I want us to look at something that holds so many people back from achieving their life goals - FEAR!

If you believe psychologists, they will tell you that you are born with only two fears - the fear of falling and the fear of loud noises. If this is so all of the other fears and phobias must be learned as we go through life. Fears such as the fear of failure, the fear of rejection do not just apply to sales people. In every walk of life you can allow these fears to dominate and hold you back from achievement.

Some people even have a fear of success. Success takes you out of your comfort zone and I have seen so many people aspire to reach a goal only to slip back into their old ways because they find themselves out of their comfort zone and have not been shown how to move on from there.

I believe our greatest enemy in life is fear, because fear keeps us from doing many of those things we would like to do that would make our life more complete and more enjoyable.

Doubt is the first cousin of fear and precedes it. We weren't born with doubt. Our habit of doubt has grown throughout our life. If we dwell on a doubt and give in to it, it then grows into fear.

I think it is fair to say that we all have doubts. You know that little voice in the back of your head that tells you that you cannot do a thing and nags away until you are convinced you cannot do it...

To illustrate unfounded fear I used to lay a plank on the floor of my training room and dare my participants to walk down the plank without falling off, no one refused the challenge. I then suggested that we go onto the roof, place the plank between two buildings over a busy road and carry out the same challenge. No one took the challenge - why not? It was the same plank the same width, but we had introduced a ‘What If' situation. What if the wind blew - what if the plank shook in other words what if I fell off!

So what made us think this way?

Mark Twain said, "True courage is not the absence of fear, it's the mastery of fear." World-Class Goal Achievers have just as many fears as those who live miserable, unfulfilled lives because of fear - they have just learned to master their fears instead of allowing their fears to master them. In fact, because they play on a much larger stage, they have to confront the fear of things much larger than the masses will ever confront.

Norman Vincent Peale, writing in 'You Can If You Think You Can', provides us with a prescription for mastering fear and doubt. "You can cancel out fear with faith. For there is no force in this world more powerful than faith. The most amazing things can happen as a result of it...There are two massive thought forces competing for control of the mind: fear and faith, and faith is stronger, much stronger. Hold that thought of faith's greater power until you believe it, for it can be the difference between success and failure."

Fear is nothing more than your perception of a future event. In 99 times out of 100 it will not be based upon truth. An acronym of the word FEAR is ‘False Evidence Appearing Real'.

For instance, if you've been thinking about starting your own business but have been put off by fear, it's probably because of some perception that the business might fail and then what would you do? That thought leads to even bleaker thoughts that you might lose your home or your car. There's really no evidence that any of those events will occur. It is all in your perception. Is it any wonder then that you can never take the necessary steps to do what you've always wanted to do?

What separates the goal achievers from the goal non-achievers then, if they all face the same fears?

Simply this as Susan Jeffers covers in her book Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway.

That is exactly what separates the achievers from the non-achievers. The achievers feel exactly the same fears as the rest of us, but they go ahead in the faith that they will achieve their goal - do the thing you fear and the fear will disappear.

In the final analysis, fear is present in everyone's life. It only creates a problem when it causes inaction and paralysis. Conquer fear and you truly have gained one of the real "keys to the kingdom."

Let me try to help you.

Write down the greatest fear you have, the one which you believe is holding you back, list the reasons for your fear in as great a detail as possible.

Send it to me at questionsatdaviddutch.com

I will send you a suggestion as to how you can defeat that fear and move on to greater things, no charges or obligations are attached this is my gift to you today given freely without expectation of a return.