J. Krishnamurti said it best when he stated:
“What is needed, rather than running away or controlling or suppressing or any other resistance, is understanding fear; that means, watch it, learn about it, come directly into contact with it. We are to learn about fear, not how to escape from it.” — Jiddu Krishnamurti
We all have a multitude of fears that hinder success but most can be boiled down to the following 13…
A Bakers Dozen of Fear:
Fear of standing out, of being noticed.
This is the reason public speaking is one of the biggest fears today. Some people would rather walk on hot coals than get up on a stage. It stems from an underlying fear of what other people think of us.
But what you may not realize is that other people are busy thinking the same thing. At some point in our evolution, I’m sure this fear of standing out came in handy, but it isn’t relevant anymore.
Fear of not being good enough.
Quite simply put it’s a fear of imperfection. We fear that whatever he is doing is wrong in some way. Even making a call, writing something, eating ,or talking in front of others is difficult knowing deep down that they are making some kind of error in their task.
No one is perfect everyone has faults and frailties. If you do your best that is all that is required and if anyone says you are not good enough remember that God created you, and God does NOT make Junk.
“Prosperity is not without many fears and distastes; adversity not without many comforts and hopes.” — Francis Bacon
Fear of turmoil.
If clutter and confusion cause a stress reaction, it can lead to compulsive behaviors designed to eliminate any triggers. Cleaning and organizing may become somewhat of a fetish with the afflicted person.
Life is turmoil, there is no getting away from it, the best you can do is the best you can do but to fear the inevitable is the same as worrying that sometime before age 150 you are probably going to die. Yes it is correct but all the worry in the world cannot change it or extend it… Better to Live life and love life as it is, than to fear it is not going to always be good.
Fear of failure.
Success is not guaranteed by vnever failing… If i sit in a chair watching television all day i am successfully avoiding becomming a failure at running a marathon…. but ill never be successful at that marathon either. fear of failure only blocks you from learning and succeeding. The reality is that lack of failure equals lack of risk-taking, and risk taking is required for any meaningful success.
“True success is overcoming the fear of being unsuccessful.” – Paul Sweeney
Fear of wasting time and/or money.
Time is the most important resource at any CEO’s disposal. When it’s invested wisely, the CEO solves lots of problems and makes measurable progress toward goals. When time is wasted, the CEO loses ground and is likely to change physical and emotional states in a way that makes other people wish they had called in sick to work. CEOs will do virtually anything to avoid being placed in a situation in which they have no choice but to waste time.
Fear of losing control.
One of the most prevalent fears people have is that of losing control. This is the fear that if you don’t manage to control the outcome of future events, something terrible will happen. People who are chronic sufferers from such losing-control anxiety keep themselves continuously in a heightened state of stress with only brief, unsatisfying intermissions between fears.
Fear of something that hasn’t (and probably won’t) happen.
Fear of the future is one of the biggest obstacles that strangulates the hearts and minds of humankind. This fear is rooted the What-If’s. What if talk at lunch to somebody and my Boss finds out and gets Angry, what if I take one afternoon off to build my future and they find out and I get fired, what if my wife finds out I went to a team gathering at a bar this instead of coming straight home for supper.
Fear of looking undesirable or clownish.
In groups of men and women this fear is a social stigma. We often think that our value is entirely based on the body we have, and totally ignore the true beauty within. Along with this we fear that others see us in a steriotypical role that is also stigmatized, like Nerd, Geek, Wallflower, weakling, and a huge number of less polite and more insulting labels. The truth is you are NOT any label unless you stick that label on yourself, AKA you have to accept and own it… As I said before you were good enough for God to create, and that should be enough.
II Timothy 1:7 – “For God hath not given us the spirit of fear; but of power, and of love, and of a sound mind.”
Fear of the unknown.
The fear of the unknown leaves people a frozen status. They are afraid of entering and exploring the new ground, because they think they might get in trouble.
Fear of appearing ignorant
(Yep, I am still working on this one). You’re not clear about the other person is saying but you’re afraid to ask for clarification for fear of appearing ignorant. You pretend to understand when you don’t. In both business and life this often leads to decisions formed on bad information that wind up feeding our other fears.
Fear of being misunderstood.
After Fear of appearing ignorant this is the second edge of the double edged sword. When we are children we tend to be misunderstood, a lot, and often we grow to adulthood fearing it. No one likes like being misunderstood and we don’t want to misunderstand others as well.
I John 4:18 – “There is no fear in love; but perfect love casteth out fear: because fear hath torment. He that feareth is not made perfect in love.”
Fear of change.
Fear of change holds the reins on all the other twelve fears here. Unless change is addressed in a calm, logical, frame of mind it creates terrors more debilitating than being paralyzed
Expose yourself to your deepest fear; after that, fear has no power, and the fear of freedom shrinks and vanishes. You are free. – Jim Morrison
Let me know how you are dealing with fear…. I would love to know…