The Comeback Chronicles Podcast

Bolt #1: Breaking Through Fear

• Terry L. Fossum

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Breaking through fear isn't about facing it head-on but looking past it to focus completely on your goals. Fears lose their power when we recognize them as False Experiences Appearing Real, giving us the courage to achieve what once seemed impossible.

• Fear is not the problem - letting fear stop you is
• Admiral Farragut's "Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead" mentality shows how to rise above chaos
• Fears are often "deer pretending to be wolves" - rarely as dangerous as we imagine
• Focus past the obstacle like martial artists breaking boards, not on the obstacle itself
• Common fears include criticism, poverty, failure, and even success
• Fear causes procrastination and paralysis, but we can choose not to let it control our future
• Success doesn't change who you fundamentally are, it amplifies your existing character
• Even worst-case scenarios like bankruptcy can become stepping stones to greater achievement

Your dream is more important than other people's opinions. Those affected by you reaching your goals matter more than those who criticize you. Head to terrielfosum.com to pick up your free gifts and learn more about breaking through your comfort zones.


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Speaker 1:

If you've been stuck in fear, self-doubt, your past failures and you're ready to break through your comfort zones to finally reach the pinnacle of success in every area of your life, then this podcast is for you. Here's your host, Terry L Fossum.

Speaker 2:

Bolt number one. The first bolt that we're going to blow is fear. From now on, fear will no longer hold you back from accomplishing your goals and dreams ever again. You'll learn not to face your fears but to look past your fears and focus on your goals, your dreams, your aspirations, and that, in doing so, your fears will melt away and never have control over you again. Let's get started.

Speaker 2:

The date was August 5th 1864, and the American Civil War was raging on. Admiral David G Farragut was tasked to attack a Confederate stronghold at Mobile Bay, the final critical point on the Gulf of Mexico. This was considered a suicide mission by many, as though it was guarded by a Confederate fleet Less than number. It was also guarded by not one but three great forts and the massive guns that went with them. Perhaps even worse, the bay was littered with mines, known then as torpedoes, that could sink a ship with one tragic blast. A weathered war veteran, admiral Farragut, ordered all of his ships to tie themselves two by two, a larger vessel with a smaller vessel, so if one were to hit a torpedo, the other one had a hope of keeping it from sinking. And so the attack began and the worst possible scenario happened immediately. One of the first ships that entered the bay, the Tecumseh, hit a torpedo and sank immediately. The smoke from the fire and the guns filled the entire bay, so much so that no one could see. From one ship to the next. Confusion, panic, screams of men filled the air. All of the ships stopped where they were for fear of being the next one to hit a torpedo and being sent to their watery graves. Below they were frozen in place, not taking any action at all, and they were being ripped apart by the guns of the forts and the iron-clad Tennessee picking them off like sitting ducks.

Speaker 2:

But Admiral Farragut did what every good leader would do he rose above the confusion, the mayhem, the dread that filled the men around him. In fact, literally he tied himself to the top of the mast of his ship, where he could see above all the smoke. And, seeing that his entire armada was frozen in fear, he set his mast at full and charged into the battle, yelling at the top of his lungs damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. The Armada followed his lead and charged into battle, taking the victory and beating the final stronghold for the Confederate Army. Damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead. Look past the challenges, look past, the fears Rise above all of the smoke and the mayhem.

Speaker 2:

See, having fear isn't the problem. We all have fears. I have fears, you have fears. Letting fear stop you is the problem. Now, fear can be debilitating. It can stop you in your tracks, it can keep you from moving forward on your goals and your dreams. It can control you, but only if you let it. Now there's a joke about a pirate captain that I love because it exhibits the fear we all truly have, whether we show it or not.

Speaker 2:

There once was a treasure ship filled with gold, sailing quickly as it could to its home port. But before it could reach it, it was spotted by a pirate ship, which began a hot pursuit. The first mate was frantic Captain. Captain, what should we do? The mighty captain gained his composure, cleared his throat and commanded run quickly to my cabin, my good man, and fetch me my red shirt. The first mate sprang away, standing tall on the upper deck, his bright red shirt, waving in the wind like a banner. The good captain gave the crew the courage to fight and fight. They did so voraciously, in fact, that the pirate ship quickly turned tail and ran. There was much rejoicing, huzzah, but a few days later they returned, this time with another pirate ship alongside of them, ready for the fight. Captain captain, now there are two ships. There's no way we can withstand that attack. What shall we do? And the captain composed himself, cleared his throat and barked the order First mate, fetch me my red shirt.

Speaker 2:

The battle ensued, and what a battle it was. Our good captain's treasure ship was boarded from both sides and the fighting was ferocious, but the captain's bright red shirt again stood out above all, and as his crew saw him fighting confidently, they fought on until both of the pirate ships were defeated, limping off into the sunset. The losses, however, were heavy and the crew forlorn. That night, over a well-deserved mug of rum, the first mate inquired of the captain Captain, why is it that, in the face of battle, you send me to fetch your red shirt? Well, the men must see me as a pillar of strength, he said. If I'm injured and the blood shows, they'll question that the red shirt disguises my injuries. Finally, the ship was mere days from port and finally the tension began to ease. But the captain was awoken by his trusty first mate, who was frantic again with fear. Captain captain, the sun rose this morning to show an entire armada, a pirate ship surrounding us from every directions. What do we do? What do we do? Terror drained the blood from our good captain's face, but he attempted to gain his composure and swallow hard. My good man, fetch me my brown pants.

Speaker 2:

You know, there's an old saying in the military there's no such thing as atheists in foxholes. And why is that? Because when people are trying to kill you, you find God. You can try to be as cavalier as you want, but the moment bullets start flying past your head and people start dropping around you, you start praying that you're not one of them. You may not be sure if there's a God or not, but just in case you're about to meet him, you'd best make your acquaintance ahead of time.

Speaker 2:

If you've ever been in sales, you know that sales calls are the same way. I've never prayed so much as right before a sales call. Oh God, please, don't let them be mean to me, don't let them be having a bad day, don't let them hate me, please, please, let me get a voicemail. If you've ever had to make sales calls, you know exactly what I'm talking about. And why is that? Whether you're in sales or not, we all have the same reaction to things that we're trepidatious about. So why? Because ahead of time, we run through all the worst case scenarios in our heads before it even starts. We just know our prospect's going to yell at us and say, no, it costs too much. Well, you know what we need to do. We need to put on our brown pants before we even pick up the phone.

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In fact, fear of rejection is the number one thing that takes most people out of the sales world and a lot of different goals as well. The number one thing fear of rejection. That fear, more than anything, keeps us from making our calls, keeps us from taking the action, the lifeblood of our profession. That fear, more than anything, keeps us from following up. We're afraid we'll be rejected. That fear, more than anything, keeps us from reaching our goals, keeps us from feeding our family, from setting up our retirement. Now, I know you've heard that before, but it's important to be reminded, or it still wouldn't be holding back so many people. It's not just in the sales world, it's in all aspects of our lives. Fear keeps us from trying new things, whether it's a new opportunity, going for that promotion or simply a new way of doing our jobs better. It keeps us from speaking up when we know we should.

Speaker 2:

Sometimes we have fear of failing, sometimes we have fear of succeeding. It's okay, put on your brown pants if you need to, but keep on fighting. Damn the torpedoes and full speed ahead. The torpedoes and full speed ahead. If we can conquer that fear, if we can blow that bolt, our odds of success go greatly up. So let me ask you this why does fear have so much power over us? Why do we let fear keep us from reaching our goals and achieving our dreams? Because we give it that power, we decide that it's going to affect us and our entire future.

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We go through all these scenarios in our heads about how bad it can be, how mean people are going to be, how they're going to hate us, how they're going to look at us like a lesser person because we tried to sell them something or make fun of us or turn us down, that we see ourselves failing before we even give ourselves a chance to succeed. Let me ask you this Be truthful, be honest. Does any of this sound familiar? It probably does, because it does for almost the entire population on the face of the earth. Great news is you're not alone. You're in really good company. But the question is how do we overcome this? Well, to begin with, we need to see fear for what it truly is.

Speaker 2:

Fear can be seen as an acronym False Experiences Appearing Real, f-e-a-r. False experiences appearing real. Now, what do I mean by that? Again, we are masters at creating scenarios in our heads. The problem is, it's usually the negative scenarios that we create, isn't it? Before we even make the phone call, we can hear the person turning us down. Before we attempt the ask, we picture all of the other things that'll stop us. We think of all the things that might go wrong as all the things that will go wrong, so we stall. Listen, see if you can relate to this. We check our emails, we look at what's online, we check our social media, we clean our desk, we talk to our co-workers or any other activity that keeps us from doing what we really need to do, and the truth is, most of the bad things we envisioned will never happen. False experiences appearing real. Let me tell you a story. This is a 100% true story.

Speaker 2:

I was camping on the top of a mountain in the middle of absolutely nowhere, and it was amazing. I had about a 270 degree view all around me, surrounded by nothing but miles and miles of snow-covered mountain ranges. After dark I was sitting by my fire and suddenly my two dogs alerted. Now I often take my dogs with me into the wilderness as an early warning system. See, I've been chased by a bear, I've been surrounded by wolves, I've been stalked by mountain lions more times than well, more times than I know. So it's nice to have a little warning when something is deciding if it wants to turn me into supper. And understand, these aren't tiny little dogs, these aren't little chihuahuas. They're both rescue dogs, pound puppies, and one of them is a golden retriever and the other one's a black lab pit bull mix. So they alert that there's something in the stand of trees near me, and then they both fight for the space underneath my chair, cowering in fear. Now these guys are supposed to be my protection. They're not right now.

Speaker 2:

So I get up to see what's stalking me this time, but all I have to see with is my tiny little headlamp, my little backpacking headlamp, and I'm pretty sure the batteries are running low even on that. So I go, stepping away from my safety of my fire and into the darkness, very slowly, step by step, I move further out and further out, away from the fire, and suddenly it happened I see two yellow eyes looking directly back at me. Now you know, often when you're in the wilderness you feel like you're being watched, and many times you are, and you don't even know it. When you're in the wilderness, you feel like you're being watched, and many times you are, and you don't even know it. But to actually see those eyes peering hungrily at you, that's a whole different feeling. Now, because I can't always depend on my protection, I carry with me a handgun. In fact it's a .44 Magnum six-shooter. So I carry a .44 Magnum specifically because it's one of the most powerful handguns on the face of the earth. You may remember Dirty Harry's gun, and I'd have a chance of it doing a little damage against a large predator such as a bear. At least it'd be better than

Speaker 2:

my fingernails. And now I have eyes looking at me. It's time to unsnap the holster. I take another step forward and another step. I take another step forward and another step, all the while peering around just hoping I don't see any more eyes looking at me and really hoping those that are decide to run the other way. I was disappointed on both counts. The first set of eyes watching me move, but don't move away, and they're joined by a second set of eyes. Time to pull my gun out of the holster just in case I take a couple more steps forward. And yet another set of eyes is watching me to my left. Time to pull the hammer back A few more steps forward. I have another set of eyes to my right and another to my left. Now it's really serious. This is real. There are five sets of eyes looking at me and I only have six bullets and I'm not that good of a shot. I bring my gun up to firing position, choosing one set of eyes as my first target and hoping the others don't charge me before I can swing around. And at that time my gun decides to malfunction. For some reason unbeknownst to me, it begins vibrating or shaking, as it were. I'm quite certain it wasn't me shaking, I'm sure it was the gun. Now I can tell you that at that time I was really tempted to run back to the theoretical safety of my fire and fight the dogs for room under

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that chair. But what happens when you run from a predator? That's right. You become prey. If you back down from a predator, it gains power over you. You need to stand up to it and show it that you have no fear. It's the exact same thing with your fear, whatever that fear may be, whether it's the fear of failure, the fear of success, the fear of being rejected or yelled at, or whatever it might be. If you back down from your fears, they gain power over you. You become more and more afraid of them. You procrastinate from doing what you need to do, rationalizing that it's things that need to be done anyway, but the truth is, you're not doing what you need to do because of fear. Fear makes you uncomfortable and we naturally shy away from things that make us uncomfortable. Does this make sense? Can you relate to what I'm talking about there? And I may have wanted to run back to the theoretical safety of that fire, but it's the worst thing you could possibly do to run back to the safety of your comfort zone, because your comfort zone is where people and dreams go to die. So I took another step forward, slowly, trying to watch all the eyes at once to see which would charge me first, though still not able to see clearly the animal behind the eyes with that tiny little headlamp and I took another step, and I took another step and then it happened. I was finally close enough to see my fearsome predator. It wasn't wolves at all, it was deer. That's right, it was a herd of deer. What were they going to do to me? Eat

Speaker 2:

my salad. False experiences appearing real. False experiences appearing real. False experiences appearing real. I was afraid of those eyes looking back at me in the wilderness. I visualized a wolf back, attacking me and killing me, ripping me to shreds. False experiences appearing real. Was it wolves surrounding me? No, it's rarely wolves surrounding us, even though it feels like it much of the time. It's usually just deer trying to act

Speaker 2:

like wolves. I want to say that again because I want to make sure that you internalize that it's usually just deer trying to act like wolves. Did those deer have power over me? Yes, they did. They did have power over me. That group of deer had power over me at first and if I would have stayed cowering by my fire in my comfort zone, they would have continued to have power over me. I would have never ventured out. I was afraid of them until I went up against them and saw them for what they were powerless over me because I chose to stand up against them. Damn the torpedoes full

Speaker 2:

speed ahead. Hypothermia acts in the same manner. Cold lulls you into submission. You finally reach a point where you're not cold anymore. You don't feel it. All you want to do is go to sleep. And if you go to sleep, you die. Be very careful. Fear can wear you down in the same way. Don't be lulled into submission. Don't cower in fear. Get out of your comfort zone

Speaker 2:

and live. I love the saying by John A Shedd a ship in the harbor is safe, but that's not what ships are built for. You're safe in your comfort zone, but that's not what you were made to do. You were made to conquer your fears. You were made to reach your goals and your dreams. That's why they were put in your heart to begin with. You've been given the vision, whatever your vision is, and you've also been given the strength to fulfill that vision. You've been given the resources or access to them. It may take work. It will take work, but you can do it. You may have to put on your brown pants and you will have to avoid some torpedoes and you will hit some torpedoes that will try to sink you and you have to sail on anyway, out of your harbor and into the great, unknown, open ocean of possibilities, dreams

Speaker 2:

and aspirations. Some people say to face your fears. I disagree. I absolutely disagree. I say to look past your fears. Now here's what I mean by that. If you face your fears, that means you focus on them. If you focus on them, they become larger, they become more real. Don't focus on your fears, focus

Speaker 2:

past them. In martial arts, board breaking, we don't focus on the board itself, we focus every ounce of our being a few inches past the board. We don't focus on the obstacle, we focus past it. Right, take a second to visualize that. Picture yourself about to karate, chop, as they call it, a board. Okay, to begin with, focus on the board itself. Now, that board is constructed not to break. It's hard and it is certainly harder than your hand. You could very easily break bones on it. At the very least, you're going to get a really big bruise, some scrapes and maybe some splinters. I've seen it happen. I've had it happen. Mentally. What will happen is that if you're focused on the board, you're going to automatically stop at the board. That's where your focus is. You're actually giving the board more power. On the other hand, picture yourself focusing about eight inches past

Speaker 2:

the board. Focus on the goal. The goal isn't the board itself. The goal is somewhere past the board. The board is just something you've got to get through, that you've got to break through to get to your goal. If you focus on the goal strongly enough, the board loses its power. You actually blow past the board and you barely feel it. Damn the torpedoes full speed ahead. It's the same thing with our

Speaker 2:

own goals. Too often we focus on our fears. We focus on the rejection or the disappointment or whatever it might be that we're afraid of. By focusing on those, we give them power. We need to focus instead completely on the goal itself. Focus on how important it is that you reach your goal. Build your passion about how it will affect your life. How will it affect others' lives? How might it be bad if you don't reach your goal? Whose lives will be affected? Then Feel that emotion and let it give you strength. How good will it be when you reach your goal. How will that affect your life and the lives of others? Internalize that feeling. If you focus on your fear less and your goals more, your fears will fade away. They

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really will. Here's an exercise for you to do right now, unless you're driving. Pick an object across the room from you Now, put your hand in front of you at arm's length, close a fist and stick your thumb up in the air in between you and the object. Basically, give it a thumbs up. Got that? Are you doing it? If not, this whole exercise won't do any good at all. I don't care if you're in the airport listening to this or some public place. Get over your fear of being embarrassed. Those people aren't going to have any decision on what your future turns out to be, but you never know what one exercise might, so you got to

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do it. Okay, now, with the object behind your thumb, focus on your thumb. Can you see your thumb? Of course you can. It's crystal clear, big and bold. Now, keep focusing on your thumb. But can you see the object behind it? Keep focusing on your thumb. Can you see the object? Yeah, you can see it's there, but it's out of focus. You can't really see it. Now, keep your thumb where it's at, but now stare past it and focus on the object. Can you see the object clearly now? Absolutely, it's as clear as can be. But wait a minute, your thumb is still in the way. How can you possibly see the minute your thumb is still in the way? How can you possibly see the object if your thumb is still in the way? Because you're not focused on your thumb, you're focused on the object. I think you're already with me on

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this one. If we focus on the problems, our goal gets out of focus. We can't see it well, it fades away. If we focus exclusively on our goal, then all of the would-be obstacles fade out of the way. They still exist. They just don't get in the way anymore. They just don't hold us back anymore. If you look past your fears at your goals and focus on how important those are, your fears will lessen, perhaps even fade

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away completely. I once worked with a man in direct sales who was a former US Special Forces guy. Us Special Forces you can't come up with a tougher group of people and get this. This man used to jump out of perfectly good airplanes so he could give the enemy a very bad day, and he was a very big man, very intimidating man. Until it came time to pick up the phone and make sales calls, then he'd freeze completely. He was so focused on his fear of rejection that he lost focus on his goals. He was so focused on his thumb that he couldn't see what was past it. Come on, man, put on your brown pants. Damn the torpedoes Full

Speaker 2:

speed ahead. I was on a jungle survival reality television show and one of the challenges you're going to love this one. One of the challenges was some really really nasty things that we had to eat. Was some really really nasty things that we had to eat? Now, my partner was a novice who told me right away she automatically threw up when she ate things she didn't like. Now here's the problem If one of us threw up or refused to eat it, we were automatically disqualified from the challenge and sent to an elimination round. Now one of the delectable delights that we had to eat was about a two inch larva a two inch live larva and it was fat and it was juicy. When you looked at this thing squirming in front of you, it made your stomach turn. Knowing that when you put it in your mouth and bit down, you're going to kill this thing In your mouth and its guts were going to squirt all over your tongue. That's enough to make anyone gag. Now I watched my friend and fellow survivalist, a US Air Force survival instructor, attempt it before me. He began gagging, his face became flushed, his eyes were watering, nearly to the point of crying. He, a military survival instructor, barely got that nasty thing down without throwing it back

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up eat. She's going to talk about how nasty it is and try to get you to look at it. She's going to ask you how bad it looks. She's going to try to psych you out. Whatever you do, don't let her Focus only on chewing and swallowing and on winning a quarter of a million dollars. Focus on the kids for that charity that you support watching this episode and cheering you on. Don't even be focused anywhere around here. Be focused on those kids. What she didn't know is that I was telling myself the same thing. Okay, I'd eaten larvae before and other nasty things, but never as big as this one. In fact, I told myself I'd never go on a reality TV show like this because I didn't want to have to eat

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nasty things. When it was our turn, we both quickly put our grubs in our mouths. When I chomped down on mine, it literally squirted guts out of my mouth and onto the table in front of me. The host made some comment. I just kept on chewing. Things were going great until I realized that I was automatically not eating the head. I'd stuff that in my cheek without thinking of it, just like you would gristle from meat or any part of some food you didn't want to eat and you were planning on spitting out later. The problem was spitting it out wasn't an option

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for me. When I realized I was doing this, I remembered what was in my mouth. I remembered seeing that head on, that two-inch-long fat larva with all of those teeth-like things and that round circular mouth, and how disgusting it was. The thought of it came crashing back in as I tried to swallow. I gagged. This might be it. This one fear, no matter how legitimate it was, may keep me from winning. Take back control. I said to myself. Don't focus on the head, focus on the goal, focus on being done with this, feeling proud, focus on not losing the event. That did the trick. That made me mad enough to get back on track and focus on the goal. A couple more chews. I was able to swallow it. I even licked the juice that had squirted out of my mouth onto the table just to prove to myself that I was back in charge, my partner, the one who was worried about throwing up. She had done hers, and half the time as me, and she was cheering me on the

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whole time. Fear causes procrastination. It can even cause complete paralysis. We've all been governed by fear at some point in the past. The difference is are we going to let it control us in the future? Are we going to focus on fear and give it power, or focus past our fears and put them behind us where they belong? Listen, courage is not the absence of fear. It's acting in spite

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of fear. You've probably heard the story of Bethany Hamilton, the 13-year-old surfer whose arm was bitten off by a tiger shark. Can you imagine the fear she must have had even thinking about going back in the water? I can't speak for you, but I wouldn't have had even thinking about going back in the water. I can't speak for you, but I wouldn't have even gone near a bathtub after that. See, fear easily could have stopped her and everyone would have understood right. But she took control over that fear. She refused to let it define her actions and hold her back from her goals and her dreams and the things she loves doing. Get this she was back in the water within 30 days after the shark attack. 30 days, within two years, she won first place in the Explorer Women's Division of the NSSA

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National Championships. So remind me again what are you afraid of? What's been holding you back? Is it as bad as a shark biting off your arm and almost killing you? No, then we really have no excuse, do we? Okay, it's final exercise time. This is where the rubber meets the road. This is the action step. Grab a pen, and paper or electronic device, go ahead. If you pause this recording, I'll wait as long as you need. Okay, now do you have it? So what are some of the fears

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you have? An article in Business Insider dated February 27, 2016, entitled the Seven Most Common Fears Business People Must Overcome lists the following Number one fear of criticism. Number two fear of poverty. Number three fear of old age and death. Number four fear of failure. Five fear of offending others. Six looking foolish. And seven success. Let me say those again so you can write those down Number one fear of criticism. Two fear of poverty. Three fear of old age and death. Four fear of failure. Five fear of offending others. Six fear of looking foolish. And seven fear of success. Now read back over

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that list. Have any of these or others held you back in the past? Which ones Was it? Fear of failure? The fear of looking foolish? Possibly the fear of poverty? You know, if I go out on this limb I might lose it all. Take some time for self-reflection and really think about this. Be specific who are you afraid of looking foolish to? Who are you afraid of offending? Who are you afraid of disappointing? Why were you afraid of failing so much? Were you worried about disappointing yourself or someone else? In what way did these fears hold you back? To help you in your self-examination, let's look at a couple

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of them. The fear of failure is such a big one that I'm devoting an entire section to failure. And by the time you listen to that one, you're going to love failure. You won't stop worrying about it. You're going to love it when it happens. You really are. We'll listen to that one. You're going to love failure. You won't stop worrying about it. You're going to love it when it happens. You really are. We'll get to that

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section later. So let's look at the fear of success. To some people, that one might sound a little foolish, but to others, it's enough to hold them back. Now, what are they afraid of? First of all, we have an innate desire to maintain status quo, to keep things as they are. Often we're comfortable in our current situation and we're afraid that if anything changes, we'll become uncomfortable. We're afraid that success might change us, that money might change us. We're afraid of who we might become if we

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become successful. After all, successful people are jerks, right? Okay, listen closely. Successful people are not jerks. I know they're portrayed that way in the movies often, but that's just Hollywood talking. It's not based on reality. As my friend Jeff Max says, if they're a rich jerk, I guarantee you they were a jerk before they made any money at all. I guarantee you they were a poor jerk, and it's true. I know a lot of very successful people and most of them almost all of them are the most kind, personable people you've ever met. That's how they got to where

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they're at. So if you're worried about becoming a jerk, if you're worried about success, that it might change you, it might change your surroundings. Don't worry about it, you'll grow into it. If you're a good person now, you'll be a good person then. You'll just be a good person with money. Another concern for those with fear of success is that their friends will become jealous and not want to be their friends anymore. You know, I'm here to tell you right now. If they're unhappy because you become successful, they were never your friends anyway. You know

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that one. Next, let's look at the fear of criticism. The question isn't are you going to be criticized? The question is, which is worse getting criticized or not reaching your goal? Are the people who criticize you going to put food on your table? Will they take care of you in your old age? Will they help your children go to school, feed those starving children in the underdeveloped country that you care about, or whatever will be affected by you not reaching your goal? You need to focus past that thumb that's sticking up that criticism, and focus on the goal, because it's going to happen. You're going to be criticized. People aren't going to like what you're doing or how you're doing it, or they'll be jealous or competitive or just feel like they're empowered to sound off on the internet, because that's what everybody does this day. But if your goal is more important, then develop the attitude that your dream is more important than their opinion. The people who would be affected by you reaching your goal are more important to you than those who would criticize you. Recognize that they can't hold you back from achieving your goal. They have no power over you. Their opinions don't. How they view you doesn't, nothing does. You're going to move on, whether they like it or not, and they may not believe in you, but you do, and that's all

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that matters. Okay, now on to the next one, the fear of poverty. Let's take this one right up to the extreme, to the worst case scenario. You fail, you go bankrupt. Wow, that's a heck of a worst case scenario. Hey, it happened to Gary Heavan, the CEO of Curves International. He was a millionaire by 25 and, due to bad business decisions, declared bankruptcy five years later. Wow, man, that's terrible. What a horrible end to this story. Except it wasn't the end to his story. He could have quit, but instead he learned from his mistakes, started over and is now

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a billionaire. But it also happened to a guy by the name of Bill Bartman. See, he became a billionaire as founder and CEO of the debt collection firm Commercial Financial Services. A billionaire, that's great right. Except for due to some bad and allegedly illegal business practices, he lost it all. Wow, a billion dollars. His greatest fear came true? Well, not really See. After he was acquitted of the charges he pressed on, he wrote books that became bestsellers and then opened a new debt collection company that's highly successful today. Look, these sort of stories

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are endless. So for Gary Bill, so many others, the worst case scenario actually became the best case. It's in part because of those failures that they ultimately became successful. They didn't let their fear of poverty hold them back, and it actually happened to them. Is it going to happen to you? I doubt it. Be smart about how you develop your goals and how you go about achieving them. Be smart with your finances along the way. Develop a business plan, set up a safety net and just know in the back of your mind that, even if the worst did happen, that's still not the final chapter in your book. It's just the one that people are going to be the most impressed about in

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your memoir. So what are you going to do about your fears? I mean that as a real question. What are you going to do about it? Hopefully, by now you realize there's no reason in the world for you to let fear hold you back anymore. You recognize your fears for what they are false experiences appearing real. They're not wolves, they're deer. You're not going to focus on your fears anymore. You're going to focus past them, with all eyes on your goal. You're going to embrace your new mantra damn the torpedoes, full speed ahead, sail out of the theoretical safety of your harbor, put on your brown pants if you have to, and when it comes to fear, you're going to blow that bolt.

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So that's it for today's episode of the Comeback Chronicles. Head on over to Apple Podcasts or wherever you listen, and subscribe to the show. If you're ready to get over your fears, self-doubts and past failures and break through your comfort zone to reach the pinnacle of success in every area of your life, head over to terrielfawesomecom to pick up your free gifts and so much more. We'll see you next week on the Comeback Chronicles podcast.