I remember a
couple of months ago when I published a blog on ‘why I want you to become an
Entrepreneur’ I got lots of remarks and questions from friends that I wished
they were posted on my blog. I remember chatting with a couple of people that
had wonderful business plans and smashing ideas and I noticed that most of them
hadn’t put their plans/ideas into action for one reason or another. These
reasons I tagged as their fears.
The truth is
that fear is natural, and every one of us fear one thing or the other; water,
heights, enclosed spaces, crowd, uncertainty and so on, but “quote me if I am
wrong” one of the most common fear in us is the fear of failure. We all know
that fear can be crippling. It can stop you on your tracks. It can tie you down
and prevent you from doing anything constructive and innovative. It can also
prevent you from achieving your goals/dreams. One sure thing is no one wants to
fail. This is why being an Entrepreneur requires a special kind of courage
because you will definitely face a great deal of uncertainty as you start or
run your business. Today’s world is more competitive, uncertain and full of
insecurities, so to survive here, one need to be daring and strong in order to
climb the ladder of success. Remember fear is just an illusion of the mind and
the ability to overcome fear and make decisions on how to proceed can mean the
difference between success and failure in anything you do….. Richard Branson.
Back to the
big question; How do we overcome fear? What are the things we can do to enable
us face and overcome our fears? I
believe these few tips can be helpful.
Recognize
your fears.
This is the
first and foremost step one should take.
You need to recognize that this is indeed one of the fears you have. For
some of us, our fears have become part of us. This makes it difficult to even
recognize them. For example, say you want to start a business, but you are
afraid of taking risks. Every time someone talks to you about starting a
business, your immediate response is “Oh, that’s too risky for me”. In this
instance, you have so internalized the fear of taking risks that you don’t even
recognize it as one of your fears anymore. In your world, it becomes an
absolute truth that starting a business = bad. You no longer recall why or how
you came to that conclusion. This is an extremely dangerous mode to get into
because not only are your fears limiting your progress, you don’t even know
that it is.
You should
always very carefully examine the reasons why you choose not to do something.
As long as something doesn’t kill you or permanently injure you in some way, it
simply means you can do it! Start by making a list of anything you want to do.
If an automatic thought crosses your mind stating some reason you can’t do it
now, that is the result of some sort of fear. Let’s say you have in mind to ask
your boss for a raise but you can’t, this could be the result of the fear of
his refusing you, his getting angry and thinking you are greedy, etc. You want
to start a business but you can’t do it now because you don’t have enough money,
that is the result of the fear of going broke, going hungry and so on. Write down the reasons you have
and the fears associated with those reasons.
Once you
have recognized your fears, you can now work towards defeating them. These are
the things that are holding you back from exploring more possibilities and
limiting your growth as a person.
Change your
perspective
The way we
see things can radically change our impressions, this also goes for the objects
of our fear as well. Shifting our viewpoint may eradicate our fear completely.
Often, we fear things that we feel are not clear to us and we are not sure of
the outcome. Sometimes we think they are much more horrible or difficult than
they really are, whether they are things or events so we choose to remain in
what we feel is our “comfort zone”. If we try to think outside this zone and
approach our fears just once, we’ll realize how over exaggerative our
imagination had been. Fear of flying is a great example. Even a single flight
can convince you that flying really isn’t that bad. You may even find it exciting.
The same thing goes for those who want to achieve a goal or plan but have the
fear of uncertainty or failure to achieve them. In taking the first step, you
might see that it’s not as difficult as you think. In any case, it won’t be
mysterious anymore—and remember, we rarely fear that which is familiar. So
let’s change the way we think. Change your negative thoughts to positive ones
and believe me that’s a good step to working your way up.
Give yourself
a pep talk
Don’t be a
defeatist. By this I mean you shouldn’t just give up, or beat yourself up if
you fail or are not able to do things you want to do due to one form of fear or
the other. The truth is; you are not too weak to overcome our fear; you simply
need to take action. Fear despises action, and prefers to see us tied up and
powerless. You need to have a positive attitude, negative thoughts bring about
negative attitude and this makes us justify why we see things the way they are.
Encourage yourself, even if there’s no one to encourage you. Always have the “I
can do it” mindset even when faced with discouragements.
Understand the Benefits of Failure
There’s
this popular saying “Every disappointment is a form of blessing”. To me this
depends on how u take disappointments. If for every disappointment you get, you
just decide to give up, then this cannot work for you. You need to understand
that life is like the five fingers of your hands, no day is similar to each
other. Every failure of your life knocks a better opportunity for your ultimate
growth and career building. For example, if you fail to achieve your goal for
this year, rather than beat yourself up or give up, you should take out time to
think of strategies you took towards achieving the goal that failed. Try and
see if a change in one or more of these strategies could yield a better result.
But you have to be really confident and put forward an excellent step towards a
new opportunity. Don’t let the fear conquer your mind. Keep in mind your
positive aspects and strengths which will let you walk on a right and
successful path.
Begin with Smaller Steps
Do
not sit idle, keep on fighting to reduce your fears. It is a fact that
everything seems tough for the first time and eventually looks the easiest. The
wisest method is to begin with small steps and less risk. I read a book “the
success principles” by jack canfield, where he talked about scaling down your
risk. Here he talked about taking your risks from the smallest point and
working it all the way to the top. This got me thinking “Why is it that
computer games have difficulty levels?” they do. Let me explain this a little
further; the first time people play a computer game, they start with the
beginner level and master it, they get more confidence to proceed till they get
to the hardest level. Attribute this to your fears and you’ll see that you can
gradually over come your fears.
In conclusion, I would like
to quote this; “You can do anything everyone else can do, but only you can do
it better”. Defeat is only a temporary situation. Giving up is what makes it
permanent. We scare ourselves by imagining negative outcomes to any activities
we pursue or experience. So let’s imagine positive outcomes to anything we do. We
all should be willing to take the leap of faith because that’s what successful
people do. Even if they were afraid, they knew that if they didn’t act, opportunities
could pass them by. By overcoming your fears, you can turn your dreams into reality and live the life
you deserve. Remember, no one achieves greatness by playing it safe.
Thanks for
reading and Have a nice week y’all.
