word “NO” or having their ideas rejected. When asking a women out.
3. Changing Jobs or Starting Their Own Business.
6. Fear of Failure. Those who won’t try something new for fear that it won’t work out. And if you have some fears that weren’t on this list, don’t worry about it. You are stronger than any of your fears... and you can overcome them!
The Price You Pay
Now, I want you to seriously consider the price you pay when you back away from those fears that are standing in the way of your growth.
Here’s what happens:
Your self-esteem is lowered.
You feel powerless and frustrated.
You sabotage your success.
You lead an uneventful, boring life.
Is this a price worth paying for the short-term avoidance of fear and anxiety? Most of us are indeed willing to pay this dear price, simply to avoid temporary discomfort and possible ridicule from others.
Trust me folks, this is insane! In the long run, retreating is not the best way to handle your problem. You’ll never be highly successful or develop your talents to the fullest unless you’re willing to confront your fears.
Are you beginning to see the incredible rewards you can receive when you’re willing to develop a positive attitude and confront your fears?
Reframe The Situation
If I could give you a way to confront uncomfortable situations without fear or anxiety, you’d be ecstatic and eternally grateful, wouldn't you? Sorry, but there’s no such magical solution. I can’t wave a magic wand and take away your fears.
How then can you muster the courage to do those things that you fear, but which are necessary for your success and growth?
The next time you face a scary situation, I suggest you take a different outlook.
Most people start thinking, “I won’t be able to do this well and other people may laugh at me or reject me.” They get hung up about how well they’re going to perform. Because of these worries, they decide to retreat. While you should always go in with a positive attitude and prepare beforehand to the extent possible, don’t be overly concerned with the result.
Consider yourself an immediate winner when you take the step and do the thing you fear. That’s right. You’re a winner just by entering the arena and participating, regardless of the result.
Connecting with your Power
There is no magic to the discovery of your power of achievement. You unlock your gifts of talent, skill and knowledge by simply taking control of two principles accessible to you; the power to think and the power to act.
When you consistently think and act on your potential, you not only engage your potential, you also disengage your limits and the reasons why you can't. You begin focusing on reasons why you can. It all begins with the risk of believing more in yourself than in your limits.
List some of the challenges you believe are threatening. Do you believe these challenges have more power than you have? The task in working with your power is to determine how much failure you can handle to get you from where you are to where you eventually want to be.
When you act on the mental pictures in your mind, you feel very threatened since you may only believe in what you can see and touch. You must begin to understand that you base what you see on that which already exists in the objective world and on what you visualize that exists in the spiritual world. The former has form and the latter does not but is just as real.
If you want to turn desire into reality, you must first begin by building your desire into a visual picture, by thinking and selecting powerful thoughts supported by a persistent course of action. This process of thought and action becomes a strategy where…
"You only have to do something until you want to do it, then you won't have to do it any more." -Leland Val VanDeWall
Your powers to think and act are two resources that can instantly begin to move you beyond limiting beliefs; the old conditioned anchors which hold residence in your mind, like an old, sick dog you love so much that even in illness, you want to hold on to him.
Limiting and non-limiting beliefs are incompatible. A limiting belief, such as rejection, cannot live with the power of action. Where action becomes the dominant idea of the day, rejection will make haste in leaving your mind.
Creativity begins when you begin to look for the needle in the haystack, when you begin to believe it is there.
Doing something repeatedly, for thirty days, will guarantee the forming of a new way of thinking, feeling and acting in life. It will remove any belief contrary to this new way of living. The focus of this new idea must be placed on the word specific.
Very often people hurry off with an idea that they are going to be successful, having no specific picture of what success really means. History teaches us that successful people were specific about what they wanted to achieve.
Being specific with what you want to do will give your mind a directive that will make it work more effectively. Being specific with your thoughts and actions increases the possibility for you to be more pro-active. This gives you more power to choose your response to circumstance. This power to choose leads you to act on principle rather than according to your mood. In other words, you are not your habits, your beliefs or your attitudes. You learn these things therefore you can unlearn them when you take control of your mind and power by focusing on specific thoughts and actions which form specific habits.
It is a simple dynamic law of life that you must either progress or regress. You cannot stand still even if you want to. Growth is optional, but change is not. The question is not "do you change", but rather "how do you want to change?" Do you want to move forward or backward; up or down the mountain? The method is to develop a focus which will provide the excitement, inspiration and motivation so that you can look up as you scale the mountain.
The purpose of life is to live. To become everything that you are capable of becoming.
How are you using your life?
· Do dreams come alive for you?
· How enriching is your time?
· Are you in control or is time?
To live with a specific goal and organized knowledge gives you power. Today, people and companies have a wealth of information regarding everything from A to Z. The problem is that they may not have a specific organized method of putting their knowledge to work in order to accomplish specific results. Two very basic laws of life are Order and Motion. When you examine these laws in everyday life, they translate into organized, specific knowledge with an organized and intelligent plan of action.
Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.
--Ralph Waldo Emerson
“If you want to be successful, you must be willing to be uncomfortable.”
To achieve your goals and realize your potential, you must be willing to be uncomfortable -- to do things that you’re afraid to do. That’s how you develop your potential!
Sounds so simple, doesn’t it? And yet, what do most people do when they face a frightening situation or new activity? They back away from the fear.
They don’t take action. I know... because that’s what I did for the first 30 years of my life. And I can tell you without hesitation that it’s a losing strategy.
Show me a successful person and I’ll show you someone who confronts his or her fears and takes action!
Examining Our Fears
Have you ever been afraid or anxious before trying a new or challenging activity? Has that fear ever stopped you from taking action? I’m sure you’ve been paralyzed by fear at one time or another in your life. I know I have. That’s simply part of being human.
Of course, every person has a different fear threshold. What frightens one person to death might have little impact on someone else. For example, to some, speaking in public or starting a new business is scary. Others might be fearful about asking someone for directions... or for a date. Regardless of how trivial or silly you believe your fears may be, this lesson applies to you.
When I talk about fear, I’m not referring to physical risks that might injure you or endanger your health, such as diving off cliffs in Acapulco or bungee jumping. I’m scared of those things, too -- and I have no plans to do either of them. What I’m talking about here are those challenges that stand in the way of your personal and professional growth. These are the things that scare you -- but which you know are necessary if you’re going to get what you want in life.
The Comfort Zone
When you’re gripped by fear and anxiety, it’s usually because you’re stepping out of your comfort zone. Let’s take some time to discuss this important concept -- and how it relates to your success and the development of your potential.
Each of us has a comfort zone, a zone of behavior that is familiar to us and where we feel comfortable and safe. Think of your comfort zone as the inside of a circle.
The Most Common Fears
1. Public Speaking or Giving Presentations. In virtually every group, this is the #1 fear. The vast majority of people are terrified about speaking in front of a group of people.
2. Hearing the word “NO” or having their ideas rejected. When asking a women out.
3. Changing Jobs or Starting Their Own Business.
6. Fear of Failure. Those who won’t try something new for fear that it won’t work out. And if you have some fears that weren’t on this list, don’t worry about it. You are stronger than any of your fears... and you can overcome them!
The Price You Pay
Now, I want you to seriously consider the price you pay when you back away from those fears that are standing in the way of your growth.
Here’s what happens:
Your self-esteem is lowered.
You feel powerless and frustrated.
You sabotage your success.
You lead an uneventful, boring life.
Is this a price worth paying for the short-term avoidance of fear and anxiety? Most of us are indeed willing to pay this dear price, simply to avoid temporary discomfort and possible ridicule from others.
Trust me folks, this is insane! In the long run, retreating is not the best way to handle your problem. You’ll never be highly successful or develop your talents to the fullest unless you’re willing to confront your fears.
Are you beginning to see the incredible rewards you can receive when you’re willing to develop a positive attitude and confront your fears?
Reframe The Situation
If I could give you a way to confront uncomfortable situations without fear or anxiety, you’d be ecstatic and eternally grateful, wouldn't you? Sorry, but there’s no such magical solution. I can’t wave a magic wand and take away your fears.
How then can you muster the courage to do those things that you fear, but which are necessary for your success and growth?
The next time you face a scary situation, I suggest you take a different outlook.
Most people start thinking, “I won’t be able to do this well and other people may laugh at me or reject me.” They get hung up about how well they’re going to perform. Because of these worries, they decide to retreat. While you should always go in with a positive attitude and prepare beforehand to the extent possible, don’t be overly concerned with the result.
Consider yourself an immediate winner when you take the step and do the thing you fear. That’s right. You’re a winner just by entering the arena and participating, regardless of the result.
Connecting with your Power
There is no magic to the discovery of your power of achievement. You unlock your gifts of talent, skill and knowledge by simply taking control of two principles accessible to you; the power to think and the power to act.
When you consistently think and act on your potential, you not only engage your potential, you also disengage your limits and the reasons why you can't. You begin focusing on reasons why you can. It all begins with the risk of believing more in yourself than in your limits.
List some of the challenges you believe are threatening. Do you believe these challenges have more power than you have? The task in working with your power is to determine how much failure you can handle to get you from where you are to where you eventually want to be.
When you act on the mental pictures in your mind, you feel very threatened since you may only believe in what you can see and touch. You must begin to understand that you base what you see on that which already exists in the objective world and on what you visualize that exists in the spiritual world. The former has form and the latter does not but is just as real.
If you want to turn desire into reality, you must first begin by building your desire into a visual picture, by thinking and selecting powerful thoughts supported by a persistent course of action. This process of thought and action becomes a strategy where…
"You only have to do something until you want to do it, then you won't have to do it any more." -Leland Val VanDeWall
Your powers to think and act are two resources that can instantly begin to move you beyond limiting beliefs; the old conditioned anchors which hold residence in your mind, like an old, sick dog you love so much that even in illness, you want to hold on to him.
Limiting and non-limiting beliefs are incompatible. A limiting belief, such as rejection, cannot live with the power of action. Where action becomes the dominant idea of the day, rejection will make haste in leaving your mind.
Creativity begins when you begin to look for the needle in the haystack, when you begin to believe it is there.
Doing something repeatedly, for thirty days, will guarantee the forming of a new way of thinking, feeling and acting in life. It will remove any belief contrary to this new way of living. The focus of this new idea must be placed on the word specific.
Very often people hurry off with an idea that they are going to be successful, having no specific picture of what success really means. History teaches us that successful people were specific about what they wanted to achieve.
Being specific with what you want to do will give your mind a directive that will make it work more effectively. Being specific with your thoughts and actions increases the possibility for you to be more pro-active. This gives you more power to choose your response to circumstance. This power to choose leads you to act on principle rather than according to your mood. In other words, you are not your habits, your beliefs or your attitudes. You learn these things therefore you can unlearn them when you take control of your mind and power by focusing on specific thoughts and actions which form specific habits.
It is a simple dynamic law of life that you must either progress or regress. You cannot stand still even if you want to. Growth is optional, but change is not. The question is not "do you change", but rather "how do you want to change?" Do you want to move forward or backward; up or down the mountain? The method is to develop a focus which will provide the excitement, inspiration and motivation so that you can look up as you scale the mountain.
The purpose of life is to live. To become everything that you are capable of becoming.
How are you using your life?
· Do dreams come alive for you?
· How enriching is your time?
· Are you in control or is time?
To live with a specific goal and organized knowledge gives you power. Today, people and companies have a wealth of information regarding everything from A to Z. The problem is that they may not have a specific organized method of putting their knowledge to work in order to accomplish specific results. Two very basic laws of life are Order and Motion. When you examine these laws in everyday life, they translate into organized, specific knowledge with an organized and intelligent plan of action.