Alan Weiss writes in the Million Dollar Consulting Mindset newsletter:
Too often our personal “driving force” isn’t composed of our strengths and passions but rather of our fears. We are afraid to confront an issue; to start a conversation; to pick up the phone; to try something new. We are “driven” in another direction entirely, to procrastinate, make excuses, abandon a plan, endure a poor relationship.
As the same poles in a magnet repel, we are “repelled” in a different direction, antipodal to our intended goals. “Fight (our fears) or flight” results in flight. This makes us not only unsuccessful, but also uninteresting.
As with any problem, to remove it we must find the cause. And in this case the cause is almost always an ego problem, poor self-esteem, “baggage” being borne for no rational reason at all. We fear rejection, we fear a “loss,” we fear ridicule, we fear “defeat,” we fear fear itself. Our fears are, of course, irrational, because they create a far worse future than any pain in confronting the obstacles would actually produce.
Josh Richards 