Comments on: Fear Is The Mindkiller

By: bfeld

bfeld — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 19:42:06 +0000

I encourage to spend a long weekend at a silent meditation retreat (at a place like Spirit Rock) and see what happens! Or maybe, take up long distance running. Or engage in other perspective building activities like volunteering at your local homeless shelter. Any of these things will likely change your relationship with fear and anxiety.

By: steve

steve — Wed, 31 Dec 2008 12:47:20 +0000

How do you let go of the fear and anxiety? Do you just go away from it for a while and come back when you are refreshed? Won't it still be there? But you'll be better able to handle it because you are refreshed? Is conquering fear simply a matter of rationalizing your way through it, poking holes in it until it deflates? Or do you confront the fear with actions and plans to be prepared for when that fearful scenarios actually happens? Most of my fears never materialize, so I'm not sure it is a good idea to spend time coming up with plans on how to handle the disaster, because it never happens. But perhaps my fears are different from the fears of a big entreprenuer like yourself.

By: pravesh

pravesh — Mon, 07 May 2007 09:34:40 +0000

Brad

This is a very simple but one of the best posts from you. I also try to live by this philosophy that Fear, Guilt, Anxiety are not needed in life at any stage.

Thanks for the encouraging words
Pravesh

By: Joshua

Joshua — Mon, 23 Apr 2007 05:05:26 +0000

Excellent post Brad! (and great additions Herb)

We get so caught up in everything, we don’t notice the things we’ve let go along the way.

Such a good quote (

By: Herb

Herb — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 15:57:48 +0000

Brad, you are on to something huge here. Business results are a function of strategy, leadership, and execution. Not enough people think about how these three things work together – especially how leadership fits in to results (and I’m not talking about basic leadership stuff).

There’s a reason the quote “have no fear” has been around for a long time. Fear is one of the most basic human emotions, and for many entrepreneurs it is related to a deep lack self confidence (trust me I know). Think about it, there’s a reason many successful businesses(I’m talking big time) are run by teams of people that have had huge failures in their lives. They have come down closer to reality – they no longer have the same level of false self confidence, or more specifically, the fear of losing all the crap they tell themselves is important.

Getting sleep, or meditating, slows down the brain. It helps create distance from the feeling “this has to happen or I/we fail.” As you said, it provides just enough perspective to turn around your thinking. But only in the short-term.

Bottom line: not just entrepreneurs, everyone, needs to ask themselves what drives my fear? Think hard about it, and then let it go. Attachment to fear is a very powerful negative force, and all the strategy and execution in the world won’t overcome it. Just ask Yoda.

By: Brad Feld

Brad Feld — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 00:32:45 +0000

I guess you could generalize to “fear is a businesskiller”, but I’m not sure it’s as important of a construct. It’s probably a long discussion given some executives’ “philosophy of fear” as a motivator. I personally don’t buy it (I’ve never been motivated by fear and I can’t think of any entrepreneurial leaders that I respect that lead by fear.) However, I’m not sure the correlation that “fear is a businesskiller” will play out.

By: JM

JM — Sun, 22 Apr 2007 00:14:23 +0000

Brad, nice post. I agree with you that fear is a negative emotion, and not one that is enjoyable in business and other atmospheres.

Many executives don’t necessarily agree with your thoughts on this subject I suspect, as many of them say that fear pushed them to work harder (assumption, is that work harder means better, which is not necessarily true).

By saying that ‘fear is a mindkiller’, you are relating to a person. Would you also say that ‘fear is a businesskiller’, as many businesses are based on people (who have minds)?

By: sigma

sigma — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 21:08:53 +0000

There are some good sources of security that can help keep down the effects of fear, uncertainty, doubt, risk, threat: A good wife. A good family. Good friends. Solid rational foundation that can stand on to be quite sure really are doing the right things. Money in the bank.

After such things, when totally pooped out, Shakespeare actually had a good point with his

Sleepe that knits vp the rauel’d Sleeue of Care,

‘Macbeth’, Act Two, Scene Two

By: Craig

Craig — Sat, 21 Apr 2007 20:13:48 +0000

Great post! I like the idea of rest to recover from fear/anxiety. I think it makes sense to make sure we do anything with full focus on the task. If we’re thinking about the results of our actions while we’re doing them, it doesn’t matter whether those thoughts are positive or negative–they still hurt performance significantly because we’re not “all there” with respect to the task. Think about the results of the goals before or after the task, not during. /guru