Conquer Fear

The art of overcoming fear has been analyzed extensively in many venues on the internet, in print, and in day-to-day conversation. Solutions are proposed that are often similar in many ways. The steps to overcome fear are fairly typical across the board: discover what your fear is, visualize a positive result from acting in spite of your fear, and then take action. These steps are effective to a certain extent. I believe they lack the emotional component that is necessary for lasting change. One might follow these steps and overcome a fearful situation in one moment only to be crippled by fear in a future moment that is the same or similar.

Lasting change requires more than just passively deciding to "give something a try" and "see what happens." Too often individuals expect to fail in a venture, but they go forward anyway so that they can say to themselves that they have faced a fear. Facing fears is certainly a step in the right direction, but conquering fears, not simply facing them, should be one's goal if lasting personal development is going to take place.

Fear is probably the most effective crippler in the world. Fear stops new ideas from taking shape, prevents effective communication among those in a relationship, and limits talent in any sector. Fear paralyzes one into inaction by encouraging procrastination. Fear motivates you to sleep in when there is something important to do. There is a way to conquer fear.

Emotions are Key

To conquer fear, you must get your emotions involved. You must get yourself excited about the situation. I would like to suggest an activity that will get anyone excited about conquering fear and living the life they desire. Get out a pad and paper. Ask yourself this question: what would I do if I knew that I could not fail? Think about that for a minute. What would you do if you knew that there was no possible way for you to fail? What would you do if it were guaranteed that anything you touched would turn to gold? Write some things down. Make a sincere list.

You will probably list some pretty big dreams and lofty goals. That is good. Now visualize yourself accomplishing everything on your list, or just some of the most desired things. Pretty exciting isn't it? That feeling of excitement is a necessary catalyst in vanquishing fear from your life. It provides a more lasting change than pep talking your way into facing fearful situations only to return to the fearful state once the situation has passed. Savor this emotion and let it work within you.

Make a Firm Decision

I say "make a firm decision" rather than "make a decision." People too often make a passive or weak decision only to fall short moments after they have decided to change. One may decide to quit smoking one day, and smoke a pack of cigarettes the next. There is something to addiction, but I believe that one can change in an instant if the decision they have made is a firm internal commitment and the positive emotion associated with the desired change is strong.

Go Big

Even after the above steps, you are likely to feel fear when the thing causing the fear presents itself to you. When that happens, you must go big. Much of the advice about overcoming fear is weak at this step. It will say something like, "visualize getting through the fear." For example, if the fear was public speaking, typical advice would guide the person to visualize themselves getting through the speech without being ridiculed or laughed at (normal fears for one giving a public speech). Going big encourages the person to visualize delivering a powerful speech that creates a positive impact among those listening. Going big decreases anxieties because the visualized rewards are much greater and far more emotionally exciting than simply "getting by" or "getting through it."

Develop the Habit

By going big, the individual seeking to conquer their fear will see that they are far more competent and talented than they thought they were. They will in most cases get addicted to the new positive feeling they receive by going big.

Habits eventually become part of who we are. When we develop the habit of conquering fear, our lives will move forward with more purpose, vision, faith, and excitement. We will accomplish those things on our list.