Everyone is poised to be successful in different dimensions of their lives such as in their families, social lives careers and other aspects of their lives. There is clearly an instinctive drive that develops over time in the lives of the individual. Achieving success usually requires an initial experience of failure that implies that a series of hard – learned lessons are generally required. Overcome Fear
Kobe Bryant stated that ‘I have self – doubt. I have insecurity, I have fear of failure, I have nights when I show up at the arena and I’m like, ‘My back hurts, my feet hurt, my knew hurt, I don’t have it, I just want to chill.,’ We all have self – doubt. You don’t deny it, but you also don’t capitulate to it. You embrace it’
This article aims to evaluate strategies that can be adopted and implemented to ensure that every individual overcomes fear and becomes successful at what they do.
Overcoming Fear and Becoming Successful
Most successful people can be commonly identified with their ability to overcome fear. It is imperative to be scared but one must be able to paralyze the effect of fear. Taking action is equally important despite being scared (Alkhazaleh and Mahasneh, 2016). One has to be courageous in the face of fear and have the ability to bulldoze his or her way through fear.
Adopting and implementing some strategies such as the following can help one overcome fear, anxiety, doubt and worry out from one’s path. They include the following:
Being and Staying Positive
Positive thoughts and actions help relegate fear and self – doubt. Staying away from negative people helps reduce the impact and amount of negativity in one’s life by half. It is also helpful to show gratitude on a daily basis by identifying the positive events in one’s life as well as practice mindfulness. Staying positive comes with integrity and aiming to do the right thing. This supports the famous quote of Zig Ziglar.
Zig Ziglar stated that “With integrity, you have nothing to fear, since you have nothing to hide. With integrity, you will do the right thing, so you will have no guilt”.
Constant Reminder of being Part of a Bigger Picture
Fear can also be associated with worrying about uncertainty loss of control situation and forgetting about one’s purpose in life. Realizing that one is part of a bigger picture irrespective of whether they fully appreciate and comprehend what it implies or not is important. Every individual needs to ascertain that they need to be successful and happy. This also includes doing the right such as helping people around you. Being a good person must be prioritized by all those who aim to overcome fear. Such thoughts and actions encourage people to try something new and also believe that the impossible is achievable (McGregor and Elliot, 2005).
‘The oldest and strongest emotion of mankind is fear, and the oldest and strongest kind of fear is fear of the unknown’ – H. P. Lovecraft.
Make Time to Know One’s Self
Despite the generally busy schedule and activities of one’s life, there is the need for everyone to ensure that they have some personal quality time that enables one reflect on past activities as well as know more about one’s self. It is imperative to ensure that some personal questions are adequately answered. Such questions include: Do you know who you are? Do you know what makes you happy? Do you know your passions? Answering such questions and more helps an individual to critically evaluate and ascertain their purpose in life.
Fear can be relegated to the background of any individual’s life when they make time for themselves to reflect about their personality and their goals. Relegating fear to the background whilst ensuring that their lives are enjoyed has several benefits that include becoming comparatively healthier and happier as well as achieving quality results on all assignments and responsibilities given (Stuart, 2013).
Dale Carnegie stated that “Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy”.
Being Self-inspired and Motivated
Ralph Waldo Emerson stated that “Always do what you are afraid to do”.
These wonderful words clearly show that every individual should be able to inspire themselves and push further in the right direction to achieve their outlined goals and objectives. Although there are several ways of finding inspiration, people tend to forget to look within themselves and find that unique spark.Creating a library of quotes, saved articles and inspirational success stories can help turn around a heap of self – doubts and fears (Stuart, 2013).
Learn….. Learn…..and Learn more
Francis of Assisi said “Where there is charity and wisdom, there is neither fear nor ignorance”.
An ally of fear is ignorance (McGregor and Elliot, 2005). Most people tend to fear what they do not know or know about. Suggesting to people to educate themselves about what they do not know is one of the best options to overcoming fear. A typical example is being afraid of the dark room. This tends to change when the lights are turned on. When one becomes educated, their fear about an issue gets relegated to the background.
Living a Balanced Life
Although success is important, it is also important to obtain a rather balanced life. This helps avoid making the journey of success an obsession. When one becomes obsessed with success, it can be dangerous and can clearly ruin one’s happiness. Success must rather be considered as a journey rather than as a destination (McGregor and Elliot, 2005). As such, in such journeys, one must feel grounded and balanced by undertaking some unique activities such as spending time with your loved ones, have and enjoy a hobby, be more conscious about one’s health and spirituality.
Successful people have been able to overcome fear through some everyday techniques and strategies. They include standing up straight. Such body postures help one feel more confident and strong. Also, a simple smile can do the magic. Smiling helps reduce stress levels and makes one feel better. Again, taking a cold shower can be very helpful. This also helps relax one’s muscles and helps condition the brain to survive any storm of life. It is also important to embrace what one cannot change. Clearly, one cannot change what happens to him or her but can clearly control how to react to what happens.
Clearly, it is not always easy to do so but a conscious effort to brace the mental and emotional change helps overcome fear. “You are the only one who feels your fear because it exists within you (Anonymous)”. As such, making a conscious effort to overcome fear makes one a better person. In some cases, it is always better not to think or try but just do it. It is important to overcome fear by just taking the first step rather than using time to over analyze a situation before taking the required step. This helps gain momentum and also overcome fear. Also, the exercise of taking in deep breaths helps relax the muscles and overcome fear. One must also learn to be grateful for support received from others as this helps overcome fear (Alkhazaleh and Mahasneh, 2016).
Conclusion
Fear is clearly an everyday part of our human life. It is, however, important to note that several activities and responsibilities can be undertaken to overcome fear and be more successful. Everyone must aim to be successful at an activity or responsibility or more. At London School of Management Education (LSME), we aim to support you overcome your fears by offering you the best of delivery methods, counselling sessions and enjoy together your quest and journey towards overcoming it. We at LSME believes it is one’s right and purpose in life to be successful in whatever task they wish to undertake and the fear factor should be eliminated to make success possible. Believing in being successful is the first step to overcoming fear and can help one have a balanced, happy and fulfilling life.
References
- Alkhazaleh, Z. M., &Mahasneh, A. M. (2016). Fear of failure among a sample of Jordanian undergraduate students. Psychology research and behavior management, 9, 53-60.
- McGregor H. A and Elliot, A. J. (2005). The shame of failure: examining the link between fear of failure and shame. Soc Personal Soc Psychol. 2005; 31(2):218–231.
- Stuart, E. M (2013). The Relationship of Fear of Failure, Procrastination and Self-Efficacy to Academic Success in College for First and Non First-Generation Students in a Private Non-Selective Institution [Doctoral dissertation]Tuscaloosa, AL: University of Alabama; 2013.