Overcoming Fear

“You must not be afraid to fail. Initiative is having the courage to make decisions and take action. Keep in mind that we all are going to fail at times. This you must know. None of us is perfect. But if you’re afraid of failure, you will never do the things you are capable of doing. I always cautioned my teams, ‘Respect your opponents, but never fear them. You have nothing to fear if you have prepared to the best of your ability.’”
—John R. Wooden

If ever you’re tempted to think of yourself even for a moment as a failure at anything, remember Michael Jordan. Cut from his high school freshman basketball team, Michael may have felt like a failure at that moment, but he chose not to let that moment define him. Instead, he used his imagination constructively to envision himself succeeding and excelling. But more importantly, he chose to expend the effort to see his vision through to reality, one step after another, day after day. (And even the mighty MJ missed 49.7% of his shots. He just kept trying until he made the ones he needed to.)

A failure isn’t a person. It’s nothing but a temporary status report. Just one point on a line between the past and the future. It’s up to you how you connect the dots.
—Lee Liebner

“Would you like me to give you a formula for success? It’s quite simple, really. Double your rate of failure. You are thinking of failure as the enemy of success. But it isn’t at all. You can be discouraged by failure or you can learn from it, so go ahead and make mistakes. Make all you can. Because remember that’s where you will find success.”
—Thomas J. Watson

“Do what you fear. Pushing through fear is less frightening than living with the underlying fear that comes from a feeling of helplessness.”
—Susan Jeffers, Ph.D (“Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway” ® )

“Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”
—Ralph Waldo Emerson

“Action cures fear.”
—David J. Schwartz