How to Overcome Fear (The 5 Strategies)
If you live in fear you’ll die with regret. So don’t.
Fear holds people back. Fear of failure. Fear of rejection. Fear of looking like a beginner. Fear of speaking their mind. But their fear is misplaced. What they should fear is living a life half-lived. A life of missed opportunities. A life of regret. Fear keeps them locked in a cage. Here are five strategies out.
Strategy One: Foresight
People are shortsighted and pessimistic. They only see what could go wrong right now. Not what could go right later on. They’re results focused not growth focused. So they fear making mistakes and play it safe. They choose comfort now even when they know it’ll cost them after. Then they do it again. Comfort. Pain. Repeat. Their minds get trapped in the short-term like an animal. Everything feels immediate. They’re anxious because they’ve lost perspective. They forgot that everything is only temporary. Pain will pass. People will pass. And their opinions along with them. Everyone you know will be gone in 60 years or less. All that remains are the consequences of your actions. So you might as well make them count.
Strategy Two: Exposure
People are so wrapped in comfort they’ve started to fear life. We’re social creatures—yet people fear social interaction. That’s what social anxiety is. The cure is exposure. Force yourself into situations. Increase your tolerance. See it for what it is. If you have social anxiety, socialise anyway. You’ll realise most people don’t care. They’ve got their own problems. They’ll move on and forget. The ones who do talk about your failures aren’t doing anything. They’re not going anywhere. They’re insignificant. So their opinions shouldn’t even matter to you anyway.
Strategy Three: Inner Voice
You can’t let fear talk. The more it talks, the louder it gets, and the less risk you’ll take. You’ll start to overthink. You’ll become hesitant and slow to act. Doubt creeps in. You move less. And when you do, it’s out of fear, not reason. Emotion clouds your judgement. That leads to bad decisions, bad results, and even more fear. Instead, retrain your inner voice. Make it rational. Less personal. Even a little dispassionate. The less you care, the better you’ll play the game.
Strategy Four: Optionless
Options make room for fear. If you know there’s a way out, you’ll take it when things get hard. So only give yourself the one. You can’t fall back when the only way is forwards. It’s kill or be killed. It’s fight, no flight. That's a test of your true character. When your back’s up against the wall, how will you react? Stand or fall? Rise or fold? Break or break through? Answer that and you’ve answered the question weighing heaviest on your mind: “Will I ever make it?”
Strategy Five: Control
Take control or be controlled. You’re going to feel fear. But you have to decide what to do with it. Think of the rider and the horse. The rider is your logical mind. The horse is your emotions. The horse is powerful but stupid. Leave it unchecked, and it’ll run you off a cliff. Your job is to guide it. Control it. Point it where you want to go. Because if you can’t control your emotions, get comfortable knowing you’ll never become who you were meant to be.
Conclusion
You’ve lived in fear. You know how that feels. You know the chances you’ve missed. The doors you let close. You can keep living like that. Keep lying to yourself—saying that playing it safe is smart. Then one day, just before you die, you’ll ask yourself one question: “What if?”. But by then, it’s too late.
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