18th Oct, 2023
“If something seems really scary, I either put in more time preparing or I just don’t do it.” ~Alex Honnold
Think about your biggest goal.
Why haven’t you accomplished it yet?
If you’re like most people, the answer is basic: Fear.
Fear is the limiting factor stopping you from working toward what you want.
Fear distracts us and leads to excuses – but it doesn’t have to.
Learning how to overcome fear is one of the most liberating pursuits you can undertake.
It’s easy to pretend fear isn’t influencing you and to make excuses as to why you haven’t achieved what you’re capable of.
Instead of turning around and hiding from it, treat fear as a cue to take action, not an excuse.
Look at your goal. If you let fear chase you away from achieving it, then you’ve effectively given in.
Fear of uncertainty, fear of failure and other common fears all stem from one area: the limiting beliefs holding you back.
Let me share a great way of overcoming Fear.
In the documentary “Free Solo,” 3neuroscientists perform an MRI scan of rock climber Alex Honnold’s brain.
The neuroscientists concluded that Honnold’s brain doesn’t respond to fear stimuli like a “normal” brain.
“I find that slightly irritating,” Honnold later said. “Because, I’ve spent 25 years conditioning myself to work in extreme conditions, so of course my brain is different—just as the brain of a monk who has spent years meditating or a taxi driver who has memorized all the streets of a city would be different.”
Honnold says that, if anything, it is his preparation that is abnormal.
For years, for instance, Honnold was afraid of El Capitan—a 3,000-ft rock wall in Yosemite.
“I’d drive into Yosemite,” he said, “look at the wall, and think, ‘No way. Too scary.’”
So, “to gradually expand my comfort zone,” Honnold said, he climbed El Cap hundreds of times with a rope.
Then on June 3, 2017, Honnold became the first to climb El Cap without a rope.
No one comes hard-wired with the ability to abnormally respond to fear stimuli.
There is a body of research supporting the fact that emotions like fear are shaped by prior experience.
Dr. Lisa Feldman Barrett writes in her bestselling book, ‘How Emotions Are Made,’ “Your past experiences give meaning to your present sensations.”
This means that fear and preparation are inversely proportional.
As Honnold puts it, “The level of fear depends on the level of preparation.”
Before climbing El Cap without a rope, Honnold strategically expanded his comfort zone by doing incrementally harder and scarier climbs.
If you want the confidence that you can climb a 3,000-ft rock wall without a rope, climb it hundreds of times with a rope.
Similarly, if you are scared of public speaking as most people are, get onto the stage without an audience & then slowly speak in front of 10/20/50 people and soon you will be ready to address any number of persons.
How you respond to fear is what sets you apart from the rest of the crowd.
Break through your own barriers & learn how to overcome fear and tap into your inner power & stay blessed forever.