Does Your Fear Cause You To Freeze?


Posted in Strategies for success on 11/07/2009 06:22 pm by Kathy Baur
Does your fear cause you to freeze?
It’s been an interesting week.  There has been a recurring theme in the folks I work with and it revolves around fear.  Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of you name it; but the bottom line is that fear has lead to a lot of very smart people to stop dead in their tracks.  Does your fear cause you to freeze?
The fact is fear performs a very important function in the human species.  It’s what alerts us to danger and helps us stay alive.   If it wasn’t for fear, we wouldn’t be able to bolt out of the way when a car is getting too close or fight an attacker if we’re being mugged.   Fear is great when there is an external threat, which is signaling that we need to do something quickly.
But when the threat is your internal thinking, it’s a whole other situation.  Being an entrepreneur takes a lot of guts, determination, and downright chutzpa.  At times it can be exhilarating to be forging where no man (or woman) has gone before.  And then there are those times when our mind starts its seemingly silent siren’s song; the moments of doubt, the thoughts of “what if”.
Those times your fear is not so helpful.  It causes you to turn a pause into a full halt or to pull back just when you should push forward.  And ignoring the sibilant saboteur or pushing it away doesn’t do the trick, because it will come back with full vengeance.
So what are you suppose to do? How do you win this internal fight?
There is a great Cherokee tale about the internal battles that every person must face.  A grandfather sits around the fire with his grandchildren telling about two wolves that struggle inside him.
The first wolf is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, pride, and superiority.  The other wolf is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.  He tells the children these wolves war in each of us.
The children were quiet and then one child asked “Which wolf wins?”
The grandfather replies, “The one I feed.”
It’s the same thing with fear.  If you feed your fear, it will only get bigger.  But it’s not about waiting until the fear goes away.  If you do that, you will be waiting forever.  It’s about accepting that fear is present and then turning your focus to what really matters; you, your life, your business.
What has your fear stopped you from doing today and how did you get back on track?

It’s been an interesting week.  There has been a recurring theme in the folks I work with and it revolves around fear.  Fear of failure, fear of success, fear of you name it; but the bottom line is that fear has lead to a lot of very smart people to stop dead in their tracks.  Does your fear cause you to freeze?

The fact is fear performs a very important function in the human species.  It’s what alerts us to danger and helps us stay alive.   If it wasn’t for fear, we wouldn’t be able to bolt out of the way when a car is getting too close or fight an attacker if we’re being mugged.   Fear is great when there is an external threat, which is signaling that we need to do something quickly.

But when the threat is your internal thinking, it’s a whole other situation.  Being an entrepreneur takes a lot of guts, determination, and downright chutzpa.  At times it can be exhilarating to be forging where no man (or woman) has gone before.  And then there are those times when our mind starts its seemingly silent siren’s song; the moments of doubt, the thoughts of “what if”.

Those times your fear is not so helpful.  It causes you to turn a pause into a full halt or to pull back just when you should push forward.  And ignoring the sibilant saboteur or pushing it away doesn’t do the trick, because it will come back with full vengeance.

So what are you suppose to do? How do you win this internal fight?

There is a great Cherokee tale about the internal battles that every person must face.  A grandfather sits around the fire with his grandchildren telling about two wolves that struggle inside him.

The first wolf is anger, envy, sorrow, regret, greed, arrogance, self-pity, guilt, resentment, inferiority, lies, pride, and superiority.  The other wolf is joy, peace, love, hope, sharing, serenity, humility, kindness, benevolence, friendship, empathy, generosity, truth, compassion, and faith.  He tells the children these wolves war in each of us.

The children were quiet and then one child asked “Which wolf wins?”

The grandfather replies, “The one I feed.”

It’s the same thing with fear.  If you feed your fear, it will only get bigger.  But it’s not about waiting until the fear goes away.  If you do that, you will be waiting forever.  It’s about accepting that fear is present and then turning your focus to what really matters; you, your life, your business.

What has your fear stopped you from doing today and how did you get back on track?

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