Perhaps the greatest challenge that you will ever face in life is the conquest of fear and the development of courage. Fear is, and always has been, the greatest enemy of mankind.

When Franklin D. Roosevelt said, “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself,” he was saying that the emotion of fear, rather than the reality of what we fear, is what causes us anxiety, stress, and unhappiness. When you develop the habit of courage and unshakable self-confidence, a whole new world of possibilities opens up for you. Just imagine—what would you dare to dream or be or do if you weren’t afraid of anything in the whole world?

Develop the Habit of Courage

Fortunately, the habit of courage can be learned just as any other habit is learned, through repetition. We need to constantly face and overcome our fears to build up the kind of courage that will enable us to deal with the inevitable ups and downs of life unafraid. The starting point in overcoming fear and developing courage is to look at the factors that predispose us toward being afraid.

The root source of most fear is childhood conditioning, usually associated with destructive criticism. This causes us to develop two major types of fear. These are the fear of failure, which causes us to think “I can’t, I can’t, I can’t,” and the fear of rejection, which causes us to think “I have to, I have to, I have to.”

When we are possessed by these fears, we become preoccupied with the possibility of losing our money, our time, or our emotional investment in a relationship. We become hypersensitive to the opinions and possible criticisms of others, sometimes to the point where we are afraid to do anything that anyone else might disapprove of.

Our fears can paralyze us, keeping us from taking constructive action in the direction of our dreams and goals. When we are in the grip of a fear, we hesitate and delay. We become indecisive. We procrastinate. We make excuses and find reasons to hold back. We feel frustrated, caught in the double bind of “I have to, but I can’t” and “I can’t, but I have to.”127

The More You Know, the Less You Fear

Fear is also caused by ignorance. When we have limited information, our doubts dominate us. We become tense and insecure about the outcome of our actions. Ignorance causes us to fear change, to fear the unknown, and to avoid trying anything new or different.

But the reverse is also true. The very act of gathering more and better information about a particular subject increases our courage and confidence in that area. You can see this in the parts of your life where you have no fear at all because you know what you are doing. You feel competent and completely capable of handling whatever happens.

Two other factors that contribute to fear are illness and fatigue. When you are tired or unwell, or when you are in poor physical condition, you are more predisposed to fear and doubt than when you are feeling healthy and full of energy.

Analyze Your Fears

Once you have identified the major factors that cause you to feel afraid, the next step is to objectively define and analyze your personal fears.

At the top of a clean sheet of paper, write, “What am I afraid of?” Remember, all intelligent people are afraid of something. It is normal and natural to be concerned about your physical, emotional, and financial safety and that of the people you care about. A courageous person is not a person who is unafraid. As Mark Twain said, “Courage is resistance to fear, mastery of fear—not absence of fear.”128

The issue is not whether you are afraid. We are all afraid. The only question is, How do you deal with the fear? A courageous person is someone who goes forward in spite of the fear. And here is an important point: when you confront your fears and move toward the source or cause of your fear, your fears diminish and your self-esteem and self-confidence increase. As Emerson wrote, “Do the thing you fear and the death of fear is certain.”

The opposite is also true. When you avoid the thing you fear, your fears grow until they begin to control your life. And as your fears increase, your self-esteem, self-confidence, and self-respect diminish accordingly.

Make a List

Begin your list of fears by writing down everything, major and minor, that causes fear, stress, or anxiety. Think about the parts of your work or personal life where your fears might be holding you back or forcing you to stay in a job or relationship in which you are not happy. The most common fears, of course, are the fear of failure and the fear of rejection.

Some people, driven by the fear of failure, invest an enormous amount of energy justifying or covering up their mistakes. Others, saddled with the fear of rejection, are so obsessed with how they appear to others that they have no ability at all to take independent action. Until they are absolutely certain that someone else will approve, they cannot make a decision.129

Once you have made a list of the fears that you think could be affecting your thinking and behavior, you should arrange your fears in order of importance. Which fear do you feel has the greatest impact on your behavior? Which holds you back more than any other? Which fear would be number two? What would be your third biggest fear?

Examine Your Fears Objectively

With regard to your predominant fear, write the answers to these three questions:

1. How does this fear hold me back in life?
2. How does this fear help me (or how has it helped me in the past)?
3. What would be my payoff for eliminating this fear?

When I went through this exercise myself some years ago, I concluded that my biggest fear was the fear of poverty. I was afraid of not having enough money, being broke, perhaps even being destitute. I knew that this fear had originated during my early childhood. My parents, who had grown up during the Depression, had continually worried about money. This fear was reinforced when I was broke at various times during my twenties. Even though I could objectively assess the origins of this fear, it still had a strong hold on me. Even when I had sufficient money for all my needs, this fear was always there.130

Ask the Key Questions

My answer to the first question, “How does this fear hold me back in life?” was that it caused me to be anxious about taking risks with money. It caused me to play it safe with regard to employment. And it caused me to choose security over opportunity.

My answer to the second question, “How does this fear help me?” was that in order to escape the fear of poverty, I worked longer and harder than most people. I was more driven and determined. I took much more time to inform myself on the various ways to make and invest money. The fear of poverty was actually driving me toward financial independence.

When I answered the third question, “What would be my payoff for eliminating this fear?” I immediately saw that I would be willing to take more risks. I would be more aggressive in pursuing my financial goals. I would start my own business. I would not be so tense and concerned about spending too much or having too little. I would no longer be so concerned about the price of everything.

By objectively analyzing my biggest fear in this way, I was able to begin the process of eliminating it. I was able to “turn fear into power” (as motivational speaker Tony Robbins is known for saying). And so can you.131

Practice the Quality of Courage

You can begin the process of developing courage and eliminating fear by engaging in actions consistent with the habits of courage and self-confidence that you want to develop. Anything that you practice over and over eventually becomes a new habit.

The first and perhaps most important kind of courage for worldly success is the courage to begin, to launch, to step out in faith in the direction of your goal. This is the courage to try something new or different, to move out of your comfort zone, with no guarantee of success.

Robert Ronstadt, professor of entrepreneurship at Babson College for twelve years, conducted a follow-up study of his MBA students to find out how they had done later in life. To his surprise, less than 10 percent of his graduates had actually started their own businesses and become successful. The rest of them were working for other companies, still dreaming about becoming entrepreneurs one day. What could explain the difference between the two groups?

He could find only one quality that the successful entrepreneurs had in common: their willingness to actually start their own businesses rather than waiting. Ronstadt called this the “Corridor Principle.” He found that as these individuals moved forward in their new businesses, as though proceeding down a corridor, doors of opportunity opened to them that they would not have seen if they had not been in forward motion.132

It turned out that the graduates of his Entrepreneurship Program who had done nothing with what they had learned were still waiting for conditions to be just right before they began. They were unwilling to launch themselves down the corridor of uncertainty until they could somehow be assured that they would be successful— something that never happened.

The Future Belongs to the Risk Takers

The future belongs to the risk takers, not the security seekers. Life is perverse in the sense that the more you seek security, the less of it you have. But the more you seek opportunity, the more likely it is that you will achieve the security that you desire.

Whenever you feel fear or anxiety and you need to bolster your courage, switch your attention to your goals. Visualize your goals as realities. Imagine that you are already the person you want to be, enjoying the life you want to live.

Your conscious mind can hold only one thought at a time, a thought of desire or a thought of fear. When you discipline yourself to think and talk continually about your goals, you will minimize and cancel out your fears. As you focus on how you can achieve your goals, your confidence and courage will increase. You will take complete control over your emotions and your future.133

The Law of Concentration says, “Whatever you dwell upon grows and increases in your life.” The more you dwell on your goals, the more of them you will achieve.

The Development of Courage

The mastery of fear and the development of courage are essential prerequisites for a happy, successful life. When you commit yourself to developing the habit of courage, you will eventually reach the point where your fears no longer have any control over you. They will no longer play a major role in your decision making.

You will set big, challenging, exciting goals, and you will have the confidence of knowing that you can attain them. You will be able to face every situation with calmness and self-assurance. You will become unstoppable.