Have you ever been so afraid of failing at something that you decided not to try it at all? Or has a fear of failure meant that, subconsciously, you undermined your own efforts to avoid the possibility of a larger failure? Ok, a Robert Kiyosaki reference. What is Fear? Let me break it down for you in an acronym.
What is FEAR?
F – False
E – Evidence
A – Appearing
R – Real
Everyone knows fear. It can come in an instant and throw you into chaos, yet it can also save your life.
Fear is a natural response to physical danger, but it can also be self-created, such as the fear of failure, being out of control, being different or being lonely. There is a fear of the future and of death. You may fear love because you fear being rejected; fear being generous because you fear you will not have enough; fear sharing your thoughts or feelings in case you appear wrong; and fear trusting because you are dominated by self-doubt and insecurity.
What stops 99% of people in life from chasing their dreams and passions is FEAR.
We as humans were biologically programmed to survive. Therefore, any threat against our ability to survive is quickly processed by our subconscious and we subsequently choose to not proceed with that associated action. Once you understand what fear really is, you can train yourself to embrace the notion of fear and face these demons head on. Now back to our acronym, which couldn’t define it any better;False Evidence Appearing Real.
Fear is not real!
It is that noise going on between your ears which inevitable makes something real. For example, like me you may decide to become an entrepreneur and start your own internet home business. Now even though the thought may seem exciting, at the same time you are going to the overwhelm of venturing into the unknown and start doubting your abilities to acquire the completely new skill sets when it comes to identifying with the online world.
At the same time, you’ve heard all the stories that 99% of businesses fail and you get scared that all the money you spend on your education and advertising will ultimately lead to you losing a lot of money if it doesn’t work. With all this overwhelm (especially in the beginning) when you realize there is such a huge learning curve you may step back and just give up. That is Fear working at its best.
“It is a threat to your ability to survive and therefore giving up just puts you straight back into your comfort zone, so you continue with your sh!tty day job because you love the security of your pay check. Well this when Fear actually becomes real! Don’t let fear get to you.”
Here is our advice, if you fear snakes, go hold a snake! If you fear heights, go bungy jumping! If you fear public speaking, start a freaking video blog and start working on your presentation and communication skills! What you will soon find, after you eventually touch that snake, after you eventually jump off that bridge, or eventually get use to presenting on video in front of people is that, it’ s not so bad! You will be like, ”Oh wow I can’t believe I just did that, that was exciting give me more!”
You will soon realize that there is no real threat to your survival as you are still fine living and breathing. You will realize that all this talk between your ears is just..
FALSE EVIDENCE APPEARING REAL.
Hope you enjoyed these insights.
To your success
Michael Arko
