Overcoming your fears is one of the most difficult things a human being can accomplish. Perhaps that’s why so few of us are capable of honestly addressing our fears in a straightforward manner.
Despite the difficulties associated with honest introspection and facing your fears, it can be a healthy and rewarding process that ultimately helps you achieve your true potential.
The truth of the matter is that you will never realize your full potential until you learn how to overcome the problems holding you back. Here’s how to ensure your dreams materialize by overcoming your fears.
Begin with Honest Introspection
There’s no way to overcome your fears if you’re not certain about them. That’s why the first step in the process demands honest introspection on your part.
You must look within yourself and seriously note the things that terrify you. Only after you have done this and determined which fears are holding you back can you take meaningful steps to alleviate those fears and reach your true potential.
That’s easier said than done, however, and many people are understandably afraid of acknowledging their fears.
There is no greater fear for most than the fear of failure, which is something that constantly confronts just about every individual.
That’s why it’s helpful to familiarize yourself with the Harvard Business Review’s breakdown of overcoming your fear of failure, as this is something, which must be accomplished for your other fears to be chased away.
Until you acknowledge that your fear of change is driven by your fear of potentially failing, you will never be able to assess your life with the degree of honesty needed to realize your true potential.
Once you have learned to redefine failure in order to learn from it, you can start making meaningful goals, which can be worked towards in a measurable fashion.
Over time, you will learn that slow, dedicated progress on almost any issue is enough to thwart the constant fear of failure that looms over most humans.
As you slowly inch towards your goal, you effectively convince yourself that it’s more and more achievable until you’re on the very brink of success, at which point you culminate your journey and achieve your objective.
If you look up common ways of combating fear, you will frequently encounter the notion of “making use of your fear” or “leveraging it.” These strategies are trying to tell you that fear is natural, not something to turn away from, and can actually come in handy by motivating you in many circumstances.
Don’t Be Afraid to Take Action
Now that you have mastered the process of introspection and self-honesty, you can literally take physical steps to take action against your fears.
If you are someone who cannot imagine themselves working at heights, for instance, taking a ropes course is a helpful way to physically confront your fears and acclimate your body to the tension that naturally appears when you are in a high up place.
The action you take need not be so drastic, however; if you have a serious fear of heights, for instance, you don’t need to jump right into a high-altitude ropes course but could instead try conquering a simple ladder before moving on to a taller one.
Never underestimate the power of small, slow, but consistent steps that help you confront and overcome your fears. Over a long period of time, it’s these relatively minor acts that will build your courage and enable you to achieve your true potential.
Most successful professionals didn’t become overnight successes, but rather worked hard towards it for years, something you should keep in mind if you don’t immediately see the progress you so desperately desire.
Embracing uncomfortable situations isn’t easy, and that’s only natural. If we refused to do anything because it was challenging, though, we would have never accomplished anything as a species.
Unleashing your full potential requires action and introspection, and above all else, it demands a belief in yourself.
Don’t let setbacks or previous failures get you down; instead, let them serve as helpful lessons, which guarantee your future success by proving to you what not to do next time. With practice, you will soon be overcoming your fears and realizing your full potential.