How Fear Can Get You to Where You Want to Go

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I was thinking the other day about fear and how it holds us back.  But then I took another approach…

Fear helps us get to where we want to go. It really does!

Actually fear is healthy if we view it in the right way – not as an obstacle, but as a motivator, a challenger.

When we are born we do not have fear. Otherwise we would not learn to walk and explore as babies.

However, during our growing years, we are taught to be fearful. Don’t touch that!  Don’t speak to strangers!

So fear develops early in our mind and can lead to self doubt and inaction, if we let it.

Here’s the thing, fear can also have the opposite effect.  It can push us into action.

Vince Poscente, Olympian, Motivational Speaker, Corporate Trainer and NY Times best-selling author explained it best when he talks about his Olympic experience with speed skiing.

As he sat in the chair lift, going up the mountain to race down it as fast as he could in a rubber suit, knowing full well that if he spilled out at 130 mph there may not be much left of him, his mind kept telling him not to do it.  

Are you crazy, Vince?

It would have been too easy to pull himself out of the competition.

But that is where his drive to compete for Canada and a Gold Medal overrode his fear. And as he explains once he left the gate heading down the hill, there was no fear.  It was gone!

I had the same kind of fear with parasailing in Lake Okanagan. I had to jump off this high cliff to parasail. Was I fearful. Damn right I was! But my drive to parasail overrode my fear. And once I jumped off, the fear was gone.

Fear exists in our mind until we start to take action.

Becoming an entrepreneur can be fearful for many people, because we are afraid of failing.

Before I became an entrepreneur in real estate investing, I was very fearful about getting started.  I didn’t know everything about this business and I was afraid I would fail, get into debt, etc. Sure I did some research and talked with experts, but I was still fearful.

Finally, I made the decision to go forward, because I was not getting anywhere with what I was doing.  I was not moving forward in life and business.

Once I did get started, the fear was gone.  I learned along the way, made mistakes, took corrective action, learned more and more from mentors and kept going.  Every business starts this way, and mine was no different. Today I am extremely proud of my accomplishments with my team across North America and the large real estate investment portfolio I have built.

But that was not the only time I was extremely fearful in business. I had a full time consulting job working for a company.  I had young kids that I wanted to be with. And this job prevented me from being with them.

Plus, my quality of life sucked. Long commutes, traffic, personnel issues, etc.

So I made the decision to change, leave my day job, and start my own home based business.

Was I fearful?

Absolutely. I did not know how long it would take to replace my current income, but I knew that I didn’t want the life I currently had. You see, I was also fearful that I would stay in the current rat race for the rest of my life. This is where I realized once again, that fear was driving me into action!

So, I was so glad to make the decision – I replaced my income within the year and got to have the lifestyle I wanted!

So fear is good. It makes you think as to what you really want. And once you find it, fear cannot stand in the way.

Just ask Vince.

By understanding what fear is and why it is there, then you know that fear can get you to where you want to go.

If you want to conquer fear, don’t sit at home and think about it.  Go out and get busy.– Dale Carnegie

About the author 

Deborah MacDonald

After almost 25 years as an entrepreneur, I continue to grow my business, my passive income streams and my wealth. And now I mentor others on their wealth journeys by teaching them how to fund their own freedom lifestyle.

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