Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins. – Charles Stanley
It doesn’t matter what your fears are specifically, what matters is how you’re going to get over them. Because regardless of the type of fear you have, it can be overcome.
Whether it’s fear of the dark, the opposite sex, starting a business, blogging, promoting yourself on social media, or going on a date. All these fears can be overcome, dominated, destroyed and diminished.
In this mental exercise I’ll give you 3 questions you need to ask yourself to overcome your fears.
1. Will my health be at risk?
Sounds like a simple question to ask, right? But that’s a good thing, because simple works best. Will your health be at risk If you do what you’re afraid to do?
Lets say you’ve got a date with the girl of your dreams (as corny as that sounds), what’s the worst that could happen to you?
If the date turns out badly, and she doesn’t want to take it any further than you anticipated, will your health be at risk? Of course not, it’s just a date.
The same can be said for starting a business, if that’s what you’re afraid of doing. If you start your own business and it ends up becoming a failure, will your health be at risk?
Better yet, whether that business is a success or not, it’s still not going to effect your health either way. Unless you did something along the way to harm your health.
If you’re a singer and you’re anxious to create a video on YouTube, but you’re afraid of what people might think, will your health be at risk?
The worst that could happen is some people won’t like it, some will, and some people won’t comment or share it. That’s not as bad as you’ve made it up to be in your head!
If your health isn’t at risk in the slightest, go for it, and keep persisting. Then before you know it your fears will dissipate.
2. Will my life be at risk?
Scared of promoting yourself on social media, because your friends follow you? Well don’t be, it’s not as if you’re putting your life in danger. The worst that can happen is criticism, haters, or being unfollowed.
That’s no big deal, you can gain new followers anyway. Maybe your situation is a little more serious than that, like being stuck in a toxic relationship.
What’s worse, staying in that toxic relationship or getting out of that toxic relationship? Whatever choice you have to make or fear you have to overcome, If it’s benefiting you in some way, it’ll enrich your life not put it at risk.
3. What am I afraid of and why?
One of the best ways to get over your fears is to ask yourself – “What am I afraid of and why?”. I’ll give you an example… At one point I was afraid of promoting myself on Facebook and sharing my articles on my personal profile.
I was afraid of what people who I know might “think” of what I’ve wrote, my website, what I’m doing, etc. The same was true when I started my first business and invited people to my Facebook page.
The reason I was afraid was because of criticism, dis like, and as silly as it sounds, feeling “exposed”. That was my “what” and “why” for my fears at the time.
And realizing it wasn’t as bad as I thought it was, I took action and got over it pretty quickly.
Now the question is, what’s your “what” and “why”? When you figure that out, you’ll be on your way to pummeling your fears into the ground, and your confidence will soar as a result.
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