Someone recently asked me what I thought was the most common thing holding people back from being successful. I really had to take some time to think about it but I ended up concluding that the answer was fear.
Fear has the potential to hold people back and prevent them from even trying. Today, I want to address the three most common fears that hold people back from achieving them dreams and ways to overcome them.
What holds people back from being successful?
Recently, I had thrown an event for some leaders in Aruba and we were there for about a week and a half. It was fun, we had rented a mansion on the island, private chef, went skydiving and even taken an ATV excursion all over the island.
While there, I was hanging out with my videographer, Cory Williams who asked me a question that merited some serious thought. His question was, “Austin, what do you think is the most common reason for failure in network marketing? What do you think holds people back from being successful?” I thought about it.
My response was “Obviously, It’s fear. Fear is what holds people back from being successful, whether It’s one fear or another.” I went on to say that I was going think about it and address it with him later because I really felt that I could help some people with the answer.
I later came to the conclusion that there are three main fears that hold people back.
Three Fears that hold people back
So what are these three fears and how do you overcome them?
First off, It’s important to realize that whenever you understand the truth behind the fear, it takes all the power away from the fear. For example, I used to be afraid of flying even though It’s been deemed the safest way to travel. Now, It took some time but I eventually learned to overcome the fear which took the power away from it.
The emotions tied in with a fear are not subject to reason. They are however subject to action. What I mean by this is that you are not going to simply think your way out of an emotion. So that means you need to take action.
Fear of change
So the first fear I’m going to address is the fear of change. It’s important to realize the truth. The truth is that change is inevitable and constant. It’s happening right now. Growth is, however, optional.
Once you realize that the change was put in your life as an opportunity for growth, then it becomes nothing to be afraid of. In fact, it instead becomes something you can be excited about that.
Whenever there’s a change in your life, no matter what it is, that is an opportunity for growth. Once you realize this, you relate change with fun and positivity. You begin to understand that It’s sole purpose is to make your life better and to help you become the very best version of yourself.
Fear of ridicule
The second fear we’re going to talk about is the fear of ridicule. With this, it’s important to understand the truth. Let’s look at this way, the person doing the ridiculing noticed a flaw that they have in someone else that that person has now overcome.
Whether they’re thinking consciously or unconsciously, this person is aware that this flaw exists in them and observing someone else’s success makes them feel small.
Knowing that this is the reason should put you at a huge advantage. Do not become irate or upset at the person doing the ridiculing and most of all, do not fear them.
After all, you are doing something better than them or at the very least attempting to do better than them in some way. Understand that you are strong in the area that they are weak in which is their reason for ridiculing you in the first place.
Don’t expect a compliment from them, at least not for a while.
So how do you handle them? First, realize the aforementioned truth and two, stay the course. As a matter of fact, turn up the heat. I can almost guarantee that the person doing the ridiculing will eventually come around and end up congratulating you. And man does that feel good.
This has personally happened to me with a family member and although I won’t get into all the details, what I will say is that it wasn’t until I had made millions of dollars, retired my mom from a six figure career, and helped numerous people that they FINALLY congratulated me.
So continue to persevere and that person will come around.
Fear of failure
The last fear, which I think is probably the most common is the fear of failure.
This is the that can actually prevent someone from being successful because it can literally paralyze someone from even trying in the first place.
Success is simply a series of a corrected failures. That’s the best way I can describe it. It’s important to understand that something is only a failure when you accept it as such.
Stop fearing failure. Look at ever negative experience as a learning experience. It’s better to have tried and “failed” than to not have tried at all. Why look back at life in regret thinking “what if?”.
the challenges, issues, and setbacks will be there, that’s inevitable and to be expected. You’re going to need to overcome roadblocks but understand that everyone else that went down that path had to overcome them too.
It’s great to learn from those who have been there. For me personally, a friend of mine Christopher Hussey gave me an incredible quote. He said,
“The quickest and easiest path to success is directly through the experience of others.”
This quote really resonated with me because when you think about it, It’s like being in a jungle that we’re walking through and the person who is leading the way, is making the mistakes which is causing them to get attacked by snakes or whatever else may be lurking through the jungle. We avoid these things because we learn what not to do from them.
Path to success
After learning these core fears and how to overcome them, It’s important to make note so that you can begin to take action in your own life.
Realize that if you want to be successful and achieve your dreams, you’re going to need to address these fears. Not just through talking about them, but by actually taking action.
Have fun with them and never stop showing up!
