Change Your Thinking, Change Your Life: How to Unlock Your Full Potential for Success and Achievement

Live A Great Life
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DO IT ANYWAY
The actor Glenn Ford once said,
“If you do not do the thing you fear,
the fear controls your life.”
It is almost as if the fear is the puppeteer and you are the pup-
pet. If you don’t deal with the fear,and cut the strings that hold you
to the fear, the fear will cause you to dance emotionally and psycho-
logically. If you let a fear go on for too long, it will tend to grow and
grow and eventually come to dominate all of your thinking.
Each time you think of the fearful situation or person, your heart
will beat faster and your stomach will churn. You will be unable to
sleep well at night. The fear will affect your health, your happiness,
your relationships, and your interactions with your customers and co-
workers. Over time, you will become so preoccupied with the fear-
inducing situation that you will not be able to think of anything else.
This is no way to live.
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FACE THE FEAR
The way you deal with fear is to confront the fear. You resolve to
face the fear, deal with the fear, and put an end to the fear.
When I was a young man and confronted with a fearful situa-
tion, I read a quote from Mark Twain that changed my attitude for-
ever. It said,
“Courage is not lack of fear or absence of fear. It is mastery
of fear, control of fear.”
Those words had an enormous impact on me. I realized that we
are all afraid of many things. To be afraid is normal and natural. In
fact, the more intelligent you are, the greater number of possible
fears you will have. You will have a greater sensitivity to your world
and to the things it is logical for you to fear.
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