How to Master Your Fear: 6 Steps to Follow

Fear is our innate reaction when something threatens or endangers our lives or the comfortable, manageable state we are in. It is also a natural part of life that we can’t avoid. hence, the best thing we can do is to learn to cope, overcome and more importantly, master it.

By mastering, I mean finding ways to control our reaction to fear, taking steps to come out of our comfort zone and facing it head on instead of avoiding or running away from it or worse, allowing it to control and paralyze our lives.

So to avoid such crippling effect from happening (and causing inaction), learn the art of mastering your fear with these seven steps to follow:

1. Face your fear.

Instead of running away, face what you’re afraid of. Do what frightens you and you’ll see that the more you do so, the lesser your fear gets until such time that you will already be confident about it.

2. Realize that fear is only in your mind.

You can conquer almost any fear if only you will make up your mind to do so. For remember, fear doesn't exist anywhere except in the mind. --- Dale Carnegie

You know what the letters of fear stands for? It means False Evidence Against Appearing Real. That said, keep in mind that you should see to it that it is you who controls your fear, not the other way around.

At times when you’re afraid, acknowledge and feel your fear but don’t just stop there. Go a step higher by reflecting on what could possibly happen to you if you do what you fear in the first place. Is the worst that might happen be as bad you thought or imagined it to be? Chances are, it’s all in your head.

3. Determine your three biggest fears.

It is said what we have three big fears which is where all our other fears come from. Determine what these are and write them down. After which, jot down plans of how you will overcome them each until you feel that you are already in control.

Why do you need to write these fears down? So that you will know and understand what you’re dealing with. This is crucial so that you can start taking steps to overcoming each one by one. Make sure though that you are realistic in your plans of confronting your fears. Remember that this isn’t a contest about who overcomes one’s fear the fastest as we each have our own pace in doing so. What’s important is we continuously move forward.

4. Bank on the positive things happening to you.

Because of the stress we face everyday, we have the tendency not to realize the good things happening to and around us. So, make it a point to write three things on your journal each day:

• one good or positive thing that happened to you
• one thing that you’re grateful for in your life
• one good deed of helping one in need

Do this for one month straight and you will see that what fears you have would slowly disappear and you would start to feel more positive about life - both present and future.

5. Prepare yourself for the bad times.

All great work is preparing yourself for the accident to happen. --- Sidney Lumet

Life is a continual process of ups and downs. And this leaves you no choice but to find a way to manage your fears along the way. But the good thing is you have fearless people to look up to. Knowing their lives about how they stayed resilient and found courage in times of adversities can teach you how to face live with brevity as well. Acquiring the traits of resilience and courage will go a long way in helping you master your fears.

6. Aim to be great.

You don't have to be great to start but you have to start to be great. --- Zig Zagler

In this step, you need to pause and reflect about yourself --- that is your strengths and weaknesses --- and determine the steps you need to do as you go on your quest to attain your goals. This involves calculating, minimizing and managing risk levels to make your plans succeed.

7. Celebrate little and big victories.

As you continue to take steps in achieving your goals, you will be experiencing both victories and failures. Enter these events in your journal, jotting down insights and learnings from failures and of course, celebrating and sharing both little and big victories.

The former keeps you guided from avoiding to commit the same mistake twice and the latter keeps you grounded and sane despite adversities. Practicing this journal writing helps to keep your fears in check because you have what will serve as a guide especially if challenges or problems come up.

What ever you do, do not let fear of failure cause you to do nothing at all. This is the #1 destroyer of dreams is lack of action stifled by fear. Literally those voices in your head telling you all those things that 'could' go wrong...well THAT'S FEAR. We all have it, the key is being able to properly manage and overcome. Just remember we miss 100% shots we don't take, so what do you have to lose! Really nothing.. its all in your head, but you lose EVERYTHING if you don't try!

And there you have it... the seven steps to follow in order to master your fear. What do you think of the tips given? Have you tried one or some of them already? If not, what are the steps you especially like? Do share in the comments below.

If you wish to read more of my blogs, let's get connected at Facebook, Twitter or Youtube. Here are some of my recent posts:

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About the Author

Jason Bettinger is the entrepreneurs, entrepreneur. Through experience of starting, running and selling 9 prior businesses (he's on his 10th), he does know a thing or two about what makes or breaks a business! You'll find him at the forefront of web innovation and digital marketing, teaching business owners how to leverage Social Media and Search Engine strategies in optimizing websites and online branding.

Today, he focuses in his company, Web Fixers, www.webfixers.com.au which helps businesses demystify the web through fixing websites, putting in social media, Google SEO and landing page strategies that work together to produce fantastic results (digital marketing). Such systems create online lead funnels and automation, which result in more website traffic, more inquiries and more sales. Jason delivers monthly in person education segments about this, held in Sydney area of via his webinars and podcasts such as:

Websites

• "How to Build a Sales Focused Website"
• "10 Things to Fix Your Website Right Now"
• "Website Security: How to Prevent Malware and Hackers"

Social Media Marketing

• "How to Leverage Social Media in Creating Leads"
• "How to Create Offline Relationships, Online"
• "How to Build Your Email Marketing List"
• How to Become Famous on YouTube"
• Build Your Linked Profile Right Away"

SEO/ SEM

• "How to Rank Page #1 in Google Searches"
• How to Get Most from Google Adwords / PPC"
• How to Optimize Your Site for Keywords"