Achievement Thinking by Overcoming Fear

Fear overwhelms us. It prevented you from approaching that boy or girl in the eighth grade. It makes your palms sweat when you need to give a presentation at work. It makes your stomach churn when you need to bring up a difficult topic with your spouse. Why does fear hamper us so much and what can we do about it?

Fear is an anatomical reaction that is actually good for us. Fear is a state of reaction and self-readiness designed to protect us from harm. If you are awoken in the middle of the night and discover that your house is on fire, you become afraid. Your body releases endorphins and your muscles are ready. Your body is prepared to flee your burning house, a dangerous environment. In this case fear can help you survive.

Some fear is good. When it prevents us from doing what we want in life, then it becomes problematic. Let me provide you one simple strategy to help deal with your personal fear: visualization.

If you are ever fearful of rejection, embarrassment, failure, or ridicule, stop and visualize the situation. See that negative occurrence and emphasize it. See the worst possible outcome. See it in your imagination and make it as visual as you possibly can. Totally exaggerate the failure. Exaggerate it more, and then even more. Eventually, your anticipated fear will become ridiculous. In some of my workshops, sometimes, people end up laughing at their own fear.

That is the situation that I want to create for all of you. I want you to become so comfortable with your fear, so in control of it, that you can actually laugh at it.

Excessive fear holds us back. It hinders us, but it doesn’t need to. You can achieve so much more in life if you accept and exaggerate your fears. Fear can be overcome. Overcoming your fear is a key part of achievement thinking.