John Salkowski ~ Leadership in the Line of Duty™

I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear. ~ Nelson Mandela

Did you ever hear the phrase, Stop, Look & Listen when you become afraid of something? Have you ever heard a noise that made you stop dead in your tracks, than made you look around to see where it was coming from, than listen to see if you could hear whatever it was that you heard again? This same phrase applies to the fear that’s holding you back from achieving your dreams, accomplishments, goals, desires & under takings.

Fear stops success dead in its tracks. It stops you from taking action. It stops your ideas and thoughts from growing larger.
The fear of failure is perhaps the strongest force holding people back from truly reaching their potential. The world we live in is full of uncertainty, a weak economy, and countless misfortunes happening all around us. It really is easy to see why most people are inclined to play it safe. But playing it safe can be deadly.

Playing it safe and failing to risk the uncertainties has enormous repercussions on success. If you never face your fear, or face whatever it is that is holding you back, your chances of succeeding are zero to none. See, what most people fail to understand is that failure is a huge part of succeeding. Failure is good. Failure makes you hungry. Failure should make you angry. Failure should keep you up at night thinking of and creating news ways to overcome it. Most people give up after their first failure. Most people underestimate their merit and ability to recover from failure, leading them to pass up on valuable opportunities. This, my fellow achievers, is the death of success. The ability to fail big and fail over and over again has been the pinnacle mark of the spectacularly successful throughout history.

These following tips will help you put risk and reward in perspective so you can overcome the fear of failure.

1) Take Action Now- The best way to reduce fear, build your confidence is by taking action. As soon as you do, you’ll gain the experience and knowledge to continue onward. Everything is hard the first time. Everyone that is a master of their field was once a rookie. No one ever started as an expert. They worked their way to mastering excellence. Start off with baby steps and you will eventually build up your confidence until the fear of failure is manageable.

2) Consider the risk of missed opportunities- The biggest risk that most people fail to consider is the benefit they lose by avoiding high risk/high reward opportunities. There is a saying, “You always miss the shot you never take”. Without taking risk, you can’t exploit any opportunities. You can live a happy, normal life, but you are unlikely to create something new, and you are most certainly unlikely to make your mark in this world.

3) Understand the benefits of failure- As Ralph Waldo Emerson said so eloquently, “What you constantly see, you stop seeing! You forget the wonders of your spouse, the reliability of your car, the warmth of your home, because you experience them too often. This is just a reminder, to stop, and marvel and the things you wouldn’t want to live without life”. Each failure is an experiment and an opportunity for growth.

4) Conquer something new daily- It has been said that if you are not doing something on a daily basis to overcome your fears you have not learned the secret of life.

I will leave you with this quote from the famous Ralph Waldo Emerson, American essayist, poet, and philosopher from the mid-19th century: Life is a battlefield; to succeed you must “divide and conquer.” Conquer your fears daily; stretch yourself daily. Do something you don’t want to do, something you’re afraid of doing because you might get rejected or you might fail. Do that thing today, and then conquer another fear tomorrow. If you can create the habit of conquering your fear, you can move from the land of impossibilities to the land of possibilities.

I’m John R. Salkowski, Founder of AchieveSuccessAcademy.com™, Retired Cop, Survivor of PTSD stemming from a shoot and kill robbery incident, Expert on Leadership, Success, Overcoming Adversity, Fear & PTSD, Entrepreneur, Speaker, Author of 3 books; Leadership in The Line of Duty™: 50 Leadership Lessons for Making Split-Second Decisions from a Cop Who Has Been in Life and Death Situations, Leadership in The Line of Duty™: Success Thoughts and Quotes for Leaders and Nothing But Net: Top Secrets to increase your bottom line, Health, Wealth & Success.

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