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Entrepreneurophobia
- Part II
Learn the
Secret of How to "ICE" Your Fears
by Walt Goodridge
As promised, here's valuable information on
managing your fears!
ICE-ing your fears.
Like most entrepreneurs, I struggled to make my
business more and more successful. At times, I
encountered numerous obstacles which I feared were
threatening my dreams. At other times I knew
exactly what I had to do, but just couldn't bring
myself to do it. For instance, I remember at one
point being afraid to send out too many advance
copies of my first book, This Game of Exposure for
fear that some more established person or company
would simply steal my idea and run me out of
business. However, once I learned the four truths
of fears, I developed my own technique for
conquering them: ICE-ing. To ICE your fears, you
must first (I)dentify, then (C)onfront, and finally
(E)liminate them. Let's take a closer look at each
step.
Identifying your fears. The first step in
conquering your fears is to be honest with
yourself. Once you've admitted to yourself that
fear is the reason you are not doing what you
should be doing, then ask yourself, what am I
afraid of? Try putting into words exactly what the
consequences are that you fear. Don't be surprised
if at first you can't come up with any real
reasons. With practice you'll become more aware of
what's really going on in your head, and as you
keep questioning each reason, you'll get to the
bottom line. Forcing yourself to put your feelings
and fears into words helps you to make sense of
them, and to understand yourself.
Confronting your fears. Confronting your fear
means accepting that you have them, and accepting
what they say about you. In other words, you may
not like that you are the type of person who is
frightened by what others think of you, and so
you'd rather remain a definite failure than a
possible success. But, unless you accept these
truths about yourself, you won't be able to get to
the next level.
Eliminating your fears. The basis of fear is
uncertainty. You are fearful of what you perceive
might happen, but you do not actually know what
will happen. Fear is how we react when we "don't
know". Your goal then, in conquering your fears, is
to find the answer to the "what will happen if..?"
question. Once you realize this, you'll realize
that only one thing can accomplish this: Action!
Action eliminates fear. Remember, we said that your
fear is based on the fact that you don't know. So,
once you take action, you'll immediately "know"
what the consequences are. You may fail, or you may
succeed, but at least you'll know the answer to the
"what will happen if....?" question. The fear has
been eliminated. If you don't take action, you'll
live the rest of your life with that single burning
question: What if I had? Remember: A fear avoided
lingers for eternity. A fear confronted dies in a
second.
Now none of this is intended to imply that it's
going to be easy. Being an entrepreneur is about
taking risks. Risk taking requires courage. Despite
what many people believe, however, courage is not
the absence of fear, it is action despite the fear!
The fears never stop coming. As you conquer one,
another appears to take its place. What you can
change, however, is how you react to them.
Eventually, what others will consider your fearless
approach to life, you'll know simply as a
commitment to action in the face of fear. You wont
be eliminating your fears, you'll be eliminating
your fear of your fears! And that, future Hip Hop
Entrepreneur, is the key to success!
To help you on the journey of developing the
courage you need here are some other tips:
Start small
Building up the courage to tackle your fears
takes practice. Start with the easier problems and
work your way up to the bigger issues.
Make daily affirmations
An affirmations is a statement of a desired
outcome stated in the present tense. "I am a
successful entrepreneur". "My company is making
enough money to support me." These are examples of
effective affirmations that you can write on 3"X5"
index cards and read them to yourself in the
mornings and in the evenings. What you'll be doing
is reprogramming your mind to think in terms of
success!
Read motivational books
It's normal that your energy level will
fluctuate. Several good books exist which can help
you keep the motivation high. They can usually be
found in the self-help or psychology sections of
your local bookstore. Live Your Dreams, by Les
Brown, How to Win Friends and Influence People by
Dale Carnegie,The Master Key to Riches and Think
and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill are some of my
favorites. I usually provide a success reading list
in all my books!
Hang out with positive people like
you
Misery (and failure) loves company! Stay away
from negative thinkers and align yourself with
people who are going or are already where you want
to be!
Hip Hop Culture, from Music to Art to Dance, is
filled with opportunity. The only reason more of us
aren't taking the plunge is fear of the unknown
brought about by years of conditioning. Those of us
who sit on the sidelines willl forever wonder what
might have been. Those of us who are willing to
take a chance will grow and eventually be able to
live our dreams of being successful Hip Hop
Entrepreneurs!! Success is journey, not a
destination! Peace.
Brought to you by: World Wide
Information Outlet - http://certificate.net/wwio/
Walt Goodridge is an
entrepreneur and author of several books. His
company, Niche Market Exclusives, publishes his
books and other "success tools", which he creates
especially for MLM Entrepreneurs, Hip Hop
Entrepreneurs, Internet Entrepreneurs and othersto
show how to succeed in business. For a free
brochure, call 301-587-9226! or visit the site at
http://members.aol.com/nichemrket.
Copyright © 1994-2002 by
Walt Goodridge. (Originally published in The Fever
Magazine)
Because
The Radical Academy publishes essays and articles
on its website does not imply acceptance or
approval of the comments or opinions expressed by
the author of the material. Nor is the Academy
responsible for any misrepresentation of the facts
included. It is your job to be a critical
reader.
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