How to Destroy Your Fears -- for Good We all have choices to make regarding how we live: Are we going to choose to let our fears overtake us?
By Matt Mayberry Edited by Dan Bova
Opinions expressed by Entrepreneur contributors are their own.
Just as happens with a lot of things in life, we all have choices to make regarding how we live: Are we going to choose to let our fears overtake us and wallow in our failures? Or, are we going to rise above these things and live a faith-filled life?
Related: Tim Ferriss's 7-Step Checklist for Overcoming Fear
By "faith-filled life," I mean always believing that the future is going to be bigger than the past and that there is absolutely no limit to our potential. The decision is ours; no one can make it for us. But it's a decision that has to be made, because the more we experience adversity throughout our lives, the more our fears will creep in and rob us of our peace and happiness.
Interestingly enough, fear, failure and faith have a lot in common. When we fail at something, we let fear stop us from trying again. And when we operate out of fear, we set ourselves up for a negative and limited belief for a future that is still unwritten.
Faith focuses on the positive, while fear focuses only on the negative. When people experience a setback or failure, they immediately begin to believe that there is no choice but to accept the outcome of that negative experience. They lose sight of the fact that the first step in conquering adversity and uncovering the gift that lies within every failure is to constantly develop and strengthen the faith muscle which will help them destroy their fears and move forward.
As physician and Holocaust survivor Emannuel Teney put it, "As your faith is strengthened, you will find that there is no longer the need to have a sense of control, that things will flow as they will and that you will flow with them, to your great delight and benefit."
Destroying your fears
We've all had numerous failures and setbacks throughout our journey. And, like most people, we may be afraid of trying something new -- afraid we'll fail again. But, if we are going to thrive despite the bad times, we absolutely must destroy our fears.
That is certainly no easy task, considering how much our fears have been ingrained. Where a lot of people go wrong is that they don't do anything the moment fear begins to invade their thinking. They let it build up inside their minds; and, over time, fear is all they know.
Related: How to Overcome Fear and Find Motivation
When that happens, they are guided by their fears, instead of faith and hope. They never come to the realization that letting fear lead the way is a recipe for a life of mediocrity and "settling" for an average, lesser version of themselves, rather than the best version.
And don't we all want to be the best version of ourselves?
As the Rev. Charles Stanley said, "Fear stifles our thinking and actions. It creates indecisiveness that results in stagnation. I have known talented people who procrastinate indefinitely rather than risk failure. Lost opportunities cause erosion of confidence, and the downward spiral begins."
I wholeheartedly believe that so many people struggle with overcoming major setbacks and failure in life because they haven't destroyed their fears. They fail, become frightened, then listen to, and end up living, their fears. This paralyzes them from taking action and doing what's necessary to get them where they want to go.
I want to share with you two exercises that have worked wonders for me, for destroying my own fears:
1. Take out a sheet of paper and grab a pen.
For this exercise, it's important to find a quiet location to help you get deep into your thoughts and bring you clarity. The goal here is to start writing every single fear that has ever crossed your mind and still has power over you. This fear could be preventing you from taking action, from talking to a certain man or woman. This fear could be preventing you from following your passion in life.
Whatever it is, write it down. A few years ago, I did this exercise and wrote down almost 200 fears.
Now the fun part: From every day going forward, pick one thing on your fear list. Pick one thing that you're afraid of and force yourself to just do it. It could be picking up the phone and calling someone you have been wanting to talk to, but kept putting off. It could be making that first introduction to someone you're interested in.
It could be enrolling in a class you've thought about pursuing. Or even starting a business. This exercise, done properly, will help you drastically shatter your fears. It has provided me with so much courage over the years and reminded me that the majority of the fears holding me back were only in my mind -- and were false.
2. Shift your mindset -- from the negativity of failure to the positivity faith and hope.
Most of our fears aren't even real. We let made-up scenarios -- worries -- play out in our heads and then run with them. Over time, we really start to believe those scenarios, which more than likely, are self-diminishing instead of self-empowering.
Related: Don't Fear the Fear -- Let It Drive You
We must engrave in our minds that the only way fear can hold us back is if we let it. The only power it has is the power we give it. Shift your mind from the negative clutches of fear to the positivity of the beautiful gifts we receive when faith and hope in a bigger future are present. Then, from that point on, always look to strengthen your faith, not your fears.
