Embrace fear and learn
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Only when we are no longer afraid do we begin to live. - Dorothy Thompson
One of the greatest obstacles for learning is fear. It can be the fear of failing, fear of being laughed at, or just a fear with no apparent reason. Usually I’m a person that doesn’t fear many things and it’s quite hard to come up with something that I wouldn’t do because of fear. But I have my share of fears as well. One example has long been my fear of phone calls. For some reason I really don’t like calling people on the phone. I have no idea why, but even the thought of placing a call has been something that has made me nervous.
Today I’m happy to say that although calling people still isn’t one of my favorite passtimes, I can call people if I need to, and it’s not a problem to me anymore. And here’s the secret:
You gain strength, courage, and confidence by every experience in which you really stop to look fear in the face. You must do the thing which you think you cannot do. - Eleanor Roosevelt
You must do the things you think you cannot do. - Eleanor Roosevelt
These two quotes from Eleanor Roosevelt say it perfectly: If you’re afraid of doing something, you should do it. It’s the only way to overcome fear. By doing the thing you’re afraid to do you notice that it actually wasn’t so bad: after all you were able to do it quite easily. And the more times you do it again, the more your fear dissappears.
The same goes for all kinds of fears: If you’re afraid of public speaking, give a speech. If you’re afraid of heights, climb on a mountain. If you’re afraid of selling your product, create a web site and enable people to buy. The worst thing you can do is to let go of your dreams because of fear. Give a few thoughts to the following quote:
Too many people are thinking of security instead of opportunity. They seem to be more afraid of life than death. - James F. Bymes
Then think about any sucessful person that comes to mind. If Bill Gates would have been looking for security, he wouldn’t be the richest man alive. If Martin Luther King wouldn’t have stood up for his beliefs, what would be the racial situation in the world today? If I wouldn’t have started this blog, you wouldn’t be reading this post today. Well, the last one is in a quite different league than the first two, but it’s a big deal for me personally.
It’s true that some of our experiments fail - actually many of them do. But that’s why they are called experiments: even if they fail, we learn from them and know where to go next. As Louisa M. Alcott nicely puts it:
I’m not afraid of storms, for I’m learning how to sail my ship. - Louisa M. Alcott
When your sail gets torn or you lose a few weeks of time fixing an experimental solution that didn’t quite turn out the way you wanted, it’s usually not wasted time. Through your experiment you have learned a valuable lesson, something that makes you more of an expert on your area. And definately something that you wouldn’t have learned without trying.
And many times you succeed!
So, I’m encouraging you: be it in software development, business or any area of life, embrace your fears and do the very thing you’re afraid to do. As Franklin D. Roosevelt once said:
The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.
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