Three simple ways to use your fear as fuel – and reach your goals
Everyone finds motivation in different places. Each journey is personal and comes from your own experiences – these are what push you to work hard and reach your goals. But there is one common denominator that we don’t often think about as a motivator, and that is fear.
Using fear as fuel to reach your goals and keep you motivated is something that many of us do, whether we’re aware of it or not. Often it’s the fear of failure that pushes us to keep striving the most. That or the fear of letting someone down, whether that’s a friend, someone in your family or yourself. These can be the driving factors behind working so hard to achieve your goals.
So while fear is not a pleasant feeling and it’s something we often wish we didn’t feel, it can be useful to use your fear as fuel. Not sure how? Below are three simple ways you can do this.
Focus on your goals and push your doubt aside
Now, this is not always easy to do as fear can be an overwhelming feeling, but it is something you need to master. There are usually other factors involved when it comes to fear of failing, fear of being happy, fear of having more than those around you or fear that we might reach our goals and it won’t be enough.
But it’s important that through it all you focus on your goals and don’t let anyone or anything else put negative thoughts into your head. And that includes yourself! It doesn’t always have to be the words of others, we’re all too quick to doubt our own abilities and fill our minds with self-doubt, or negative inner chatter.
But you need to learn to accept that these are negative thoughts and fears and then let them go. Use your fear as fuel to keep striving harder each day a little more.
Focus on your vision
You might fail and that can feel scary, but in order to get past this, you can use your vision and the future to keep you on track. If something doesn’t go to plan instead of giving up for fear of failing again, just think, will I still be dwelling on this in a week, a month, or a years time? Because the answer is probably not. You’ll pick yourself up, dust yourself off and keep going. Keep focusing on your vision and life you want to create and use your fears as fuel to persist until you succeed.
Be thankful and focus on your gratitude
Self-pity, self-doubt and negative emotions will only hold you back. You can wallow in your own failures or shortcomings, but it won’t help you to reach your goals. Instead, try accepting what you’re feeling, embrace your fears and still keep challenging yourself. Focus on what you have accomplished, all the people and things that you are truly grateful for in your life and the little wins this week, or past month and you’ll find that the negativity and doubts will disappear. You don’t have to have it all worked out, just keep moving forward, taking small steps towards your goals each day, so you’ll keep your momentum flowing.
