Newsletter

Maximum Living Weekly e-zine
01 May, 2012
Issue 07

Welcome!

Welcome to Issue number 7 of the Maximumliving Newsletter. This issue deals with the subject of fear and hesitation. I hope that this issue will once again add value to your life and inspire and motivate you to live life to the maximum.

If you’ve enjoyed this edition of the Maximumliving Newsletter and found it to be valuable, then please help my by forwarding it to your friends, family and associates. It would be very much appreciated. If they would like to subscribe, have them visit our website for easy and convenient sign-up.

Warm regards,

Arnold Groenewald

Many Thanks!

In this Issue…

1. Maximize your life – weekly article by Maximum Living

2. Great article from the experts

3. Monthly quote and comments

4. Inspirational poem     

5. More Information

 

 

1. Maximize your life – weekly article by Maximum Living

Hesitation leads to devastation by Arnold Groenewald

Hesitation leads to devastation. That was the main principle of an article I read recently on mountain biking. It is one of the most important principles when riding a technical mountain bike route. If you decided to ride the difficult, sandy or rocky or muddy section of the route instead of pushing or carrying your bike, like many of the others, you must “take it by the horns” and go through it. If you hesitate, even just for a moment, you can come down hard and fast, and yes, depending on the circumstances, the result could easily be devastating. You could break an arm or a leg or seriously damage your bike. Why? Because you hesitated.

That one phrase seemed to get stuck in my mind and I have been meditating on it ever since. It is also true in life. Hesitation can lead to devastation there too. You need to take that opportunity. If you have decided to go after a specific goal, and you have counted the cost that it is going to cost you to achieve that goal, and considered all the pros and cons and decided that it is a worthwhile goal, then you must commit yourself one hundred percent to it. You need to take that risk.

Nothing in life that is worthwhile comes without risks. You need to set your sails and go out into the deep waters. As someone once said: “A ship in port is safe, but that’s not what ships are built for”. And neither were you. You were made by God to explore all the possibilities of life and discover your own world. Yes the chance is there that the storms of life will wreck your boat, but you’ve got to take the chance, you’ve got to turn your boat into the direction of the deep waters and leave the shore because it is the only way. As Christopher Columbus, the great discoverer said: “You can never cross the ocean unless you have the courage to lose sight of the shore”

Although there are more I just want to mention three things that can lead to hesitation:

1.  Doubt

You have made up your mind to go for the big challenge in front of you, but suddenly, after you have given the first few steps, doubt sets in. You doubt your abilities, you wonder whether you will be able to see it through. It begins with a thought, and then, if you allow it to grow, it develops into an emotion of fear, and suddenly you become anxious.

We all have those voices inside us that tell us that we are not good enough, that we are not going to make it. We need to shut them down and take control of ourselves and tune in to that other voice inside us that will convince us that we are good enough. We need to do that because it can lead to hesitation and as we know by now hesitation can lead to devastation. It is William Shakespeare who said: “Our doubts are traitors, and they make us loose what we oft might win, by fearing to attempt.”

2.  Fear

If you don’t take control over your doubt thoughts it will very quickly lead to fear. Fear can be a very destructive force. It can stop you from even starting out in the first place. It is true that there is a risk involved in everything that you start, and that implies that there is a possibility that you might fail. In fact most of the important things in life require taking a risk and the nature of a risk is that it doesn’t always work out. But you have to have faith. Faith is the opposite of fear. Fear and faith cannot exist together, if you start believing that you can do it, fear will disappear.

Someone once said you spell faith RISK. The risk is still there that you can fail, but it is impossible to succeed if you don’t have the courage to try. As Wayne Gretzky a well known ice-hockey player said, he missed hundred percent of the shots that he never took. You can only succeed if you do it. Fear can make you hesitate and that can lead to the devastation of your dreams and goals.

The only real cure for fear is courage. Do it afraid, feel the fear, but do it anyway. If you keep on doing the thing you fear, the death of fear is certain. The life that you are living will expand or shrink in proportion to the measure of courage you display.

3.  Procrastination

The longer you wait before you start doing what you need to do the bigger is the chance that your doubts and fears will get the better of you. Procrastination leads to hesitation, and hesitation leads to devastation. You have to take action immediately after you have made the decision to do it. The longer you wait the more difficult it becomes. A parachute instructor once said that it isn’t the jump that is bad for the inexperienced jumpers, it’s the waiting to jump that gets to them.

The law of diminishing intent states that for every second that you delay doing what you have decided to do, the chances become slimmer that you will actually do it. Don’t waste time, start today and give it everything you’ve got, because you’ve got what it takes.

Finally, there is one other important principle in successfully negotiating a difficult obstacle on a mountain bike. Speed is your friend.  In most cases it is much easier to negotiate the difficult section of the route if you do it with speed. The same applies for most things in life. Don’t hesitate, if you have made the commitment, do it with everything you have and the risk of your dreams and goals being devastated becomes infinitely smaller.

Arnold Groenewald

 

2. Great article from the experts         

Putting Fear in Its Place by Jack Canfield

As you move forward on your journey from where you are to where you want to be, you are going to have to confront some of your fears. Fear is a just a natural part of living.

Whenever you start a new project, take on a new venture, or put yourself out there, there’s usually some fear involved. Unfortunately, most people let fear stop them from taking the necessary steps to achieve their dreams.

Confronting your fears is a very necessary step in achieving success.

There is simply no other way.

Fear can be a helpful emotion, as it tells you when you need to be extra careful, keenly aware, and cautious. Fear is not an emotion that is telling you to stop. In fact, it’s telling you just the opposite!

Acknowledging your feelings of fear helps you know when you are stepping out of your comfort zone. It points your awareness to areas where you could improve and grow.

Successful people also feel fear. Yet they don’t let it get in the way of anything they want to do—or have to do. They understand that fear is something to be acknowledged, experienced, and taken along for the ride. They have learned, as author Susan Jeffers suggests in her must-read book, to “Feel the fear and do it anyway”

Fear is more of a signal that we should stay alert and cautious. We can feel fear, but we can still move forward anyway.

Think of fear as a 2-year-old child who doesn’t want to go grocery shopping with you. Because you must buy groceries, you’ll just have to take the two year old with you. Fear is no different. In other words, acknowledge that fear exists but don’t let it keep you from doing important tasks.

Also realize that so many of our fears are self-created. We might frighten ourselves by fantasizing negative outcomes to any activity we might pursue or experience. Luckily, because we are the ones doing the fantasizing, we are also the ones who can stop the fear and bring ourselves into a state of clarity and peace by facing the actual facts, rather than giving in to our imaginations.

If a fear is too great for you to overcome, try breaking it down into smaller challenges.

Try starting out by doing the parts of the project that don’t scare you so much. You need to give a speech in front of a large group? Try giving your speech in front of a small group of people who care for you. Work your way up until you are able to feel the fear but still move forward. As you do you will build your confidence and eventually you won’t feel fear surrounding those issues because you’ll have done them enough to count it as a skill.

As you move toward your goal, don’t attach yourself so much to the outcomes.

Keep moving toward your dream doing everything you can to create what you want, then let it go and see what shows up. Sometimes God will have a better idea in mind for you and present a better opportunity when you were expecting something completely different. Don’t let fear keep you from moving forward. Even if the horrible outcome that you imagined happens, God will always provide for you another way to succeed. So be on the look out!

Trust that no matter what occurs, you are smart enough and strong enough to keep looking for, and attracting, opportunities.

If you are willing to try new experiences in spite of your fears, then more new experiences will present themselves for you to try. And the more you try, the more you are likely to succeed!

Jack Canfield, America’s #1 Success Coach, is founder of the billion-dollar book brand Chicken Soup for the Soul© and a leading authority on Peak Performance and Life Success. If you’re ready to jump-start your life, make more money, and have more fun and joy in all that you do, get your FREE success tips from Jack Canfield now at: www.FreeSuccessStrategies.com

 

3. Monthly Quote and Comment

“The true meaning of courage is to be afraid and then, with your knees knocking and your heart racing, to step out anyway – even when that step makes sense to nobody but you” – Oprah Winfrey

The biggest reason why we sometimes hesitate is fear. Fear of failure. Fear that we might not have what it takes. And if you allow it, that fear will immobilize you and keep you from overcoming the challenge or obstacle. That’s why you have to trade fear for courage and step out in faith.

I like what Joyce Meyer says about fear. She says that fear is faith in what the devil says. It is the wrong use of the imagination, a thought about what might go wrong. Fear is False Evidence Appearing Real. There is no guarantee that the thing you fear will happen, just as there is no guarantee that you will be successful. That’s why you have to step out in faith and decide who you are going to listen to.

 

4. Inspirational Poem

See it Through

When you’re up against a trouble,
Meet it squarely, face to face;
Lift your chin and set your shoulders,
Plant your feet and take a brace.

When it’s vain to try to dodge it,
Do the best that you can do;
You may fail, but you may conquer,
See it through!
Black may be the clouds about you
And your future may seem grim,
But don’t let your nerve desert you;
Keep yourself in fighting trim.
If the worst is bound to happen,
Spite of all that you can do,
Running from it will not save you,
See it through!

Even hope may seem but futile,
When with troubles you’re beset,
But remember you are facing
Just what other men have met.
You may fail, but fall still fighting;
Don’t give up, whate’er you do;
Eyes front, head high to the finish.
See it through!

Edgar Albert Guest

 

This is it for this the seventh edition of the Maximumliving E-zine. May you have a fabulous month!
Arnold Groenewald

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