Andrew Cordle

Fear Not Part Two

“There is only one thing that makes a dream impossible to achieve: the fear of failure.” – Paulo Coelho   Here are a few truths that I believe you must know in order to avoid them influencing or ruining your path to success:   1. Understand the difference between paralyzing fear and motivating fear. The fear that prevents you from even trying is “paralyzing fear.” This is a very dangerous type of fear that will destroy your potential before you even begin. “Motivating fear” is the spirit that inspires you to tuck your chin and go for it! This is a positive type of fear. You can fear failure and give up before you even begin or you can take that same fear and use it as a motivator to work harder and get smarter in order to succeed!   2. Never let fear make your decisions for you! It may make you overly cautious or even cause you to rethink/reevaluate everything…which may end up working in your favor. But do not let the spirit of fear make your decisions for you.   3. Discern the warning signs of fear: self pity, withdrawing from those closest to you, abandoning/lowering your goals, pointing fingers of blame away from yourself – all of these are indicators that the spirit of fear has taken over. Once these emotions set-in, with them come the self-destructive forces of addiction, infidelity, laziness, distraction, and other negative behaviors used to escape and ignore the nagging fear inside of us.   4. Learn how to combat fear. The remedy of fear is not necessarily boldness or courage. The remedy of fear is love! When you “love” what you do, when you “love” your peers, and when you “love” every moment that you have to achieve your goals, fear has no way to reach your spirit!   5. Another powerful weapon against fear is a disciplined mind. Your thoughts influence your feelings and your feelings influence your actions. What you think about in your spare time will have a greater impact on your actions than what you think about while you’re working.   6. Be a reader. Readers are not necessarily leaders but all good leaders are indeed, readers! Read biographies of successful men and woman who overcame fear and obstacles on their path to success! Fill your mind with examples of success or the the daily “negative grind” will provide an entryway for fear to creep in.   7. Lastly, hold pep rallies for your team. Celebrate successes and encourage one another. Honoring those who overcome fear in their successes will help push-away the spirit of fear that holds us all down!   Too often, when we let fear sneak its way into our daily lives, we create a breeding ground for fear and failure! Don’t let this cycle start. When you feel fear creeping-in, this is...