3 Simple Ways to Conquer Your Fears and Go for it!

Fear is one of the most common causes of low motivation. It can damage your quality of life, by keeping you locked in a prison of procrastination and inactivity…

We all have our share of fears. There are general fears, such as: Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of change and fear of the unknown…

…and there are more specific fears (sometimes referred to as phobias), like: Fear of public speaking, fear of flying and fear of death.

Your fears can hold you back from taking risks, following your dreams, or becoming successful at anything you attempt to do. If you want to create significant changes in your life and reach your full potential, you must not let your fears control you and drag you down.

First, you must realize that fear is nothing more than a conditioned response. It’s a natural reaction to a frightening or unfamiliar situation.

While fear is usually automatic, there are things you can do to overcome it…

1 – Check your expectations

Fear is often the result of negative expectations. Do you usually find yourself expecting the worst in every situation? Do you worry obsessively about what could go wrong, rather than focusing on your strengths and capabilities?

If you make a conscious effort to expect the best, see the positive side of each situation and keep reminding yourself that you can handle more than you often think, you’ll find yourself with much less fear to deal with.

Even if feelings of fear do manage to creep in, you’ll still be able to keep them in perspective and balance them with your self confidence.

2 – Dismiss your fears

Experts will tell you that the majority of things you fear will never happen anyway. While this may be true, it sure doesn’t feel that way when fear has a chokehold on you!

However, if you look a little more closely at your fears when they arise, you may be able to dismiss at least a few.

For example:

If you have a fear of public speaking and your boss wants you to give a presentation at work, you might feel like your life (and perhaps your livelihood) is on the line. You may fear getting fired, or worry that your colleagues will lose respect for you if you don’t do a good job.

But is any of this likely to happen? In most cases, NO.

…So rather than worrying about what “might” happen if you don’t give a solid presentation, you might brainstorm ways to help improve your performance, such as being well prepared, practicing your delivery on friends and family members, writing notes to yourself and so on.

3 – Act in spite of fear

When you remember that fear is simply a feeling, it loses much of its power. It can’t harm you and except in truly threatening situations you can choose to ignore it and move forward anyway.

If you weigh the pros and cons in any situation, you may decide that the possibility of negative consequences is minimal so there’s nothing to stop you from ignoring your fear and going for it!

This will be determined by you on a case by case basis, of course.

The point isn’t to become reckless with your decision-making but rather to empower yourself to know when a fear is groundless and easily overcome.