The fear behind fear

As human beings we live with fear on a daily basis. Fear is a major factor in our decision-making. We choose careers, goods, even significant others based on these fears. We fear rejection, we fear failing, we fear being outcast from society.\nAs a social defense mechanism, a large percentage of us battle this fear by several means. One way we handle this fear is by becoming cynical. We start to view everything negatively (so as not to get upset) and we find other cynical people that confirm our worldviews. This cynicism is a cancer to society and ironically keeps future generations from conquering their fears.\nAnother defense mechanism is hate: We hate those who act despite their fear and have beautiful homes, wives and successful careers. We hate minorities, we hate the upper class, we hate foreigners.\nFinally, we blame government. We blame government for “not providing us with jobs,” for the overall economy and even the gap between the rich and poor. \nAmid these attitudes there is a segment of society that acts differently. Progress in society comes from a relatively small number of innovators. These are the businessmen, scientists and other professionals who account for the greatest amount of innovation.\nWhat differentiates this group of society from others? Do they not fear? How can we join the ranks of this group?\nBefore you can handle your fear, you must fully understand what fear is. In “Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway,” Dr. Susan Jeffers makes a very profound observation: We do not fear things or events; what we truly fear is not being able to deal with circumstances in our lives. For example: We don’t fear losing our money, but rather we fear not being able to survive without it. If you knew that you could get your money back easily, would you really fear losing it? Rather than thinking about the fear behind our actions, our society teaches us to hoard more and more material things while not fixing the fundamental flaw in the depths of our souls.\nThe only known way to overcome fear is by realizing our greatest nightmare. This is why I think that so many entrepreneurs go through great failures before they succeed. The further out of reach of your comfort zone and into the fear zone, the more your comfort will expand. I used to be afraid of running a company that had affected many people around the country. I feared customer complaints, lawsuits and everything in between. Not until I encountered all these issues on a consistent basis did my fear finally go away .\nThe only way to truly get rid of your greatest fear of failing is to lose everything. Once you fail, you will see that it is really not that bad. Then you can go on your way and achieve everything you ever dreamed of. It is your choice as to how you shape your future. Do you fade into mediocrity, hate and cynicism? Or do you push the envelope and go after everything you ever wanted?