to walk by faith and not by sight when it comes to stepping into our fears, that is having a belief there is something inside of you that is more superior to your circumstances, call it a supreme being, unseen falsies of the universe, or God. The fact remains that you will literally be amazed by the result and outcome. You will begin to produce as you begin to act on your fears with faith, courage, and a sense of guaranteed success even before you take the first step, hence.
This statement brings us back to the reality of the previous chapter where we have established that the mind thinks in pictures not in words. That is whatever we vividly picture and desire in our heart will eventually become a reality, in time.
In other words, if you can think it, you can have it; it makes no difference how impossible it may look from the unset or the level of resources available to you right now rather it’s in your decision to venture in to your plans with boldness and a positive mind-set that will make the difference. Don’t let questions like how will I make it happen, what if nobody give me the support that I need, what if I fail, etc. stop you from acting on those precious ideas that pop into your mind on daily basis.
In fact there is a recent research by a psychologist, Bruce Davis, PhD, that an average individual receives not less than 50,000 to 70,000 ideas per day, but the sad thing is that most of us has ended up not acting on this ideas due do what I call the “what-if factor.” That is we have short-circuited our own progress by our own self-imposed limitation. This confirms the famous quote of Napoleon Hill that says, “There is no limitation to the human mind except the ones we acknowledge.”
The Bible in the Book of Mark 9:23 recorded a very profound statement that confirms the powers of believing in ourselves, and it reads, “Jesus said to him, ‘If you can believe, all things are possible to him who believes.’” Now take a close look at the verse again, did you notice the word “to him that believes”?
In other words, it makes no difference what kind of fear you are facing in your life right now if only you can believe in yourself. With the help of God, you will overcome every challenge that has been limiting your personal and career goals, and gradually you will start living above all your limitations. Again you have to understand that fear is the number one obstacle that stops people from achieving their goals. It doesn’t matter how talented, brilliant, or smart they are, that is why I see this chapter as the most important phase of this work. The moment you overcome your fear, there is literally no power in the universe that can stop your dreams from materialization. But, hey, I know it’s sometimes scary.
When we are facing adversities, it can even feel like you are coming to the end of your rope, but believe me, whatever that cannot kill you will eventually make you stronger. I want you to understand that you are stronger than what you think, you are far more powerful than you can ever imagine.
You have the power to turn your ideas in to concrete reality. The fact that people you may know or have read about were able to turn their own ideas into reality is enough evidence to prove that you, too, can live your dreams.
A friend of mine once told me a story of her auntie who was afraid to get on the airplane for a business trip simply because there was a plane crash the previous week on the same route. She was about to embark on and a friend of hers was involved in the crash. This experience beclouded her mind with negative impression and imaginations that accumulated into her believing that she might be involved in a similar incident if she embarks on the trip while in reality it doesn’t necessarily mean that you will experience an accident or any sort of negative occurrence just because someone you know has experienced it. In other words, the fear that was generated by her negative mental pictures ended up denying her of a multimillion dollar trip that she was about to make for her trade.
Too many times we let our negative imaginations of things that are not really after our lives stop us from making progress in life. We sort of limit ourselves by magnifying fears of objects or events that might not really cause us any harm. You and I must realize that our success in life will largely be dependent on stepping in to our fears and facing it head on. If you keep on procrastinating about venturing in to your dreams because of fear and doubt about the future and not acting on your goals, what will happen is that your fear will eventually gain control over you. So here is my point, gain control over your fears or your fears will gain control over you. By now I know you don’t want to be the one who is leaving his fears instead of leaving his dreams. It was Bruce Barton that said, “Nothing splendid has ever been achieved except by those who dared believe that something inside them was superior to circumstances.”
Friend, I want to submit to you that you are stronger than any challenge that is facing you right now. This goes further to confirm what I said earlier in this chapter that we are more powerful, smarter, and intelligent than we are currently expressing. All we need is to believe in our God-given abilities and ultimately utilize them to chart the course of our lives.
Resolve today to confront your fears, make an absolute decision and commitment that no matter what happens in your life, you will leave your dreams. And as you begin to act boldly and courageously toward your goals, nothing will be impossible to you, and soon you will become a positive influence on anyone that comes around you.
Therefore, I want you to start taking action right now. What goal or objective have you been putting off to act on due to the fear of failure? The living Bible version of Ecclesiastes 11:4 reads, “If you wait for perfect conditions, you will never get anything done. Here is my point, eliminate all the reasons and excuses that have been stopping you from taking immediate action. It was Herbert Spencer that said, “The great aim of education is not knowledge but action.” What do you want to achieve in your personal life? Where do you want to be, say two years or five years from now? Do you want to be rich? I want to submit to you that it is possible, but you have to start the work and take the risk that may be involved along the way. It was John Newman that said, “Calculation never made a hero. Every person has a chance to improve himself, but some just don’t believe in taking chances. Being destined for greatness requires that you take risks and confront great hazards.”
Here is my point, if you ever going to see your dreams come through, you have to resolve today to start taking chances. Get rid of procrastination and indecision and step into your fears. Then the progress will begin.
Key Important Points to Note from the Foregoing Chapter
1 Your success in any endeavor will largely be dependent on your ability to step in to your fears.
2 Make an absolute commitment that nothing can stop you from reaching your goals.
3 You have the ability, power, and intelligence that require you to face any challenge and overcome.
4 Whatever you can imagine in your heart and continuously act upon with courage, you will accomplish.
5 Your fears are false evidences that seems real to your imaginations; change your mental pictures and get rid of your fears.
Principle Three
The Law of Courage
Courage is rightly considered the foremost of the virtues, for upon it, all others depend.
—Winston Churchill
The development of courage, self-confidence, boldness, and the will to venture into your dreams in the means of uncertainties and unpleasant circumstances are perhaps some of the most important quality of success anyone should aspire to obtain. This is one quality that separates winners from losers. We live in a very competitive generation; there are a lot of discoveries and innovations going on in different fields of endeavors. It will, therefore, take the development of courage to compete favorably with the challenges that lies ahead in business, academics, politics, even in our day-to-day family decisions. We need courage to navigate our way successfully through life challenges.
In other words, anywhere you see significant success, someone must have been taking some courageous decision to obtain it. The Oxford Advanced Learner’s Dictionary defines the term courage as the ability to face extreme danger and difficulties without fear, that is the ability to maintain a positive mind-set in the presence of pain or adversities.
Courageous