There is fire on the mountain…Run! Run! Run! Was there any fire on the mountain or did we create the fire in our minds? Can you think of something you dreaded when you were 5 years old? I can remember clearly that I hated to be in the dark. I was always so scared that someone was going to show up from nowhere and take me away. That fear was just an illusion. There was no difference in the day and the night apart from what I had created in my mind by the virtues of the movies I had seen.
Is Fear Destructive/Constructive? Fear can be destructive or constructive depending on your perception and response to it. Fear can cause you to run away or rise to confront, it can cause you to stop doing something or to start doing something and it can cause you to procrastinate or act immediately.
Choose to perceive fear as a friend and not the enemy. The uninteresting fact about fear is that it breeds more fears because our fear can limit the experience and knowledge that we can learn from doing those things that we dread. I believe that fear is constructive if we perceive it that way and respond to it accordingly.
Everybody is scared of something Everybody is scared of something. You are normal so take it easy on yourself. If we take the generally accepted definition of bravery as a quality which knows no fear, I have never seen a brave man. All men are frightened — George Patton.
I bet you have something that scares you! Do not feel abnormal or disadvantaged that you are scared of something. It only proves the fact that you are human. Nobody is immune to fear. Some people have the fear of inadequacy, fear of failure, fear of what others will say or think, fear of being rejected… a lot of phobias everywhere.
Your Mind and Fear Fear is usually as a result of the programming of our subconscious mind from our early year’s right into adulthood. The way you saw things happen and how individuals in your environment responded to situations or experiences, subconsciously informed your mind and built a belief system in you.
Some groups of people will always resist the urge to apply for business grants because they grew up in an environment where maybe their Dad’s business grant request was always rejected. So, whenever the thought or conversations around applying for a business grant comes to mind, they tend to withdraw in fear. Some other people saw in their environment that business grants were always approved so the fear of rejection wasn’t a subject of discussion for them.
So let’s do a quick analysis of two women Mrs. Y and Mrs. Z Mrs. Y grew up to know that her father cheated on her mother by sleeping with his secretary. She then gets married and doesn’t want her husband to have a secretary because she has the fear that he will cheat on her by sleeping with his secretary. Mrs. Z grew up to know that her father’s secretary was always on top of her job by making her father’s work much easier. Her father’s secretary also facilitated calendar scheduling for her dad to have time to stay at home and bond with her and her siblings. She then gets married and encourages her husband to get a secretary to ease his workload. Mrs. Y’s parents informed her fear of being cheated on, while Mrs. Z didn’t have the same fear even in a similar situation. This scenario shows that as much as our mind picks a lot of information subconsciously, we have to deliberately position our minds to start seeing things in a way that helps us to perceive fear correctly and face it. It is important to retrain the mind and fill it with positivity and possibilities.
Dispel Fear by Acting Fear cannot be banished, but it can be calm and without panic. It can be mitigated by reason and evaluation. — Vannevar Bush
Do not avoid your fears, face it. Doing it afraid means acting despite your fear. We all want things to be perfect, but you have to understand that perfection is the enemy of getting started. This is because you will keep seeing the reason why you can’t start at all. Always remember that there is a line between perfection and excellence. Excellence is an attempt to perform a task in the best way possible, whereas perfection is the definitive one hundred percent right way of doing anything.
While you are waiting for things to be perfect, people are learning from their mistakes. I had a conversation with a friend along this line in the previous week. You have to do things excellently but just know that perfection is a journey, so you can keep improving and getting higher versions of whatever it is overtime.
Did you know that Orville and Wilbur Wright (The Wright brothers) who are known for flying the first airplane in 1903 did not have it perfect? It might interest you to know that the airplane that they built is exhibited in the National Air and Space Museum in Washington D.C. What if they felt the airplane was not perfect and didn’t launch it. They would have cheated themselves. By doing it afraid, they helped other people see the possibility to make it better.
I attended a conference tagged “Do it Afraid!” in 2019. The panelists were highly knowledgeable and experienced entrepreneurs. There was a key thing I took away from the conference which is that almost all the panelists mentioned that they still do things afraid.
I then came to the conclusion that fear never ends or stops, it keeps showing up in different phases, seasons at different levels of growth. The major thing is to ensure that you keep facing your fears and doing it afraid. In conclusion, I will love you to do the following:
Itemize the different things you have been scared of doing — it could be asking for a raise, starting a business, starting a community…
2. Think through each of the items you have on your list to see what you are really scared of (deep evaluation) and make a decision to act despite your fear.
For example, Item 1: I want to ask for a raise at my place of work Fears: What if my boss says no, what if they view me as a greedy person, what if they think I’m not worth the raise. Decision: If my boss says no, I will like to know why and when I can get the raise, so I will ask for the raise anyway. If I am viewed as a greedy person, I can’t do anything to change how they think so I will ask for the raise anyway. If they think I am not worth the raise, I will ask to know what can make me eligible for the raise, so I will ask for the raise anyway.
Do you see it?
ACTION ALWAYS BEATS INACTION Start doing things afraid, get stronger in the process, get experienced, learn from the process, and continuously improve. Do it Afraid!
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