Fear is defined as a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger. As human beings we have a certain control of what we fear and what we don't. Fear is actually a learned behavior. We learned it when we were young either from our parents, movies, friends, television etc. I have been afraid of spiders ever since I watched the movie Arachnophobia. I used to be the one who would walk out to the opposite end of the room away from where ever the spider was until it was killed.
I grew up being afraid of losing. There were high expectations of me and I feared the consequences of failing. I also hated disappointing my parents and questioned whether I was even good enough to succeed inside or outside of sports. I made the decision to learn on my own at 16 years young. I taught myself to find ways to succeed whether in practice, tournaments, or even playing Madden against my friends. I hated to lose, bottom line. I began to study patterns and percentages on the practice court, I would break down defensive coverages on paper in order to find any advantage possible to beat my friends in Madden, and I began to study my opponents during the warm up and the first 4 games of each set. By doing this I was able to identify any changes in their strategy or game play at any point and I would adjust accordingly in order to succeed. Eventually I won over 70% of my matches and was nearly unbeatable in Madden with my friends. A bit competitive huh!?
Fear paralyzes us. It prevents us from moving forward and succeeding, from analyzing our failures, from seeing what is possible and what can be reached. Some of us are born to succeed and some of us are born with the work and grind mentality. For me things came easy to me but winning did not, I was paralyzed by fear. It takes hard work, patience, and support in order to overcome fear and succeed.
Three things that helped me learn to succeed were:
1. Hard work - whether I won or lost I was analyzing what I could improve for the next time. I shortened practices but made them more intense and focused on perfection. It worked for me, it may or may not for you.
2. Have fun - its easy to get lost searching for success, I got lost a few times myself and it was because I forgot how to have fun doing what I was doing.
3. Be patient - overcoming fears will not happen overnight. Three years later I still pause when I see a spider but I no longer fear them, I let them do their own thing as I am not on their list of preferred foods!
I no longer fear failure. The greatest champions failed many many times before becoming who they are. Failure only makes us stronger. Yes it hurts, it sucks and can really mess you up but at the end of the day it won't kill you. My motto is simple: "What you call pain, I call freedom"
I grew up being afraid of losing. There were high expectations of me and I feared the consequences of failing. I also hated disappointing my parents and questioned whether I was even good enough to succeed inside or outside of sports. I made the decision to learn on my own at 16 years young. I taught myself to find ways to succeed whether in practice, tournaments, or even playing Madden against my friends. I hated to lose, bottom line. I began to study patterns and percentages on the practice court, I would break down defensive coverages on paper in order to find any advantage possible to beat my friends in Madden, and I began to study my opponents during the warm up and the first 4 games of each set. By doing this I was able to identify any changes in their strategy or game play at any point and I would adjust accordingly in order to succeed. Eventually I won over 70% of my matches and was nearly unbeatable in Madden with my friends. A bit competitive huh!?
Fear paralyzes us. It prevents us from moving forward and succeeding, from analyzing our failures, from seeing what is possible and what can be reached. Some of us are born to succeed and some of us are born with the work and grind mentality. For me things came easy to me but winning did not, I was paralyzed by fear. It takes hard work, patience, and support in order to overcome fear and succeed.
Three things that helped me learn to succeed were:
1. Hard work - whether I won or lost I was analyzing what I could improve for the next time. I shortened practices but made them more intense and focused on perfection. It worked for me, it may or may not for you.
2. Have fun - its easy to get lost searching for success, I got lost a few times myself and it was because I forgot how to have fun doing what I was doing.
3. Be patient - overcoming fears will not happen overnight. Three years later I still pause when I see a spider but I no longer fear them, I let them do their own thing as I am not on their list of preferred foods!
I no longer fear failure. The greatest champions failed many many times before becoming who they are. Failure only makes us stronger. Yes it hurts, it sucks and can really mess you up but at the end of the day it won't kill you. My motto is simple: "What you call pain, I call freedom"
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