The Two Biggest Enemies To Our Success

graphic © eminentlyquotable.com

“The two biggest enemies to our success are fear and doubt.”

Doubt and fear are hindrances to discovering our full potential. No matter how capable, a person who doubts himself and fears failure will never reach new heights. To break this negative mindset, we need to break free from this anxiety-driven, disparaging messages that we tell ourselves.

When does a person start feeling small? It certainly doesn’t happen overnight as psychology maintains that this self-sabotaging perception of one’s self results from having critical parents. This creates internal anguish that stops anyone from trying great things with high stakes. When unresolved, a person is doomed to a life of mediocrity. Fear and doubt can be incredibly limiting, preventing us from taking risks, trying new things, and reaching our full potential.

Fear is a natural emotion that can be both helpful and harmful. It can help us to avoid dangerous situations and to stay safe, but it can also hold us back from pursuing our dreams and living the life we want. Irrational fears, such as the fear of failure, rejection, or judgement, can keep us from taking action and from achieving our goals.

This self-protective-rationalizing-habit is hard to break but you can work on it by talking to a therapist, reading self-help books, and actively deprogramming yourself. Dr. Leon F. Seltzer, author of the Psychology Today blog “Evolution of the Self,” maintains that we can reprogram our mindset into something more self-accepting. When we get rid of unresolved childhood issues, he says, we can form a new attitude that would allow us to live a courageous, happy life.

Doubt can also be a powerful enemy to our success. It can cause us to question our abilities, to second-guess our decisions, and to give up on our goals. Doubt can be especially destructive when it is combined with fear, as it can keep us from taking action and from pursuing our dreams.

To address the fear and doubt that holds us back, it is essential to understand that these emotions are natural and normal. Fear and doubt are not bad in themselves, but they can be limiting when they are irrational or excessive.

One way to overcome fear and doubt is to challenge our negative thoughts and beliefs. We can ask ourselves if our fears and doubts are based on reality or are they just assumptions. By examining our thoughts, we can begin to understand where our fears and doubts come from, and we can begin to replace them with more positive and realistic thoughts.

Another way to overcome fear and doubt is to take action. When we take action, we begin to see that our fears and doubts may not be as limiting as we thought. By taking small steps towards our goals, we can build our confidence and begin to overcome our fears and doubts.

Life will never be without fear and doubt, but there’s a better way of coping than backing out. Psychologist and world-class mountain climber Matt Walker demonstrates that facing our fears and uncertainty is the recipe for adventure and achievement! Although we normally detest being scared and uncertain, taking a leap anyway breaks the barrier we set to ourselves and prepare us for bigger challenges that would ultimately make us braver-and definitely happier. By taking action, we can build our confidence.

Here are three further quotations relevant to the one above:

“The only limit to our realization of tomorrow will be our doubts of today.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

“The only thing to fear is fear itself.” – Franklin D. Roosevelt

“You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face.” – Eleanor Roosevelt