“I worried about a lot of things, half of which never happened.” Mark Twain
82. “I worried about a lot of things, half of which never happened.” Mark Twain
It was strictly by coincidence that this Tool follows the one listed above. This may be the second one you want to put on your first blueprint because for many fear may be the number one thing that holds people back from growth and success. Mark Twain said it right, many of the things we spend time worrying about never happen. So why would we waste our time and energy on them? The best thing to do would be to focus our energy on what we know and then deal with things as they present themselves. Fear can hamstring us in many ways. Let’s look at why we want to stop worrying and stop fearing.
One of the biggest pitfalls of fear is that it holds us back from making a decision. And as you remember from Tool 36, No decision is a decision. As we have learned by now, we are in the business of making decisions because making decisions, right or wrong, is how we grow. We are not afraid of making bad decisions because we now know they are part of the pathway to success.
Eleanor Roosevelt said, “You gain strength, courage, and confidence in every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you can not do.” How right is that statement?! If you are afraid you can’t do something or worry about all the bad possible outcomes, most likely you will avoid that opportunity. We should run to fear and use fear to motivate us. We can use fear to our advantage. And we can strengthen outcomes if we also stop worrying so much about all the things that can go wrong. Things will go wrong now and then if you worry about them or not. Here is the million dollar question, though: what if everything goes just right?!
Since this Tool is a quote, I thought it appropriate to sprinkle some others in. H. Jackson Brown said, “Don’t be afraid to go out on a limb. That’s where all the fruit is.” That limb may break and if it does, you’ll dust yourself off and try again. But if it doesn’t, then wow, what a sweet reward for yourself. Some of you may need to just start climbing up the tree and that’s okay. Lastly, Marilyn Ferguson said, “Ultimately we know deeply that the other side of every fear is freedom.” I hope this Tool will set you free to let go of your fears and stop worrying so much because ultimately it can be one of the greatest roadblocks to success. I’d rather be a lion for a day than a sheep for life.