Over the past 40+ years in working with and for thousands of other people in a volunteer capacity, I have always been totally amazed at how fearful most people are. When it comes to succeeding in any chosen field of endeavor, most people seem to be afraid of doing or attempting to do just about anything and everything. It is not that they don’t want the benefits and rewards that come alongside with the achieving of their dreams and goals in life, oh no it is not that. Rather, it is the, terrifying, and debilitating fear of even trying to do things or attempting to perform efforts in their life and out of their comfort zone that stops them dead in their tracks. I will tell you the Truth of Life…if you don’t ever begin,…you cannot ever finish,….anything!
If you are actively involved in other people’s lives as you live, work, and perform in your own life, then you will observe this very thing about which I am now speaking…fear… on almost a daily basis. This thing called fear comes in all sizes, shapes, and forms. It always, no matter its form…accomplishes the same result….complete stoppage of efforts to accomplish something….great or small. Fear debilitates your efforts. It always paralyzes your own creative efforts.
I will tell you the truth…fear is not from or of God. As a matter of fact, permit me to tell you what God has to say about an individual living in fear. It is all discussed in The Holy Bible in The Book of 2 Timothy, Chapter 1, verse 7, NKJV:
(7) “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of
love and of a sound mind.”
Fear is of the Devil!…pure and simple.
So if you are bound and determined to overcome your fear so as to be able to start accomplishing those things in your life that are significantly important to you….taking immediate action against those things and situations that frighten you is the only thing that you can do to cure it…to eliminate your fears. ACTION CURES FEAR!
Most people who live their lives in fear are afraid of (1) OTHER PEOPLE or of (2) FAILURE. Either of these two basic fears will hold you back and kill your chances of success unless and until you start taking personal action against those very things that scare you. Hey friend, you are the only one who can permanently cure your own fear. Why are you continuing to wait for some other person or event to provide you your needed cure?
The best way to start succeeding in your life is to begin taking small and little corrective steps necessary to permit success to occur in your life. Instead of thinking you have to do it all or that you have to complete the entire process in one fell swoop before you even have a chance to succeed, may I suggest that you change the direction of your thoughts and related actions. Start doing one correct, right, and proper thing towards accomplishing your desired success everyday. Start accumulating a daily batch of right decisions and activities that will over time accumulate to produce a right and proper completed needed requirement that fits into your model for achieving your own success. Attack those things, people, and events that cause these imagined fears to crop up in your own mind. Start walking in faith towards complete and total accomplishment of your own dreams and goals without regard as to how well you do it.
You are in a race with no one but yourself. So to reach your desired objective, just start the journey with one simple, proper, and correct step towards it achievement…..Then, once this first step is completed,…just take another right step and then another and another. As long as you are moving forward,…taking one correct step after another correct step,…for certain you will be moving ahead in life!…and of course you will be getting closer to the achievement of your own dreams and goals.
Most usually we just seem to know what the next correct step is that we need to take. However, for far too many people, that required “next step” seems so insignificantly small and unimportant that we don’t see it,… because our vision is focused too far ahead. Apparently all we can see is a giant scary leap instead of a small, simple step. So we wait, and we wait, and we procrastinate in a totally unproductive capacity as if some great and glorious Master Plan will be revealed to us in a blueprint layout in just a few more months from now. I know you will most probably disagree with me, but….it really makes no difference…the truth remains the truth…Activity is prerequisite to accomplishment.
When I first began writing the articles and discussions included within this website, I was filled with fear, concern, and great trepidation…mostly about my own lack of writing ability. There were so many unanswered questions, doubts, and worries about the needed qualities and abilities of writing and effectively communicating with other people, most of whom I did not know. The fear of failing, the fear of being ridiculed, and the fear of my lack of talent and abilities flooded my mind daily. Could I actually become an author? Would anyone desire to read what I had written? Did anyone else but me care about what I would memorialize in words? Oh I could have quickly listed at least one hundred different and very good reasons why I should not publish this website…about why I should just let this burning desire to write pass me by and fade away into the distance and on into total obscurity…However I just couldn’t get the thoughts of giving my knowledge and experience away…out of my mind. If only I could pass on my experience and knowledge to another (“just beginning their own journey to success”) person to help them grow more quickly than had I, it would all be worth it.
I arranged and set up a private counseling session with one of my personal mentors, the great author, lecturer, and Christian businessman, Dr. John C. Maxwell. After carefully and intently listening to my desires and goals and what had given me the idea and inspiration to begin this website, his learned advice was quick to come and straight to the point. He calmly said to me, “Dave, if you truly desire to become an author…then just start (begin) writing what God has placed on your heart. And then write some more as each day comes.” And that is precisely what I have done everyday for the past six years.
Writing a book or publishing an educational website is like driving a car at night. You never see further than your headlights, but, you can make the whole trip that way. If you desire to become successful in any given field of endeavor, first learn what needs to be done, and then begin doing the necessary work as best you are able. Start right from where you now stand. You need only enough light to get you started,…to get you moving in the direction of your dreams. Each and every new day presents an opportunity to learn how and then do just a little bit more of the right things.
As you begin your own journey to the top,…don’t get all caught up in whether or not you have everything it takes to become successful….Don’t get all bogged down as to whether or not you have all the resources, talents, abilities, or finances to complete the whole picture. Just take the next small step necessary to complete that next portion of the journey directly before you. Just begin right from where you are and take it one step at a time every day. Just do the next step needed to be taken. The whole scenario goes something like this. If you want to lose 40 pounds, you order salad instead of french fries. If you want to be a better friend, you take the phone call instead of screening it. If you want to write a novel,…you sit down and write a single sentence and then a paragraph.
I will tell you that often times it is scary to make major changes, but most of us usually have enough courage to take the next right step. Take one small step and then take another. That is what it takes to raise a child, to get a college degree, to write a book or publish a website or to do whatever it is your heart desires.
Never Forget! The big things in life are nothing more than the accumulation of a whole bunch of little things.
What is your next right step?
Whatever it is…Take it!…Take it right now!
Peace and Love to All of You…………………Poppa Bear