Recently, I wrote about 20 seconds of courage and what it could do for your life. Courage allows you to move past your fear into something new.
Your fear, on the other hand, holds you back. If you allow it to, fear will control your life and stifle your potential.
Fear can be a very powerful force in your life.
Via Creative Commons
Even those with extraordinary talent face the problem of fear.
Fear may make you tense. Anxious. Or even to hold back.
You may have seen this in an amazing baseball prospect named Billy Beane.
This man had everything that the scouts looked for.
He had the arm, the speed, the physique, and the face. He was destined to be the future of the sports team.
And yet he wasn’t. He allowed his fear to hold him back.
His story as a professional baseball player is a sad story of what happens when you let fear hold you back.
This is what was written about him in the book Moneyball:
Inside the batter’s box he struggled to adapt, but every change he made was aimed more at preventing embarrassment than at achieving success. To reduce his strikeouts, he shortened his swing, and traded the possibility of hitting a home run for a greater likelihood of simply putting the ball in play. He crouched and hunched in an attempt to hit like a smaller man. He might have struck out less than he otherwise would have done, but at the cost of crippling his natural powers. Eight years into his professional baseball career he was, in some ways, a weaker hitter than when he was seventeen years old.
— Lewis, Michael (2011-08-15). Moneyball (p. 50). Norton. Kindle Edition.
Fear crippled Billy Beane. It limited his potential. It produced a mediocre baseball player.
And it will do the same to you!
But only if you let it.
Don’t be like Billy during his days of playing the game. Don’t hold back your talents from the world just because you’re scared of failure.
Failure will not be the death of you.
You will learn from the failure and grow. Many times it will be the impetus that propels you forward.
Now is the time. Time for you to give it your all.
Lengthen your swing and aim for the bleachers. Stand up straight. Square your shoulders.
Let the world know that you mean business and you’re here to play the game!
When a resolute young fellow steps up to the great bully, the world, and takes him boldly by the beard, he is often surprised to find it comes off in his hand, and that it was only tied on to scare away the timid adventurers.
— Ralph Waldo Emerson
Question: Have you seen the power of fear in your life? How has fear limited your potential? Please share your thoughts in the comment section below.
Please note: I reserve the right to delete comments that are offensive or off-topic.