Nothing has stolen more joy, rotted more relationships, killed more careers, or prevented more wealth building than fear. Nothing. Fear is Public Enemy #1 when it comes to achieving your goals and getting where you want to go.
We are afraid of everything—afraid of failure, regret, shame, self-loathing, disappointment, jealousy, resentment, and even afraid of our own success. Yes, you heard me correctly: many people are afraid of success. Somehow people are almost more comfortable with the subtle comfort of low expectations than the high bar of success. Then we allow that false comfort to cover up the high price we pay for failure. Failure becomes a blanket we hide under, like a child in bed hiding from the monster in the closet. We often let that “comfort- able” fear stop us from doing what we need to do to advance our goals. We shrug our shoulders, say something like, “Why bother?,” and then plop down in front of the TV to mindlessly zone out for three hours before bed. Three hours that could have been spent plan- ning, dreaming, and building. Three hours that could have taken you ten steps closer to your goal. Three hours that you could have either used or wasted, and you chose to waste them. Now is the time to make different choices and begin choosing to be productive and careful with your time.
How often do we excuse the time-wasting activities in our lives by convincing ourselves we need or deserve a break? Sure, that’s true sometimes—but not nearly as often as we tell ourselves. Most of those times, we aren’t relaxing; we’re just hiding.
We are afraid of looking stupid, so we hold back. We don’t speak up. We don’t take the big risk. We’d rather stay where we are than take a leap that could either take us to the next level or drop us flat on our faces. We get so caught up in appearances, trying to show everyone how calm, cool, and collected we are, when the truth is nobody is looking at us anyway. I’ve said it before and I’ll say it again: no one cares! Everyone’s got their hands full with their own lives; they aren’t wasting their time thinking about you. Most of the people you know have no idea how well or how poorly you’re doing. And if you struck gold or went broke tomorrow, it would barely be a blip on their radar. In fact, over time it might not even be a blip on yours. Most of the time, the failure we try so hard to avoid wouldn’t amount to a stumble in the scope of our whole life. In fact, most of the risk you will ever take is perceived risk, not genuine risk. That is, the risk is mainly in your mind rather than in your circumstances.
Know that you know the enemy, what care you prepared to docc
