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The Foremost of the Values
Winston Churchill once said,
“Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for
upon it all others depend.” The systematic development of the
deep down quality of unflinching courage is one of the
fundamental requirements for
leadership in any field. Fear, or the lack of courage is
more responsible for failure in
management, and in life, than any other factor. It is always
fear that causes people to hold back, to sell themselves short,
to settle for far less than they are capable of!
Eliminate Fear and Doubt
I firmly believe that you can do,
have or be far more than you now know if only you could
eliminate the fear, doubts and misgivings that consciously and
unconsciously interfere with your realizing your full potential.
Unlearn Your Fears
If
there is anything positive about fear, it is that all fears are
learned, that no one is born with fears, and that having been
learned, they can be unlearned. If you want to understand the role
of fear in shaping the course of your life, just ask yourself, if
you had a magic wand that would absolutely guarantee you
success in any one thing you attempted, what goal would you
set for yourself.
The Great Question
“What one great thing would you
dare to dream if you knew you could not fail?” If you had no
fears at all with regard to money or the criticism of others,
what would you
do differently? Most people can think of all kinds of
changes they would, or could, make in their lives if they had no
fears to hold them back.
The Origins of Fear
The development of courage begins
with understanding the psychological origins of fear. The
newborn child has only two fears; the fear of falling and the
fear of loud noises. All other fears that we experience as
adults are learned as we are growing up, primarily as the result
of well-meaning but destructive criticism from our parents.
How Fears Develop
When the curious child gets into
things and makes a mess, the parent scolds and punishes the
child, eventually building up a pattern of fear connected with
trying or getting into anything new or different.
 As adults, we
experience this as the fear of failure, the fear of risking, of
making a mistake, of losing.
Action Exercises
Here
are two steps you can take immediately to put these ideas into action.
First, imagine that you had no
fears at all. What would you set as a goal for yourself if you
were guaranteed of success?
Second,
decide exactly what you want and then
act as if it were impossible to fail. You may be surprised
at how successful you are. |
