8 steps on how to overcome fear and achieve goals

The truth is that everyone is afraid of something. There is no shame in admitting it; even daring explorers like Christopher Columbus and Marco Polo must have had some fears within them, but they didn’t let that fear win. They confronted it and emerged victorious. It’s easy to pretend fear is not affecting you and to make excuses as to why you have not achieved what you are capable of.

Instead of turning around and hiding from it, we can treat fear as a signal to take action, not an excuse. Look at your ambition. If you let fear hold you back from attaining it, then you have officially given in. Fear of ambiguity, failure, and other common fears all come from one area: the limiting beliefs holding you back. Today, we will discuss how to overcome fear.

Ways To Overcome Fear

1. Recognize Your Fears

Learning how to overcome fear is like facing any challenge; you must recognize the challenge to overcome it. What are you afraid of? Think quietly for a few minutes and watch your thoughts, feelings, and bodily reactions.

Note down what comes up, and make sure to be as specific as possible. Think of embracing a daily meditation practice to clarify what drives you. As you find your spirit, you will feel more empowered to confront your fears.

2. Remind Yourself That Fear Can Work to Your Advantage

Our emotions exist to tell us many things. When you feel afraid, it’s often a signal that something within you needs attention—so listen carefully. If you feel overwhelmed by stress or distracted by persistent anxiety, it is possibly a subconscious fear that requires your attention.

Instead of avoiding it, overcoming fear requires examining your anxiety. View fear as information rather than as a threat to your survival. When you learn to use anxiety to your advantage, it cannot destroy your life. In the process of overcoming fear, it becomes your friend—a significant source of guidance to get to your full potential.

3. Be Willing To Face Your Fears

We usually avoid the circumstances and people that raise fear within us. This fear keeps us safe sometimes, while in others, it keeps us from realizing our true power. Scroll through the fear list you made earlier. Are there situations and people that put you in a zone of fear?

Decide not to avoid these situations and people any longer. Be willing to face the fear of pursuing your dream project, sharing your ideas with your manager, or asking someone you like on a date.

4. Create Goals That Truly Matter

Often, the process of overcoming fear is hindered by vague or uninspiring goals we set for ourselves. To change this, ask yourself: What does the life you wish for and deserve look like? Is it just some plan, or do you actively work for it? Is it something that is realistic and you are willing to commit to?

The first step in overcoming fear is recognizing whether or not you are creating a clear goal. If you accomplish this, will you feel fulfilled? On the other hand, if you do not accomplish this, will you feel lost?

Dig deeper into your mind. What is your perfect outcome? Is it financial growth—a big bank balance? Maybe you wish to have the financial independence to travel anytime, anywhere. Think about what your life will look like if you do not attain this outcome and compare that to what your life will look like if you do.

Once you feel that goal is vital, the fear of not making an effort overshadows the fear of failure—that is when you will be motivated to act.

5. Identify The Excuses

Fear makes you make excuses like, “I’m exhausted. I have other stuff to do. It’s a foolish idea anyway.” These excuses perhaps sound familiar. You have possibly said this out loud and to yourself. Think about it carefully. Is there any truth to these proclamations, or are you making excuses to avoid probable failure?

It is much easier and less painful to make excuses than actually work toward your goal, but excuses and opting out will eventually leave you feeling discontented. To discover how to overcome fear, you have to take a different, practical approach. Identify when you are using excuses and think about how to overcome them.

6. Redefine Failure

What if you try to see failure as a good thing? It’s what most of us fear the most. Failure is one of the most vital catalysts for growth, resilience, and adaptability. When you fail, it may feel like your life is over, like you have wasted your chances of achieving what you want to achieve.

You might feel ashamed and frustrated. But failure is an excellent indication that you are learning and growing gradually. It means that you have taken a risk and that you have learned more about the challenge, the world, and most important of all, about yourself. When you face the next challenge, you will be more intelligent, more robust, and more skilled.

Read More: 9 Strategies to Achieve Your Goals

7. Overcome Negativity Bias

Human beings suffer from this annoying thing called negativity bias; our brains are more sensitive and receptive to negative feelings, thoughts, experiences, and words than they are to positive things. This can significantly contribute to your fear of failure.

Although our ancestors likely created this prejudice to protect us from predators, social embarrassment, or losing the support of their community, it does not help us much in the modern world. Overcoming this natural negativity bias can be challenging, but with enough effort and positivity, it can be done.

8. Find Valuable Insight in Pain

No one likes to have pain. Most of us take different ways to avoid it. But pain is an insightful teacher. If you accept that your life and your efforts to accomplish your goals will be painful at times, painful experiences can become growth opportunities. When you treat pain as a teacher, it loses its power to torment and becomes another tool for overcoming fear.

Everyone faces hardships in life. Maybe your setbacks are personal or professional; what matters are the lessons you take from those bitter experiences and how you apply them to your future. Instead of letting fear of doubt due to your past experiences speak aloud about your decisions, choose to learn from those excruciating moments to be in control of your own life.

Conclusion

Learning how to overcome fear can seem daunting if you do not understand the means behind it. Before you scold yourself for being afraid, recognize that fear is a normal evolutionary response. Although it may not feel like it, your body and brain are communicating with you.

When you learn to read those signals, conquering fear comes effortlessly. Fear extends beyond the physical symptoms we often feel in frightening situations. There are numerous types of fear that are much more insidious.