One Sure Fire Way to Beat Anxiety

Today’s message is simple and sweet and it is that the one sure fire way to overcome fear and beat anxiety is by facing it head on.

During the past two days, I’ve participated in extremely intense executive meetings with a very formal group of well-educated, experienced, and talented executives. Two weeks ago I was given an option to give two presentations to this group who I knew would view my topics as very threatening and controversial as they were very sensitive issues within the company. To this point, no one had ever dared to formally address these issues. Though extremely nervous about the daunting task at hand, I accepted the challenge and I could not be happier with that decision. Now that the meetings have concluded, I have an incredible sense of accomplishment and personal satisfaction because I embraced my nervousness and overcame my fear.

Facing fears in our lives seems to instantly give us a huge boost to our self-esteem and confidence. And though things went well for me during these meetings, even if the outcome had not been favorable, I know I would still feel good for overcoming my anxiety toward the task.  Additionally, doing a task we are anxious about makes it so much easier to face and overcome it again in the future. I’ve come to the conclusion that managing anxiety in many cases is a choice, and we can allow it to paralyze us or we can use it as a positive force to pump us up and perform at our best.

Changing our outlook on anxiety, nervousness, and fear is key! Nearly always, anxiety is referred to as a negative emotion.  I’ve learned it doesn’t have to be as anxiety in many instances can be controlled and can even help us to reach our highest levels of potential.  If we are determined, I know we can channel our anxiety for good.

Viewing anxiety for what it is, and discovering we can use it to help us meet and overcome our fears can pay big dividends in our life and lead us toward success.  So what are we waiting for, let’s face our fears today and live our life to its fullest! We can turn our fears into positive energy that will propel us to new heights.

This is a Burntham.com rewind and was originally posted 1/15/2008

Winning Motivates

I’m convinced that one of the best ways to motivate people is to help them feel like winners.  In reflecting on leaders in my life who have most influenced me and helped me to perform at my highest levels, I’ve come to realize that those who made me feel like a winner helped me to achieve greater results. 

When we feel like winners, and believe others think we are winners, we begin to act like winners.  This is true whether we truly are winners at the time or not.  And to be truthful, I’m sure I didn’t deserve a lot of the accolades given to me by those leaders who helped me feel like a winner.  But because they did it, I began to act and do the things winners do.  I felt their perception of me was positive and I didn’t want to ruin that or let down those who believed in me.  Because these mentors helped me feel like a winner, I was able to further my success as well as theirs. 

Now I am not suggesting that we make a big story up, or deceptively lie to motivate people.  I’m saying as a leader or mentor we look for the good people are doing and find even the small successes and point those out.  And where people are struggling, we offer support and our confidence in them.  Only when we are sincere will others feel like winners and believe it.  I’m also not saying we don’t need critics or even constructive criticism from our leaders.  On the contrary, establishing a level of trust and good feelings will help us coach and lead others by providing the feedback we all need to be a success.

I don’t believe my experiences are unique.  I think we all like to feel like winners and when we do, we want to continue to feel that way by doing those things that winners do.  And as I type this I’m feeling guilty because I can do much better to improve in this area, especially with my family.  I believe as we help others feel like winners, they will rise to our expectations and better reach their potential—and doing this will also help us reach ours.    

Dare Positive Thoughts

“Stop being afraid of what could go wrong and start being positive about what could go right.” Zig Ziglar

Too often we do not do things because we only dwell on the things that might go wrong.  Imagine what we would do if instead we spent all of our energy and focus on what could go right.  If we replace our negative thought habits with positive ones, our ability to explore and succeed in life will be much greater. 

Recently I’ve been contemplating what I consider to be a significant risk in my life.  Though I have felt I should move forward and take the risk, I spend my time contemplating what can potentially go wrong.  After dwelling on this long enough, I find myself postponing my choice to move forward and decide to wait for another day.  Though the stakes are pretty high, if I instead would think about what could go right, there is no question I would move forward with this calculated and intelligent risk.

This scenario is not uncommon in my life and I’m sure it may not be in yours as well.  If we can shift our paradigms and see potential more than trouble, we will be able to do things we never dared we would.

So, see the possibilities in our lives and believe in them!  We can’t let negative thoughts hold us back any more than we allow positive thoughts to push us forward.  We must not be afraid, but only believe.      

The Walls that Bring us Down

“We are only confined by the walls we build ourselves.”
Napoleon Hill

Anything in life is possible.  In fact most achievements are considered impossible until someone achieves them.  Unfortunately most of us choose to believe the impossibilities in life rather than see all of the possibilities.  This is one of life’s great tragedies. 

Too often we are quick to become master excuse makers rather than master problem solvers when chasing a goal or a dream.  If we could somehow step outside of ourselves and our situation and view it completely objectively, we would be amazed and shocked by all the silly things that limit us and prevent us from doing more and reaching our potential.  The reality is that most of the things that limit us or stop us from moving forward are completely made up.

So why do we do this?  Why do we build and believe walls and roadblocks that stop us from being all we can become?  A lot of times I believe it is due to fear.  We fear failure.  We fear that if we give it our all and it doesn’t turn out like we hope than we will be disappointed and we will have wasted our time.  The truth is, when I really go for something I am passionate about, I rarely feel like a failure even when it doesn’t go as planned.  And most times it doesn’t go as planned.  However often times things turn out better than I even anticipated.  Thus we must not let fear limit us.  We must destroy this wall we have built.      

So what walls have we created that are blocking us from daring and doing what we know we should be doing—what we know deep down inside we can do?    Life is too short to be confined by imaginary walls.  We all have them thus we all must work to break them down and build pathways in there place that will lead us to success.  Let’s not be confined, let’s live courageously, overcoming our fears and striving to obtain our wildest dreams.