Overcoming Fear

Everyone is afraid at times. Nobody walking this planet is exempt from fear. However, the successful are those who confront their fears by moving forward. Overcoming fear is the most basic of actions if you are going to lead a successful life.

We see many people who live in a "box" because of the fear they have. They are too fearful to strike out on their own and achieve what they truly desire. Instead, they live the dream of another. This is sad. Of course, this choice is rationalized by saying such things as "I am being responsible".

Fear exists totally in your head. It is not real. The truth is believing in fear is as effective as believing in the Easter Bunny. They both carry the same power over your life.

The only power that fear has is what you give to it. As FDR said "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself". Einstein said, "I feared over 10,000 things in my life, most of which never came true". If we cease to buy into the fear, it ceases to be able to control us.

Many think that courage is the absence of fear. It is not. Courage is acting in spite of the fear that you have. This is what separates those who control fear versus those who are controlled by it.

Another truth is that it takes courage to forge your own life. Society has an effective method of modeling our behavior to it's liking. The same is true for family and friends. If you stray from the acceptable norm, you risk being chastised by others. This can be a scary proposition to many.

Often, the only thing standing between you and success is your fear. Many have the ability yet seem to "freeze" when it is time to act. They are no different then a deer caught in headlights. Fear takes control of the situation.

So, how do you overcome this? Since the problem resides in your mind, we only need a mental solution. It starts with the understanding that fear is not real. It is a mechanism the mind uses to control us. Our minds like certainty. When it is confronted with an unknown, it creates fear to move us into inactivity. This way the mind can rest in certainty.

Also, ponder what Einstein said. Most of what we expect to happen never really comes true. The mind has a way of exaggerating the negative. It tends to go to the "worst case scenario". Fortunately, in life, the worst case rarely happens. Situations usually work out much better than we anticipated. This is where the mind games are waged.

Ignore the negative self talk of your mind. It is not your friend. The best thing you can do is to remember that action is the bridge to success in any endeavor. Resist the temptation to be paralyzed by fear. Taking action, in and of itself, is overcoming fear. When we act, we are exercising our personal power. It is us, not fear, who is in control of the situation.
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How Intelligent Are You?

Intelligence is made up of more than "book knowledge". Those who are the most successful have the ability to think through different situations. This requires a specialized ability to reason things out. Having this capability will lead to higher paying positions and more success in all areas of your life. The following was put together by Albert Einstein many years ago.

Einstein believed that only 2% of the people in the world could complete this. That means 98% cannot. If you do, according to him, you are in the upper percentage with an IQ over 132. Give this a shot to see how you do.

-There are 5 houses in 5 different colors.
-In each house lives a person with a different nationality.
-These 5 owners drink a certain type of beverage, smoke a certain brand of cigar, and keep a certain pet.
-No owners have the same pet, smoke the same brand of cigar or drink the same drink.

Here's the question: Who owns the fish?

1. The man living in the house right in the middle drinks milk
2. The Norwegian lives in the first house ( the house on the left end)
3. The Norwegian lives next to the blue house
4. The green house owner drinks coffee
5. The green house is on the left of the white house
6. The Brit lives in a red house
7. The owner of the yellow house smokes Dunhill
8. The man who keeps horses lives next door to the man who smokes Dunhill
9. The Swede keeps dogs as pets
10. The Dane drinks tea
11. The person who smokes Pall Mall has birds
12. The owner who smokes Blue Master drinks beer
13. The German smokes Prince
14. The man who smokes Blend lives next door to the one who keeps cats.
15. The man who smokes Blend has a neighbor who drinks water

With these 15 clues the problem is solvable. Here are some suggestions. Draw 5 squares or boxes across a paper to represent the houses. At the top of the box, you can put in the color. Under that you can put nationality. Under that put in beverage and so on. At the point where it gets hard and you cannot do it step by step, then you use elimination like in Sudoku. You figure out which of the 5 cannot go in there. When you eliminate 4, then the 5th one is your answer.

Good luck!

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