We all have fears because fear is part of our human experience. The big question is though, how can we experience fear without letting it hold us back from achieving success?
For some people, even the word fear makes their skin crawl and their muscles tense up. Fear can be physically as well as mentally paralyzing and it can make any situation seem like there is no way up, down, in or out.
While fear can prevent us from achieving our goals and dreams because it distorts our reality and more often than not is grounded in false beliefs, stepping up and taking action sometimes seems impossible. However, pushing fear aside and stepping out of our comfort zone challenges us and means that we are growing.
We don’t have to be fearless to be confident and successful, but we do need to develop the ability to step into unchartered territory and get comfortable with the uncomfortable. Here are our TOP 10 tips how to turn fear into fire and push success to new heights.
#1 Stop Self-Doubt
Most of us tend to hold on to negative beliefs that can create self-doubt and keep us from thinking big. It may stem from a relative, a teacher, a friend or a boss who judged us harshly in the past and we believed them. But rather than allowing that negative belief to keep us small, aspire to something greater. Reality is that we are capable of so much more than we think, so take inventory of your strengths and make sure that you are stepping up in life. Sure, we all feel a little shaky at times, but use that nervousness to your advantage, ask for what you want and go for it with everything you’ve got.
#2 Take Smart Risks
You owe it to yourself to take risks and move forward in life. Sure, sometimes we may not have all the skills necessary to move forward with a challenge, but realize the truth that you can always learn what you don’t know, yet or you could delegate certain tasks. Don’t let fear of failure stop you. Address your fears, mobilize support and take a leap. More often than not you will surprise yourself what you can actually achieve if you put your mind to it, rather than believing that negative voice inside your head that tells you that you are not good enough and you are going to fail.
#3 Let Go of Perfectionism
When we learn how to let go of perfectionism, we create the space to be able to step up, speak up, think big, take risks and turn our fear into fire. There is truth in the saying that perfection kills our dreams as well as our enthusiasm and the ability to move forward, so don’t indulge in perfectionism. Making mistakes is part of our journey and keep in mind that some of the greatest innovations were born out of mistakes. Stop playing it safe and don’t make the mistake of equating fear with danger instead of opportunity. And remember, even if your efforts don’t work out as planned, the lessons and experience you will learn will make you wiser.
#4 Get Out of Your Comfort Zone
A lot of us strive to be comfortable, which means that stepping out of our comfort zone can create fear because reaching for more may put our comfort in jeopardy. However, you have to realize that your comfort zone can become a prison that works against you, not for you. If you want to learn how to step out of your comfort zone think about all the times when you took a chance and were successful. Keep in mind, being bold doesn’t equate with being reckless, but turning fear into excitement is a way to use it at fuel towards success.
#5 Wonder What Could Happen
Instead of imagining what could go wrong when your worst fears materialize, wonder about all the positive things that could happen and turn your fear into curiosity. Curiosity has the power to conquer fear even more so than bravery can. Just look at children. They are curious about everything and everyone around them as they set out to discover the world. It seems like they have no fear, but reality is they just have a huge sense of curiosity that is the perfect antidote to paralytic fear. Curiosity inspires excitement and a state of enthusiasm, so get into a state of curiosity and you can turn fear into fire.
#6 Use Fear to Inspire Progression
A lot of people fear that they aren’t making any progress in their life while others might procrastinate and waste their time doing nothing. It may seem harmless, but this kind of behavior is a returning phenomenon that can perpetuate a negative downward spiral of distressing thoughts like beating yourself up and never learning from your mistakes. Turn it around and instead see missed opportunities as failure. Instead of fearing to fail, fear missed achievements and use fear as the fuel to inspire progression in your life, a drive that moves you forward towards success.
#7 Use Fear to Inspire Learning
A lot of people nowadays are stressed out about the things they didn’t learn earlier in life, but keep in mind, you can learn and gain knowledge at any time in your life, you just have to be curious about them. Don’t let fear of failure hold you back and not take on a new challenge because there is no time like the present to learn what you need to learn right now in order to succeed. Use fear of failure as a motivator to always seek more knowledge because you have the potential to learn anything you want.
#8 Normalize Fear
We all feel fear, it’s a completely normal part of life. It only becomes problematic when we experience fear and let it paralyze and disempower us. Feeling fear is nothing to be embarrassed about. Normalize your fear, talk to other people about your fear and you will realize that fear is entirely human. Keep in mind, talking about your fears, you may find someone who has had the same fear and was successful in overcoming and managing it. Once you learn how to normalize fear, it will affect you less and you can turn it into fire towards achieving your goals and dreams.
#9 Focus on the Positive
A great way to turn fear into fire is to adopt an attitude of positivity about how you view yourself and the world around you. Focus on what is good in your life right now and don’t fill your mind with junk. Stay away from the steady stream of negativity that is so dominant in our world. The more you can manage to get into a positive headspace, the more you can manage your fears. You have control over what you let into your mind, so focus on the positive, your strengths and what’s right about yourself and the world.
#10 Focus on the Future
Our fears are mostly fueled by experiences from the past. Let go what happened yesterday, last week or even five years ago. Forgive the person who has wronged you so you can be free. Keep in mind, it’s not about who is right and who is wrong, it’s about freeing yourself from the baggage in order to be able to move forward. Every day provides endless opportunities to create new successes in the future, so focus on the future instead of ruminating in the past and you will be able to turn fear into fire.
Allowing irrational fear to paralyze us into inaction will only make us miserable. Keep in mind, most fears are irrational and a construct of our wild imagination. However, if we can learn to properly use our fears to give us opportunities and help us achieve our goals faster and more efficiently, we will be able to live a better, happier and more successful life.
TURN FEAR INTO POWER AND LEAD A PURPOSE-DRIVEN LIFE
Joschi & Monika
#BoldNaked