Overcoming the Enemies Within

Anyone who has been on the perilous journey to success will tell you how easy it is to get derailed. And more often than not, the obstacles are not external. The silent enemies that lurk within have the power to destroy our ambitions, our dreams, and our resolve.

No matter what motivates you, there will always be emotional enemies lurking in the corners of your mind waiting to derail you. The three major lurkers are fear, uncertainty, and doubt. They live inside you and keep you from even trying to achieve your dreams.

If you have any hope of achieving your dreams, you must destroy the enemy within, before it can destroy you.

1. Face Your Fears

Let’s face it. You will never completely overcome your fears. There are times in every entrepreneur’s life when fear will be a part of your experience, but don’t treat it like a horror flick to be avoided — seek out fear for the positive things it can bring about in your life.

If you start to approach the things you fear, you might find that many of them are things you don’t fully appreciate or understand. Sometimes simply reframing the things you’re afraid of and coming to learn more about them will change the nature of your fear.

If you allow your emotional enemies to paralyse you, you will stay stuck forever. Take the time to face your fears and give up battling them.

2. Separate the Rational from the Irrational

Most of our fears are irrational. This is a fact. There will be times when you question your capabilities, your strength, your courage, and sometimes even the very direction of your life. When that starts to slow you down, it’s time to pull up those thoughts and assess them individually. You will find that most of the time, your self-doubts are not rooted in reality. They are a result of your insecurities.

When you are struggling to confront your emotional enemies, write a list of your biggest accomplishments to date and place this list somewhere visible. Personal affirmations are the best way to reinforce the positive things about yourself that you already know to be true.

3. Load Up on the Positives

Every day we give up a valuable resource: our attention. Who are you giving the keys of your mind to? Filter out the negative and give your attention to uplifting, positive messages.

When you feel as if emotional enemies are taking over, remember that life is what you make it, and like those exams, it’s going to be just fine.

4. Have a Well Thought out Plan

We begin to worry and over analyze situations when we don’t have detailed and well thought out plans for our life. Set extremely clear goals with a detailed plan on how to achieve those goals. After you have a well detailed plan, take action.Taking action towards meaningful goals helps to relieve stress and gives you a huge sense of enjoyment. Fear creeps in and paralyzes us when we don’t take the time to plan our lives.

5. Do One Thing Every Day that Scares You

Living in our comfort zone is not the best way to live. Not doing the things that frighten you will increase the likelihood that your fears will become bigger – and take over your life. It can even be something small that you choose to do, but do something daily that scares you.

Step out of your comfort zone and work on becoming comfortable with the uncomfortable. When you form the habit of doing something daily that scares you, your courage grows little by little. Soon enough, the barriers that once were holding you back vanish and your potential maximizes tremendously.