Overcoming Fear to Reach Full Potential

When we think of the archetypal warrior, we will almost certainly be sure to think of someone that is brave, courageous and seemingly fearless. This is the kind of person that will walk into the line of fire. That will speak out against injustice,

that will take on enemies that are much greater than them.

In our personal lives, there are no real dragons to slay. Rather, they take on many other forms, whether they be illness, whether they be debt, or whether they be the struggle of going to the gym every day…

Overcoming Fear: How to Use Your ‘Fear Setting’

If you’re a fan of reading self-help literature, then chances are that at some point you will have written down your goals. This is something that almost every guru seems to advise and that many claim can help you to accomplish your dreams by better defining and visualizing them.

But in Tim Ferriss’ 4 Hour Workweek this advice is turned on its head somewhat. While Tim doesn’t necessarily have a problem with goal setting per-say, he also recommends doing essentially the opposite by ‘fear setting’. And he claims it can do a great deal more than goal setting when it comes to realizing your aims and getting more from life…

What is Fear Setting?

The general idea behind fear setting is that you’re defining the fears that are holding you back so that you can face them. In most cases Tim postulates that after doing this you’ll find that your fears are actually relatively unfounded and thus will move forward and past them. Normally our fears are of ‘irreversible’ negative outcomes, but actually these are rarer than you might think…

So what you do is to write down the absolute worst possible outcomes for doing whatever it is you want to do, and then write down all the ways you’d cope with the situation or possibly reverse it.

An Example: Changing Career

Let’s take changing career as an example. This is something that a lot of people want to do, but feel held back by fear of the potential repercussions. By defining those fears though, you can minimize their potency.

So if you were going to write down the worst possible outcomes for changing careers, it might well look something like this:

• I might leave my job only to fail to find another job.
• I might be unable to pay the mortgage and thus be forced to move home.
• This could upset my partner so much they leave me.
• I might get the job I think I want and find out I hate it more than my last job.
• I might apply to other jobs only to get rejected by everyone and end up damaging my ego.

These are all real concerns, but now if you think about all the ways, you can manage risk and reduce the impacts of those negative outcomes, you’ll find your fears aren’t all that founded…

• I can look for jobs without leaving my current job to avoid the risk of unemployment. No one has to know.
• This will also be a lot less reckless in the eyes of my partner.
• Alternatively, I could speak to my boss about my problems and see if there are other positions within my organization.
• If I do end up out of work I could always speak to my old boss about getting my job back/work in a supermarket while I look for other work/work for Dad/live off of savings for a couple of months/move back home with the parents!
• If my partner leaves me for trying to become happier than I need to reassess that relationship
• If I don’t like the job I find next then I will feel more confident about job hunting again in future.
• If I struggle to get accepted by anywhere I can work on my interview technique/improve my CV/seek career guidance. All of which will be useful experiences anyway.

As you can see then, the very worst scenario is probably not as bad as it seems – it may just mean living out of savings for a while or taking a small step backwards in order to take two forwards. Likewise, as there are so many ways to minimize the risk of things going wrong, it’s actually quite unlikely you’ll end up in those positions anyway.

In The 4 Hour Workweek Tim also gives one other piece of advice that I feel is very relevant here: don’t ask for permission, ask for forgiveness. Take that attitude and outline your fears and you’re on track to a happier version of yourself as well as to accomplishing much more.