There is so much talk in today's world about money, prosperity and success. Success is an important thing in everyone's life from an average person in the street to the CEO of some big fortune 500 company. Prosperity has become common talk everywhere; it is all we ever hear these days.
Success is difficult to define as it is personal. It differs from person to person depending on your priorities and a whole lot of other factors. However one can never deny that the road of success has two sides. There is the one side with success limiting factors and the other one with success enabling factors. Success limiting factors are those that deter your progress in life. These are mainly fear and failure. Success enabling factors are those that propel you towards the attainment of your set goals. These are mainly faith and favor.
In the coming few weeks, I will be unpacking on how you can overcome the success limiting factors (fear and failure) and how you can use the success enabling factors (faith and favor) to your advantage so that you can achieve whatever you set to achieve in your life. This part one to the series "The Success Factor" discusses the Three Steps To Overcoming Fear.
Fear is one of the many reasons why most people fail to achieve their goals in life. It is a state of mind where one is always thinking that something bad might happen. Fear makes you to live in bitterness, regret, confusion, indecisiveness, self-condemnation and self-pity. It is usually a result of thought patterns.
There are three steps to overcoming fear which I managed to draw from my personal life experiences. These are establishing, exploring and eliminating the fear.
- What is it that I fear?
- How has it affected my life and those around me?
- How much progress would I have made had it not been for this fear?
- How has my fear affected my decision making abilities?
This will assist you in knowing and understanding your fear as well as the magnitude of its effect.
Exploring the Fear
After establishing your fear, you need to explore its root cause. What is causing you to fear that much? Could it be something that happened to you in the past? Could it be a myth, a belief or a story that you heard? Are you afraid of the unknown happening to you in the future? What is the source of your fear?
Exploring your fear in greater detail will help you to have a better understanding of the source and cause of it. This is of importance as it will help in devising ways of how to deal and overcome that fear.
It will also assist in recognizing thought patterns which you may have been entertaining that have held you in bondage. Exploring your fear will also point out to certain experiences in the past which you went through that are causing you to always be afraid.
Eliminating the Fear
At this stage you are now fully aware of what your fears are and what is causing them. The next step is to come up with a way of eliminating each fear one by one. This is a broad step that is dependent on your findings on Establishing and Exploring the fear.
Certain fears are caused by lack of information. In such cases your challenge would be to research and equip yourself with information as a way to counter such fears.
If your fear is caused by past experiences then let go of the past. Do not allow yourself to live in bondage due to past experiences.
You need to understand that you are the one who is responsible for changing your life. No one will change your life for you. Therefore you need to be active in the process of overcoming your fears otherwise you will continue to live in bondage.
Some people need to forgive themselves from what they did in the past as a way of conquering their fears. Some need to be reconciled with their families and mend broken relationships. Others need to stop giving excuses and start acting on their dreams. Yet still others only need the courage to stand up and start doing something.
Challenge yourself to face your fears and you will discover that there is so much which you can do without any limitations.
Adopted from my latest book More than a Conqueror "Chapters 1 to 3". Download for free on http://www.peterchi.co.zw/#