How to Profit from Your Fears (3)

Welcome to part 3 of this article. Celebrated motivational speaker and writer, Anthony Robbins said: “One of the greatest limitations for most people is their fear of failure.”

Nothing restricts people’s progress in life more than fear. In most cases, what distinguishes super achievers from under achievers is the extent to which super achievers manage their fears.

Super achievers don’t allow their fears to rule them, rather, they manage their fears, knowing full well that the only way to be ahead of the pack is to minimize their fears and maximize their faith.

The lifestyle of the under achievers is in contradistinction to that of the super achiever. The under achievers seem to have programmed their lives to be ruled by fear. They never aspire to do anything without thinking of the possibility of failure, defeat, danger or risk.

This negative type of thinking is so intense that they hardly see opportunities placed before them. Instead of focusing on the opportunities before them, what they are most concerned about is how things will not work out well. They can quickly figure out a thousand and one reasons things will not work out well, but they can’t look the other way to find at least one reason things will work well.

Many have got their mind so focused on the possibility of failure and defeat that they never consider the positive outcome of what they want to embark upon. All they are concerned about is the negative outcome. Their fears, their apprehensions outweigh their faith.

And whenever fears outweigh or dominate people’s lives, such people hardly achieve meaningful success in life, because those fears continue to hold them back from stepping out to achieve their heart’s desires.

If your fears have grown so wild that you cannot step out to pursue your heart’s desires, then you are not likely going to profit from your fears.

Fearful people achieve little in life because they allow fear to hold them back from achieving what they set out to achieve.

If your fears have gripped you to the extent that you cannot step out to do any meaningful thing in life, then you are not likely goig to profit from your fears.

The one and only Book of success, the Bible, says: “He that observeth the wind shall not sow; and he that regardeth the clouds shall not reap” (Ecclesiastes 11:4).   

Life is About Investment

You cannot really achieve great success in life without stepping out to invest your time, money, energy, intellect, etc in a worthwhile venture. Fear stops people from taking steps that will lead them to greater heights.

The Preacher (writer of the Book of Ecclesiastes) rightly noted that people who focus on risks that may likely occur are not going to develop the courage and faith to invest.

It is true that risk is associated with any meaningful project you intend to invest in. it is also true that you cannot really achieve great success without overcoming difficulties, trials and obstacles.

The important thing therefore is not the absence of risk, difficulties, trials and obstacles. There will always be many of them. but it is only those who can develop the faith and courage to overcome that will actually achieve great success in life.

One reason we are not achieving our goals is that we focus too much on the present situation on ground. Observing the wind creates and increases fear of sowing. So it is with the cloud. When you keep focusing on the cloud, you will not be able to step out and reap what you have sown. Observer of wind and cloud cannot step out to reap and sow. That is what the Bible tells us.

The fact is, the global economic climate will always be stormy and cloudy. If you must invest, the best time to do so is NOW! Don’t wait for things to get better before you launch out. Things may not get better the way you are thinking, because there may never be a better time.

It is a big mistake to think that things must get better before you invest. Over the years, we have been complaining: “The economy is bad, the economy is bad.” Even now, we still continue to complain about the unfavourable economic climate.

But the question is: when will the economic situation be better? There may never be a better time. The better time is NOW. The economic climate has always been stormy and cloudy, yet some people are investing and prospering. 

SUCCESSFUL PEOPLE ARE THOSE WHO KNOW THAT THERE CAN NEVER BE A PERFECT TIME FOR INVESTMENT. THEY KNOW THAT THE BEST TIME TO INVEST IS NOW. THEY ALSO KNOW THAT THE EARLIER THEY INVEST THE BETTER.

Dear reader, you can profit from your fear if only you stop focusing on the unfavourable economic climate. WIND OR CLOUD, YOU SHOULD MOVE FORWARD AND KEEP INVESTING OR PURSUING YOUR DESIRE. The wind will always blow. The cloud will always form. But that should not discourage you from launching out.

Successful people are not intimidated by the same wind and cloud that are  restricting others from being the best that God wants them to be. You will always know successful people by the way they handle their fears. Many of them have so mastered their fears that they often take “dangerous steps that frighten the devil out of their way to success.”

There is a level of boldness you will reach that will make you to do things others are afraid of doing. I used to think that boldness supersedes talent. Talent is common. Everybody is endowed with one talent or the two. Prolific author, Stephen King noted, “Talent is cheaper than table salt. What separates the talented individual from the successful one is a lot of hard work.”

Indeed, talent is cheap because it is common. But what is not cheap is boldness (courage). And because boldness is not cheap, it is uncommon. It takes boldness to step unto the path of hard work.

Boldness or courage is not the absence of fear. For there to be real courage, there must be fear. Courage is being able to manage your fears in such a way that they don’t freeze you and hold you back from achieving outstanding success in life. Courage is associated with successful people. That is what puts them ahead of the pack.

When you have the courage to take “dangerous steps that will intimidate the devil out of your way,” you will not have a rival, competitor or opposition. Courageous people have no rival. They always stand out of the crowd.

To profit from your fears, you must have the courage to move past your fears and doubts and press your way on to success. One may be highly talented but if one cannot summon up the courage to develop and deploy one’s talent, one may not be able to achieve great success in life.

You may be planning and strategizing over the years on how you can bring your goals into reality, but these would not avail you if you cannot ginger yourself up to BOLDLY step out and work out your plan strategically.

ONLY THOSE WHO HAVE THE COURAGE TO STEP OUT OF THEIR COMFORT ZONE TO PURSUE THEIR SET GOALS CAN REALLY ACHIEVE GREAT SUCCESS IN LIFE.  Courage is superior to talent. A man of great courage with little talent will achieve far greater success than a man of great talent who has little or no courage.

To be ahead of others, you must summon up the courage to do the things others are afraid of doing. When you do what others are afraid of doing, you will get to the height they cannot get to.

Victors are men and women of courage who have refused to be held down by fear and have moved forward to achieve outstanding success. You can actually make fortunes from your fears by undermining them to the level that they cannot hold you down from walking into fortune.

Just summon up the courage to pursue your goal with the agility of a cat after a rat and you will run into fortune VICTORIOUSLY!