Top 4 Practices to Overcome Fear

In the last 5 years more has been learned about the human brain than in the last 5000 years. One place that this new knowledge is being applied is in the Navy Seals where overcoming fear is absolutely vital to success on a daily basis. The program that the Seals instituted is called the Mental Toughness Program and it incorporates 4 specific practices that have been proven to help push through fear and stay on target. Since fear is the major thing holding all of us back from what we want, this program can be used by everyone.

Top 4 practices to overcome fear

1. Goal setting
By breaking big goals down into small achievable tasks the objective ends up looking much less daunting. We love instant gratification. Why not take advantage of this fact and turn our goals into a series of small successes. The whole process of achieving becomes a blissful flow.

2. Visualization
The subconscious mind can’t tell the difference between what is real and what is imagined. If you do something in your mind first, when you do it in reality it will be the same as doing it the second time and you will feel much less fear. Also, if you practice doing it perfectly in your mind, you will be conditioned to perfection and naturally respond that way when called to action. Olympic gymnasts, astronauts and professional athletes use this technique all the time. Why not you?

3. Auto-suggestion
If you repeat a phrase enough times you start to believe it. Beliefs cause actions, and actions produce results. Therefore, ask yourself exactly what kind of results you want and stop telling yourself things that move you away from that ideal. Program your mind with the beliefs that empower you and attract the results you want.

4. Slow Breathing
Quick shallow breaths induce a fearful reactionary state of mind. To overcome fear and access the rational mind, slow deep breathing is vital.

Tony Robbins has a great quote that I love. “The quality of your life is directly proportional to the amount of uncertainty you can comfortably live with”. If that’s the case, which I believe it is, we all need powerful tools to overcome the inevitable fear that comes with that uncertainty. The good news is there are proven ways to overcome fear. We just have to use them.

By the way, the key with the 4 tools outlined in this article is to stack them. The instinctual brain needs to be overwhelmed. Use them all and use them often.