Overcome Fear
December 12, 2007
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The greatest obstacle to creating the life you want is fear.
It affects every single area of our lives. You’re afraid of what happens if you take that next step. People spend their whole lives in their “comfort zone” because they’re afraid to step out and do something different. It could be that they’re afraid of going back to school. They’re afraid of starting their own business. They’re afraid of creating their first product.
How many years have you allowed fear to hold you back from your dreams?
I often talk about creating your perfect lifestyle.
What is it you want in life?
How do you want to spend time with your family?
What kind of home do you want to own?
Where do you want to live?
What hours do you want to work?
What do you want to do while you’re working?
Where do you want to vacation?
What is your perfect day?
Answering those questions is the first part of designing your life. The next step will be coming up with an action plan to take you from where you are now to where you want to go.
And I promise you…that enemy of your life FEAR will show it’s ugly head. Whatever action steps you must take will require you to overcome fear.
The biggest obstacle you will face is the FEAR. No one else can stop you from success in your goals. No one else can hold you back. You’re the only one who holds yourself back…and most of the time it’s simply because of fear.
You’re afraid of what will happen. What will happen if you step out and start a business? What if it doesn’t work? What if people don’t buy? What if it loses money? The “What If” monster bombards you with all the negative possibilities.
For example, public speaking is one of the greatest fears. What if you freeze when you get up to speak? What if you say something stupid? What if you look like an idiot?
My answer is “So what?” So what if you say something stupid. You’ve probably done it before, and you’ll do it again. And I’m thoroughly convinced someone will think you look like an idiot. The majority won’t. They’re respect you for even getting up there, but someone will think you look like an idiot. So what? That same person who thinks you look like an idiot really is an idiot. So why would you care what they think?
I’ve faced fears in every step of my business. I created my first product full of fear about whether anyone would like it…and especially if anyone would pay for it. What’s the worst that could of happened? Well, I guess the worst would be for nobody to buy it. Or for a lot of people to buy it and 100% of them return it (that one isn’t possible as most people would be too lazy to return it). I’d then have to figure out why they weren’t buying…and I’d learn to do better.
What if no one likes the article I write…and they all unsubscribe from my list? So what? If you don’t write the article, then it doesn’t matter how many people are on your list anyway since you’re not contacting them. If you don’t write the article, how will people find your website?
Sometimes you just have to say, “So what if the worst happens…this is my dream anyway.”
I couldn’t imagine a worse life than toiling away at a job you hate for 40 years waiting for a day you can retire. You don’t want to be at the end of your life wishing you took the chance…wishing you did something else. Take the chance today. Take the small baby step.
For business, that baby step may be to buy a domain name and get your blog setup. It may be to create your first low cost product. It may be to write that article or produce that online video.
It may be to send out that interview request to 10 experts in a market. What if nine of them don’t respond? So what? You still have 1 more expert than you did yesterday. What did you lose? Not much.
Don’t allow FEAR to control your life and hold you back. Every breakthrough you’ll ever have in your life and business will require you to overcome FEAR. It’s the enemy. It’s hiding in your mind right now making up excuses for why you can’t go forward. It’s telling you why it won’t work for you. It’s creating excuse after excuse of why you have to stay where you’re at instead of stepping out toward your dreams.
Eventually you have to say no more. Take the small first step. Do something. Write that article. Start that blog. Create that product. Just do it!
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20 Responses to “Overcome Fear”
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Amen! Fear is the enemy’s way of keeping us away from what God has planned for our lives. Rebuke it.
2 Timothy 1:7
For God has not given us a spirit of timidity, but of power and love and discipline.
John 14:27
“Peace I leave with you; My peace I give to you; not as the world gives do I give to you. Do not let your heart be troubled, nor let it be fearful.
Romans 8:15
For you have not received a spirit of slavery leading to fear again, but you have received a spirit of adoption as sons by which we cry out, “Abba! Father!”
Thank you Terry
Blessings and Success
Marlo Boux
Podcast Host
BiblicalCoachingPodcast.com
As you say, Terry, just ask yourself “what is the worst that can happen?” and the answer is normally trivial. It is individual’s imagination, which makes the fear far worst than what actually could possibly happen.
Do something everyday, no matter how small, which you can ‘connect’ to your goals and dreams.
Andrew
Excellent post. I have been checking out your blog for about a month and you have some great information.
I have actually known of you for a long time (about 3 years). You were one of several people I found that seemed like very good choices for learning from. I chose a different path at the time, but after reading your blog I may have to check out more of your information. I especially like that you appear to emphasize integrity, something missing in some segments of the Internet marketing world.
Blessings,
George
Nice and motivating post.You have truly hit the nail on the head that fear holds us back from achieving our loftiest dreams and aspirations even though most of our fears are only real in our imagination.To overcome fear,I always tell myself FEAR is F-false,E-evidence,A-appearing,R-real,so,I believe anyone out there can use this to get over fear.
Terry,keep more of such coming.
I like this article. I hear that all the time. I am scared to try! If you don’t at least try, you’ll never know if you could or not and look at all the neat things you will have missed out on.
Thank You to everyone who has posted a comment so far. I think fear is the biggest issue all of us experience that holds us back from success. In many cases you even cloak that fear with excuses of some type to keep it hidden. Let’s get it out in the open and deal with it.
Hello Terry,
Great to be able to put in my two cents here. As you know, my fear of having one of my products rejected lead to procrastination, so I could insulate myself from a potential pain. I think it’s important to be open about things like this so we can deal with them and get on with what’s important!
Best,
James
Hi Terry,
Thanks for the great post!
I will “Just Do It”…
I think you are the Best Business Coach!
You are a man with great integrity.
I have posted some of your content to my blog too.
http://blog.public-speaking-singapore.com/fear-of-public-speaking/public-speaking-fear/
Thanks!
Yettu
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[…] Dean presents Overcome Fear posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry […]
Well said. You won’t get very far with the pretty girl if you’re too scared to ask her out on a first date. It’s a missed opportunity. Fear applies equally to personal & business pursuits.
I love the Mark Twain quote “I’ve had a lot of worries in my life…and most of them never happened.” The worst case rarely happens but the fear of it stops lots of people from even trying.
I really like the approach Tim Ferris wrote in his book, the 1-to-10 scale.
Most fears are laughable when inserted in the scale.
[…] Dean presents Overcome Fear posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry […]
[…] Dean presents Overcome Fear posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry […]
[…] Dean presents Overcome Fear posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry […]
[…] Dean presents Overcome Fear posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry […]
[…] Dean presents Overcome Fear posted at Integrity Business Blog by Terry […]
Hi Terry,
Thanks for posting this. Fear is a big obstacle for a lot of people to overcome. I know it was for me for years. I think one of the most important questions you pose is figuring out what you want in life. You can’t really do anything until you figure that out – and you have to not be afraid to first answer that question. I agree that it would hard to imagine a fate worse than spending your life at a job you hate. Have you read anything by James Brausch? If not I highly recommend him. Try a google search on him. He speaks directly to much of what you mention here, especially concerning taking control of your life. Thanks again for this insightful post.
- Del Grady
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