What Is Fear Keeping You From Doing?

What do you fear? Do you, like most people, have a fear of failure? Do you worry about what others think about you? Or, do you have a fear of success?

Want to listen? There's an audio version below

The fear of success can be crippling. It is the fear of the unknown, the fear of heading down a path that you may have never been down before. Since fear is something we all deal with, how have you overcome the fears in your life?

When I was in 6th grade, I was afraid all the time. I was afraid I'd miss a deadline and turn homework in late and have to face the wrath of my mom. I was afraid of not fitting in with the other kids in school. I was afraid of getting made fun of, of getting bad grades, and of looking stupid in front of my peers.

My fear kept me up at night and gave me a lot of anxiety. I've never written or talked about this before, but fear was a large part of my life during middle school. I wasn't one of the cool kids, and I was very self-conscious about that.

But fear is largely false. In today's world, most of us don't have to worry about real fears like getting eaten by bears or starving, so we make them up. Instead, we fear public speaking, rejection, and looking ridiculous in front of our friends.

But let's not spend too much looking at what you fear. Let's look at what it's preventing you from doing and achieving!

Related: How to Overcome Your Fear of Being Too “Salesy” [VIDEO]

I want to pose a series of questions and I want you to ask them of yourself.

Is fear:

• preventing you from stepping up?
• preventing you from starting out on your own?
• keeping you somewhere that you're unhappy?
• holding you back?
• keeping you from a life-changing experience?

If we let fear get the best of us, most boys would never ask a girl on a date. If we let fear get the best of us, we'd never apply to that “reach” college, or for the job we're not 100% qualified for. If we let fear take over, we would never take a chance on anything.

And since there are no guarantees in life, why should we let the fear of the unknown control us?