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MaxLife News
Volume 10, Issue 12
August 19, 2010
In This Issue

Now-Later-Never

Is Fear Normal?

Gary Barnes

Gary Barnes is a global premier business, money and relationship coach; an author, and an international speaker. He is the founder of Gary Barnes International, dedicated to helping people create wealth in all areas of life. 

Gary believes anyone can lead an empowered life, no matter what their circumstances are. He has built three successful businesses from the ground up. To do this, he developed principles and tools that helped him increase his business 2000% over a three-year period.
 
He also understands dealing with adversity - he has fought life- threatening illness and won. He believes that your worst day is the day you meet the man or woman you could have been.  It's a choice.  That's why he's dedicated his life to helping people maximize their lives and their businesses through workshops, teleconferences and individual coaching. His mission in life is to make a difference and to empower everyone he connects with.
Bubba's Networking Corner
When someone comes to mind, there is usually a reason. Give them a call and let them know you were thinking about them. You will truly stand out when you call for no other reason than to see how they are doing.

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Greetings!

I hope you have had a great summer and, as we head into the fall, you are as excited as I am to finish 2010 strong!

My article this month looks at the question of how to prioritize your contact follow-up. This process has allowed me to develop business very quickly with little pressure on my contact or me.
 
In September, we are back to our normal schedule for two issues per month of Maxlife News. Watch for a very special guest contributor in the next couple of months.

To your success,


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Now-Later-Never

You have just come back from a very successful networking evening event and you have twenty-five brand new business card leads. As you drift off to sleep, you know that tomorrow will be a really productive day. The following morning when you get to your desk you still feel great, but then it happens. You look at the new cards sitting on your desk and you feel the first twinge of uncertainty of who to call first. You begin to wonder if this is the best time to call and look for another activity to do, promising yourself you'll get to the calls soon.

Does this story sound familiar?


Is Fear Normal?
Karen Schatzby Karen Schatz, Virtually With You

Interesting question, right?  This question was asked in Gary's MaxLife Group Coaching call last month and it had me thinking ... is fear normal?  Lord knows we all experience fear at some point in our lives and it can feel "normal" because it hangs around like a bad habit but how do we really feel about fear?

For some, fear is debilitating.  It can incapacitate our lives and keep us from feeling competent and productive.  I know people who actually "disappear" from life - meaning they retreat within themselves.  Many years ago, I felt this kind of debilitating fear.  It was the kind that caused me to experience anxiety attacks where I literally couldn't move out of my bed some mornings and I felt like I had ice water running through my veins.  With the help of a trained professional, I was able to work through my fears back then but, to this day, I remember vividly how incapacitating it was.  And let me assure you that I don't make light of how scary these episodes feel.  If you are in this place in your life, I encourage you to seek professional care.  There is hope to move through and out of this place of debilitation.

For others, fear is an opportunity to discover our strength and character.  Although most of us don't realize this until we come out on the other side - looking back at where we started versus where we have arrived - and then have that "aha" moment.  We recognize the courage we had to muster in order to persevere through the fear and the challenges but what an amazing feeling we can have when we experience that "aha" moment.  Funny thing about pushing through this fear ... it (ironically) gives us the courage to push through the next fear-provoking situation and, when we have done it enough times, it becomes easier to face fearful situations each time.

I think it's important to understand the purpose of fear in order to not be afraid of it.  Fear is natural and protective. We all are afraid of something and often with good reason. Many times we ignore or rationalize away our fear, not listening to the real message it is sending us.  As a result, we often find ourselves in situations or conditions that help us to realize the worst fears we have. Careful inward observation of our fears, where we seek the root of the fears, may be the single best way to conquer them.  Learning to listen to our fears teaches us how to honor our intuition.  Intuition is that "insightful" part of ourselves that helps us to know the truth about a situation.  It's a wise, all-knowing instinctual knowledge that comes from our core.  Intuition is not something we can manufacture.

We naturally develop the skill to protect ourselves from perceived danger.  Take, for example, snakes.  Snakes can be helpful to us by killing rodents and other vermin. Snakes can also kill people. We couldn't say all snakes are bad, could we? If we take the time to examine our fear of snakes, we would find that our fear may have been based on the fact that we just didn't know which snakes are helpful and which are deadly. Running away from the snake removes the snake from our view and temporarily relieves the anxiety caused by our fear, but it doesn't help us to really get a handle on our fear and, in fact, may help us to develop some really unhealthy skills to cope with them.

Unless the situation you're in sends all kinds of red "danger" flags up and requires immediate action, then you probably have time to take a step back and observe you're situation and gain a clearer perspective on it.  Allow yourself to disconnect from the emotional tie to your fear and look at the situation you're faced with from every angle.  Pretending that the situation is not yours but belongs to a friend may allow you to look at it more objectively.  Talk to trusted family, friends or confidants about your situation so you can gain a different vantage point.  Then allow the answers to come to you about how to move through the challenges.  The answers can come through the advice of others and they may come through your faith and the knowledge that is imparted to you by a higher power.  For me, I benefit from both of these sources but the latter one is the one that gives me an inner peace I can't get from anyone else.