Are you looking for effective ways on how to overcome fear?
If so, then you have come to the right place.
People are afraid of failure, heights, darkness, audiences, or even afraid of being alone.
The list is endless being that we don’t all have the same fears.
But what’s common is the fact that, regardless of the source of fear, it immobilizes us from achieving the most.
It holds us back from doing what we desire or are capable of, flooding us with anxiety or inferiority.
The following are 17 ways to conquer fear before it kills your hustle.
1. Understand and then embrace it
2. Don’t Act, Think
3. Name Your Fear to Overcome it
4. Educate Yourself to Overcome Fear
5. Peer Pressure
6. Get Help On How to Overcome Fear
7. Visualize
8. Prepare And Practice
9. The Law of Reversibility
10. ‘As If’ Method
11. Writing It Down
12. The Now
13. Gratitude
14. The Basics
15. Use Positive Affirmations to Overcome Fear
16. Find Valuable Insight In Pain
17. Have a Positive Attitude And Be Willing
How to Overcome Fear
1. Understand and then embrace it
To understand fear, you need to get that it is not necessarily bad since it keeps us from making decisions that might harm us.
It fights for us when it finds a situation bigger than us but only when we choose to fight it and remain inactive on the situation we should instead be working on, is when we allow it take control.
So embrace it and let it inform your actions but not control them.
2. Don’t Act, Think
Most of the times we think it is more effective and even admirable to act immediately.
A quick action can ruin a successful undertaking, making it advisable to calm the nerves, form a plan, analyze your options and create paces to take.
Contrary to the aforementioned, weigh your options when fear paralyzes you:
Whether the situation needs a quick action or a well thought out plan that needs time to create.
3. Name Your Fear to Overcome it
Most of the times when we merely name our fear out loud, it can give us strength to deal with it.
It grows smaller and more manageable as we identify and move towards it.
As your fear gets smaller, your confidence heightens till it has zero control over you.
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They say ignoring your fear makes it grow but facing it makes it shrink.
This can be the useful strategy you will get on how to overcome fear.
4. Educate Yourself to Overcome Fear
Mainly because fear of the unknown is the bigger enemy.
Most of our fears are born out of being in the dark.
If yours is because you have no information, attain knowledge on that which you want to explore so you can use facts to run through it instead of speculation.
Speculating makes it easier for fear to attack especially with over thinking since we are not really sure of the facts.
And that which the mind does not know, it runs from.
5. Peer Pressure
You know that time when your friends consistently convinced you to try sky diving?
Or jumping off a cliff to the lake below?
Immediately you did, it felt like some sought of victory against something. Peer pressure is not always bad as long as it is wielded rightly as per the situation.
Your peers may be the best support system and source of advice on how to overcome fear.
Point is, surround yourself with people who will egg you on to overcome you fears and push you.
6. Get Help On How to Overcome Fear
Mostly when we do something, it is something that has been done before and some have been able to accomplish it.
It does not have to be exactly your area of exploration but finding a mentor or support group can come in handy. We always need someone who can give us the needed support to face our fears.
Friends don’t need to have experienced your struggle but they can walk you through it because at times, it is just a hold of the hand we need.
They can be the best help we need when it comes to overcoming fear.
7. Visualize
The body tends to follow the pre-ordained path we map out for it in our mind.
Imagine a successful completion of the task a thousand times in your mind before undertaking it. It gets your body moving.
This practice can be used even before fear attacks and when it attacks, you can follow the aforementioned step of not acting and just thinking where visualizing comes in again.
8. Prepare And Practice
One of the longest standing top fears is public speaking.
It is one of the fears we all struggle with at some point in our lives.
Carmine Gallo, author of Talk Like TED, talked about Dr. Jill Bolte-Taylor and her popular TED talk.
She said that Dr. Jill had practiced it over 200 times and Gallo adds, ‘I find that practicing a presentation a minimum of ten times is ideal.’
It might seem tedious but you might be surprised at how much you might embrace it: with just a little preparing, practicing and role playing.
This can be a great tactic on how to overcome fear.
9. The Law Of Reversibility
The law of reversibility says that, ‘if you feel a certain way, you will act in a manner consistent with that feeling.’
But if you act in a manner consistent with the feeling even though you don’t feel it, a feeling consistent with your actions will be created.
You discipline yourself by repeatedly doing the thing you fear the most till it eventually disappears or your body gets used to not being afraid when you are about to take that same action.
This act of psychology has proven successful for a long time in overcoming fear.
10. ‘As If’ Method
If you cannot find the best solution there and then, you can use the ‘act as if’ method.
You stand tall and walk confidently towards your action as if you are not afraid.
In every respect as take on your quest, act as if you already have the courage you so desired.
Try to ignore the parts of you that are afraid and move your body.
11. Writing It Down
Journaling your fears can be crucial because you are actually thinking of them.
Most get lost in a rabbit hole by trying to think of them so much but writing them down is just like facing your fears directly.
Some prefer to write their experiences and thoughts on a piece of paper and so this might work for them.
12. The Now
Focus on what is and how it is then naturally accept it.
Think of what you are lacking at that time.
What you need to realize is things are how they are and that they are not changing so you need to adjust.
That crowd is not going anywhere and you still have to stand and speak.
To live in the now is to accept and tap into your breathe and body feelings. It makes you calm down.
It is a technique I have found to be effective in overcoming my own fears.
13. Gratitude
Whenever you feel fear, switch it over to what you are grateful for.
Instead of focusing on how big that audience is, focus on how you are honored to present in front of so many people and be grateful for that.
This helps not to drown in your fears by focusing your mind elsewhere.
Focus on that opportunity coming to you and you will find your mind switching to a much positive vibration.
Stay grounded in that vibration.
14. The Basics
Many people turn to damaging solutions like drugs to help tame their emotions which only makes matters worse.
Drugs are not the best way on how to overcome fear.
Overdependence on those drugs and their side effects, are a few of the examples.
A good night’s sleep, enough rest before a big project and a good diet to keep your body functioning well are some of the underrated basics.
Just breathing can be a good cure too just before a huge undertaking so you can connect with your body and live in the now.
15. Use Positive Affirmations to Overcome Fear
Reciting positive affirmations is used to combat every other negative thought.
The words you utter challenge the emotions you feel and will have your brain trained to transform those fears into powerful statements.
The best way to cancel out a negative belief is to develop its positive counterpart.
So make it a ritual till it transforms you.
16. Find Valuable Insight In Pain
Humans can go at great lengths to avoid pain.
No one likes it after all even though it is a profound teacher and makes us grow.
You let go of pain as a threat to your survival and use it as a tool to overcome fear.
Look at everything successful and actually see how pain played a major role in all of them so instead of letting these two {pain and fear} dictate your path, choose to learn from them and don’t be afraid of failing.
17. Have a Positive Attitude And Be Willing
After all that is recommended, attitude will have to come from within to have the will to do all the other steps.
Having a positive attitude keeps you trying even after others have given up, keeps you going after you’ve failed the first time. Be willing to pivot.
Final Thoughts On How to Overcome Fear
Here’s the kicker… change your relationship with fear in that it is not an enemy trying to knock you down but as motivation to grow since it will be a challenge to beat so as to achieve.
The scenarios fear creates in your mind have not actually happened and often never happen making it a perceived threat.
So technically the real issue is how we perceive things, how we let them live in our heads.
Once you understand this you won’t find any difficulty in overcoming your fears.
I hope you enjoyed this article on how to overcome fear.
Are there any fears you are currently struggling with?
How have you been able to overcome fear in your life?
Let me know in the comments below.
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