The UKAWP love Ray Hutchin a well respected business coach and highly rated presenter at our events (inc. WPE). Today he is sharing his views on FEAR ….

So what actually is one of the major causes of us not achieving our potential?

I believe one of the reasons is fear –

It can a fear of showing ourselves up, of being rejected, of standing out from the crowd, of looking stupid, a fear of failure or even a fear of success, a fear of being found out, or one of many other things we fear.

To change and overcome our fears, I believe we need to ask ourselves some questions, such as:-

What are our fears?

Why do we have these fears?

So what could we actually achieve if we managed to overcome these fears?

We need to be honest with ourselves, because a lot of us actually don’t want to know ourselves very well (another fear) and we actually run and hide from ourselves!

When we know our fears, we can then start to work on them and start to remove them, which will then help us to achieve our potential.

So what does fear stand for – Fear stands for False Evidence Appearing Real.

And it is the False Evidence that we give/tell/collect ourselves that we dwell on and then create a False outcome in our minds before we even start performing the task.

Having been a business coach, for 8 years now, I have come across many business owners who are under achieving due to having a fear. This fear is there in the subconscious stopping the business owner from achieving the results that they are perfectly able to achieve if they didn’t have that fear.

In many cases it is more than one fear. I have also worked with and alongside many business coaches and they suffer from the same problem, myself included, so you are not alone.

The top entrepreneurs’ that I have met and read about have also had to overcome their fears and for them it normally happens (in my opinion) when they are at rock bottom. How many very successful people have been at rock bottom (been bankrupt or been very, very close, losing everything, or similar) and I believe it is at this point that they realise that nothing can ever be worse and it is not as bad as they thought it would be – because they haven’t actually died. They then no longer have their fear and do what is required.

Now I’m not saying it just the removal of their fear which enables them to achieve amazing results, there are other factors as well, such as having a belief and passion in what they are trying to achieve, as well as perseverance, but I believe removing or dealing with you fears is also a key factor. I’m not suggesting that you go bankrupt or close to it to overcome your fears, I suggest you explore them now before it is too late, for me this is just part of what should be you continual growth and development, to help you achieve your full potential.

Earlier I mentioned the fear of success and below is a great quote from a great film (if you haven’t seen it, please do).

 COACH CARTER (2005)

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate.

Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure.

It is our light not our darkness, that most frightens us

Your playing small does not serve the world.

There is nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you.

We are all meant to shine as children do; it’s not just in some of us it is in everyone.

And as we let our own lights shine we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same.

As we are liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.