The Power of Now, written by Eckhart Tolle, was and still is a powerful book on how to overcome your fears and realise it’s what you do right NOW that will ensure a happier future.
“Time isn’t precious at all, because it is an illusion. What you perceive as precious is not time but the one point that is out of time: the Now. That is precious indeed. The more you are focused on time—past and future—the more you miss the Now, the most precious thing there is.”
While it may seem like Tolle was trying to set our focus on living in the moment and forgetting everything else, I have to disagree.
From a personal development perspective, embracing the power of now can have a huge impact on how bright the future looks.
How does this thought process help to overcome your fears?
By forgetting the fears and failures of yesterday — ignoring the fears holding you back from building a brighter tomorrow — you empower yourself to focus on what you can do right NOW in order to build that future you want.
Tony Robbins, in his book Awaken the Giant Within states how he curbs fear and procrastination by “Never leaving the scene of a decision without taking a specific action toward it’s realisation.”
At its simplest, facing your fear and trepidation involves nothing more than taking action without excessively analysing its outcomes.
Focus on fear and what you can’t control and those thoughts will stop you straight in your tracks.
You can always make a decision, mess everything up, and learn to make a better decision next time.
Few among us are capable of such unflinching faith, but we can learn to be.
Here are 3 great tips to help you overcome your fear right NOW:
1. Remember the last time fear got in the way.
You could be facing any number of decisions right now that are held back by fear. Perhaps you were scared of asking for a raise last year because the boss was complaining about falling profits in the third quarter.
You forgot about it, profits soared during the holidays, yet you still never pulled the trigger. Where would you have been now financially had you just ponied up and asked for a raise when you were thinking about it?
Even if the boss hadn’t been willing in the moment, she may well have kept it in mind when things improved. Fear has a way of following us around, and you don’t have to give in each and every time.
Allow yourself a win today, face your fears and take the plunge!
2. What always happens when you sit around “thinking about it”?
The vast majority who never pursue things because they can’t overcome their fears, let analysis paralysis take over. They never pull the trigger.
Human beings have a knack for allowing the fear-based conversations in our head to satisfy us in some sick way. It may feel good for awhile to pat yourself on the back for avoiding inevitable doom, but the dreamer inside can’t be quelled forever.
Some of the greatest entrepreneurs and other notable achievers just go after things. They don’t worry about mistakes. They (sometimes) briefly assess outcomes, but consequences be damned because their happiness is worth whatever suffering may result from a poor decision!
3. If you have a picture of a goal in your brain, you’re ready.
Shout out to Arnold Schwarzenegger for this tip. He’s famously, and repeatedly attributed his ability to achieve using visualisation. Not just visualising though, but actually taking immediate action when a vision of how an end result will look when completed.
It started by seeing himself crowned Mr. Olympia. He saw it clearly in his mind and immediately went after that dream. He later saw himself as an action star in America — then as a politician making positive changes for his fellow man and woman.
Did he wait when it was clear how that end goal would look? Nope, he knew once the picture was in his head, the future was set in stone. There was no doubt.
The power of now can help you overcome fears and achieve your goals…
All the tips above depend on you doing the right thing, right NOW. Sitting around fearing the unknown, failing to take positive action, does nothing for you.
Fears lead to inaction. Inaction leads to suffering and an unsatisfying life.
Fears lead to regret.
True entrepreneurs don’t live in regret.
Main Image Credit: Giorgio/Flickr
