By Stella Olivia Kikoyo
Have you ever missed an opportunity – personal or business due to fear?
Have you missed out of any opportunity for growth during these uncertain times due to fear? You’re not alone.
Clearly many businesses and entrepreneurs start and get out of business. 80% of businesses survive the first year. However only 50% survive the five-year mark and only one in three small businesses get to the 10-year mark and live on (www.forbes.com). There’re many reasons for this including lack of strategy, lack of alignment with the current environment, lack of financial support etc. However, it is stated that the inability to push through fears, persevere and push through stresses is the actual cause of failure.
Businesses are more of the spiritual aspect and involve several emotions on a daily basis and thus our ability to manage emotions is important.
Fear is universal and affects everyone in one-way or another. However fear is learned like any other behavior. Don’t let fear rob your dreams.
“Yesterday is but a dream, Tomorrow is only a vision. But today well lived makes every yesterday a dream of happiness, and every tomorrow a vision of hope, Look well, therefore, to this day from the Sanscrit.” Napoleon Hill in Laws of Success.
What is fear?
Fear is false evidence appearing real.
Fear is a primal emotion and a response of our brain to a perceived threat whether the threat is physical or imagined. It is a warning system that prevents us from danger and causes us to fight, flight or freeze.
Learning to overcome fear is one of the greatest achievements for growth – personal, professional and business. Not all fear is negative. Fear of physical danger is always helpful. It prevents us from being run over by a car, being attacked by a dog or human being. Fear is there to protect us and prevents us from danger. There’s no problem with this type of protection. However, most fear isn’t actually REAL fear. It is this psychological fear that is dysfunctional and makes us experience emotions like failure, rejection or disappointment. The emotional experience that the psychological fear is trying to protect us from isn’t as bad as the suffering and limitation it creates.
Fear of failure is one of the most common fears – it is a mental pattern common and faced by mainly entrepreneurs, artists and sports people. It can also be associated with fear of failing in a job or a personal relationship. Psychological fear is subjective and messy. It is brought about by the mindsets, choices and beliefs.
How does one know that a fear is helpful or a liability? Let’s look at the brain in its simplistic form.
Our brain has three parts
Top layer –Neocortex – the rational brain –conscious thought – the reason
Mid layer – Limbic system – emotions, feeling, coordination and movement
Deepest layer – reptilian brain or lizard brain – which is the most primitive part of the brain and is responsible for the fear response.
The lizard inside us wants to survive and avoid danger at all costs.
Its measure of success is staying away from danger under the rock – protection with three meals a day. This enables the lizard to survive in the wild. In modern life this is a liability and prevents us from achieving our higher human needs of self-esteem and self-actualization.
According to Giovanni Dienstmann the lizard part of the brain is fearful and hates taking risks. It dislikes change and challenge. Yet the way to success is challenging. If we are to leave a higher life, we have to work with this Lizard brain to achieve higher goals and capture opportunities.
Have you ever missed an opportunity – personal or business due to fear?
Have you missed out of any opportunity for growth during these uncertain times due to fear? You’re not alone. Shelmina Abji a former IMB VP and Empowerment speaker shares her experience in the TEDX Video shared below. She faced so many fears a long the way yet she managed to push through to achieve her dreams.
To read Stella’s own personal experience dealing with fear head here.