How to eliminate fear in your life

Image via WikipediaLife is divided into two kinds of fears; stupid fear and serious fear. Serious fear is about matters of life and death. You can't always eliminate this type of fear but you can control it. Soldiers going into battle are terrified but it doesn't stop them from doing what they need to do. They know doing their job is the fastest way for their terror to end, so they focus on doing their job, not on the fear.

Stupid fear is something you can totally eliminate because it's not serious fear, it's all imagined and based on something really stupid. For example, I used to have a fear of swallowing pills, it freaked me out trying to swallow without chewing. One day I was eating steak and it dawned on me, I was swallowing big pieces of steak, much bigger than the pills I had problems with. So next time I had a pill in front of me, I visualized eating steak. It worked and my fear was gone.

Another stupid fear I hear all the time is, "I can't sell anything". But think about it, you don't have any problem selling your friend on an idea you believe in. You don't have a problem selling yourself at a job interview. Every day, whether you know it or not, you sell something to somebody. Once you realize what you are doing, it's just a matter of preparation. Preparation breeds confidence. Confidence breeds enthusiasm. Enthusiasm is contagious.

Frankly, when I started at the Star Tribune, I had a hard time speaking in front of my peers in the sales department. I kept thinking I was speaking in front of people who were trained to speak in front of people.  I was intimidated. What changed? We had a sales trainer come in and I got to listen to some of the other sales reps. It suddenly dawned on me, I wasn't that impressed with them. I kept thinking that I could do better than them or certainly no worse than they did. Once I came to that realization, I wasn't afraid anymore. I knew I could do it. It allowed me to prepare, be confident and show enthusiasm for my product and service.

I like to do a little disclaimer here.  I also know, "I can do all things in Christ who strengthens me".-Philippians 4:13.  All the "realizations" I came to in the story above were actually God's way of showing me what he wanted for me in my life. As I've always said, things just don't just  happen, they happen for a divine reason.