Fear is the greatest obstacle to learning. Mike Tyson was one of the most feared boxers in boxing history. How he overcame fear and learnt to be one of the best heavyweight boxers ever is outlined in his book, Iron Ambition: My Life With Cus D’Amato.
This is an extract that all leaders in every organisation should pay heed to, when it comes to overcoming fear.
Fear is the greatest obstacle to learning. But fear is your best friend. Fear is like fire. If you learn to control it, you let it work for you. If you don’t learn to control it, it’ll destroy you and everything around you. Like a snowball on a hill, you can pick it up and throw it or do anything you want with it before it starts rolling down. But once it rolls down and gets so big, it’ll crush you to death.
So one must never allow fear to develop and build up without having control over it, because if you don’t, you won’t be able to achieve your objective. or save your life.
Consider a deer crossing an open field. On approaching the forest, suddenly instinct tells it there’s danger there. It might be a mountain lion there. Once this happens nature begins its survival function where the adrenal glands inject into the bloodstream, causes the heart to beat faster, which in turn enables the body to perform extraordinary feats of agility and strength. Where normally the deer can leap fifteen feet, the adrenaline enables the first leap to be forty or fifty feet, enough to escape from the present danger.
The human being is no different. When confronted with a situation of fear of getting hurt or intimidation, the adrenaline speeds up the heart.
Under the influence of adrenal glands people can perform extraordinary feats of strength.
What’s the difference between a hero and a coward? There is no difference between a hero and a coward in what they feel.
It’s what they do that makes them different.
The hero and the coward feel exactly the same but you have to have the discipline to do what a hero does and to keep yourself from doing what the coward does.
Your mind is not your friend. You have to fight with your mind, control it, put it in its place. You have to control your emotions. Fatigue in the ring is ninety percent psychological. It’s just the excuse of a man who wants to quit.
The night before a fight, you won’t sleep. Don’t worry, the other guy didn’t either. You’ll go to the weigh-in, he’ll look much bigger than you and calmer, like ice, but he’s burning up with fear inside. Your imagination is going to credit him with abilities he doesn’t have. Remember, motion relieves tension. The moment the bell rings, and you come in contact with each other, suddenly your opponent seems like everybody else, because now your imagination has dissipated. The fight itself is the only reality that matters. You have to learn to impose your will and take control over that reality.”
If you want to be heavyweight champion of the world, you had to start living the life of a heavyweight champion.
The goal was to build confidence in the fighter. Confidence was everything. But in order to possess that confidence, you had to test yourself and put yourself on the line. It doesn’t come from osmosis, out of the air. It comes from consistently going over the visualisation in your mind to help you develop the confidence that you want to possess.
“Every day in every way, I am getting better and better.”
If you’d like to chat about your business and overcoming obstacles that may get in your way to:
- Making even more money,
- Having more time for yourself
- Having a really productive and effective team
Then please get in touch. Don’t be fearful!
pete@peakbusinesscoaching.co.uk
Ph: 07468 339 450
www.peakbusinesscoaching.co.uk
