Warren Buffet is obviously super-successful. He’s also humble and generous. He admits his shortcomings and shares his knowledge with the world. Here’s a BIG secret to his success, a secret he says all the bravest people have in common–choosing to move through and overcome fear. But how do we do that? Warren gives us three tips. What are they? April talks about each of them in episode 31 of the Winning Mindset Mastery Podcast!
—
Listen to the podcast here
This Billionaire Says One Choice Separates Winning And Losing
I have to admit something to you. I’m on a little bit of a Warren Buffett kick. Something he has said or done has come to me in two different ways and inspired me. I’m going to share this one with you in this episode. If you’re not familiar with Warren Buffett, which you probably are, he is a super successful businessman and well-known billionaire.
To me, what makes him so incredible is the level of humbleness he exudes and how he wants to share the things he’s learned with the world. I’m a big fan of his. This particular topic comes from an article in Inc. Warren says that there is one thing all of the bravest people have in common, one choice. I’m going to go a little further and hype it a little more. I don’t think it’s just the bravest people. It’s also the happiest and most successful.
What he said was, “People choose to move through and overcome fear.” It’s interesting. He gave three tips on how to do it. The third one is the most powerful. That’s the one I’m going to spend the most time on but the other two are worth mentioning. The first one is, “Your fear is not a real threat.” I’ve said this before in talking about fear. It is so interesting. There is nothing that you experience in the act of it that is ever as bad as the fear before it.
Overcoming Fear: Your fear is not a real threat.
The examples I’ve used are being in a war zone and being fired on, jumping out of an airplane, and speaking in front of tens of thousands of people. The fear before it was always bigger than the experience itself. Sometimes that helps me move forward when I am afraid of something. Knowing that fact, it’s never going to be worse than this. The other one and I haven’t heard this way before so I liked it, is, “Fear is just drama.” It’s not reality.
It is so true because fear, for the most part, is something we create in our minds. We can be exceptionally afraid of things that would probably never happen to us or that we’ve proven over and over again aren’t a threat to us. When you think about maybe starting a new job or a new company, and you’ve been successful over and over again, yet you fear failure as if you’ve never done that. That’s on point and an interesting thing to look at to help snap yourself out of it.
Overcoming Fear: Fear, for the most part, is something we create in our minds.
The last one is powerful. This is the winning mindset. “Fear is exactly what you need to experience right now.” Not the fear itself but the thing that you’re afraid of. Whatever it is that you’re most afraid of, Warren mentions, is the thing that is going to move you forward the most. It’s so interesting because for most of my life, I would find things I was afraid of and I would go do them.
Overcoming Fear: Whatever it is that you’re most afraid of is the thing that is going to move you forward the most.
I never wanted to be limited by what I was afraid of because I felt like I would never get far in life if I let those things limit me. I was so surrounded at a young age by people who were very afraid of a lot of things I didn’t understand why you would be afraid of. I would always push myself to do that. What I realized in thinking back is he’s 100% right that anything you find yourself avoiding because you’re afraid to do is usually one of the things you most need to do in your personal life.
Take that leap and tell that person how much you care about them. Whether they’re going to say it back or not, you go for that in your physicality. If you’re afraid to go and run that race, run that marathon, try a triathlon, or try a new sport, it is going to make you a better, more enriched person to go do that thing. Career-wise, you’re afraid to take on that project that’s bigger than you think you are, yet you need to do that. Stretch yourself because you’re capable of so much more than you believe.
In your business, you’re afraid that that person is responsible for so many things in your company but they are also terrible or toxic, or they’re hurting your culture. Get rid of them. Let them go be successful somewhere else. You’re terrified to do it but it’s the one thing that’s going to make the greatest impact on your business and your life. Do you see what I mean? The bunch of different things that you might be afraid of are usually the things that take you forward.
One of the big things I was afraid of was to jump out of the corporate world and start my company. I was both afraid and so excited about it. If you can imagine a toddler who sees a big dog that they want to pet but they’re afraid because the dog is way bigger than they are. I feel like that is the vibe I had going but I didn’t want to not do something because I was scared. Most of the great things that have happened in my life that I have accomplished, if you will, I was terrified the entire time. I felt the fear and did it anyway.
Think about those things you fear and move towards them, because that's going to make a game-changing difference in your life. Share on XWhat I want to encourage you to do is think about those things you fear. Even if it’s little bite-sized pieces, even if it’s a small step you can take towards those fears, I want you to move towards them because that’s going to make a game-changing difference in your life. If for no other reason, then you start having the mantra of, “I do things I’m afraid of. That’s the person I am.” When you do, I want to hear about it. Let me know. Here’s to your success.