Mastering, Dealing With NOT Eliminating Fear

Fear can be crippling. I have dealt with fears my whole life. As a result I’ve been less than a good friend and mate. I’ve been less than a good co-worker. I’ve jumped ship from jobs as a result of fears.

Mark Twain once said, “Courage is the resistance to fear, mastery of fear, not absence of fear.”

Fear will always exist. We need it for survival. There are actually people who have a debilitating condition by which they do not have fear. As a result they are in constant danger.

Most of our fears if we really examine them are tiny little specs of dust we’ve imagined into great mountains. I equate them to The Wizard of Oz. They appear as this loud blustery demon yet when we pull back the curtain we find they possess little power at all.

Here is a great exercise I discuss in this episode that Tim Ferriss refers to as “Fear Setting.”

The biggest takeaway is to deal with your fears. Most of them are in fact False Evidence Appearing Real!

Don’t be ruled by false evidence.

Finally, I discuss Stoic philosophy in this episode. Seneca once said, “We suffer more often in imagination than reality.” The Stoics were obsessed with separating which is within our control vs. that which is not.

Learn to focus on what is within your control and manage it accordingly.

Finally, I discuss “The Process” made famous by University of Alabama head football coach Nick Saban. By obsessing over that which is in our control vs. that which is not, we have much greater potential for success.

Thanks for listening.

JW