Persistence and the Fear of Criticism

If you ask anyone “What do you desire more than anything?”, most cannot tell you. Some might say, money, happiness, or security. Others might say fame or power. But I will bet you that very few, if any at all, can tell you HOW they intend of achieving these goals. It is through Persistence. Persistence is often derailed by the Fear of Criticism. In my last blog post, I spoke about the act of procrastination as spoken by Napoleon Hill. Part of procrastination belongs to The Fear of Criticism. Everyone from time to time has this fear. This fear will destroy ambition. It will destroy your desire. It can pull apart everything you wish to achieve. What you have to do is to take hold of this fear. Harness it and control it. 

“Most ideas are stillborn and need the breath of life injected into them through definite plans of immediate action.” – Napoleon Hill 

This is where Persistence comes in. You must have a definite plan, backed by persistence. 

Here are the steps to guide you on the path of persistence and overcome fear: 

• See it. See your goal. See yourself obtain it. Keep this in your mind, all day, every day. 
• Forget Perfection. Perfection is an unrealistic goal. Aim for the best you can be at this point in time. 
• Take Continuous Action. Do not stop trying to achieve your goal. 
• Rewrite your Inner voice. Remove the negative dialogue. Cast out negative influences. 
• Encouragement through friends and family. 

• Turn Failure into a new path. There is no such thing as failure. 
• Maintain Focus. As you cast aside your fears, do not lose focus of your desires. 
• Avoid Procrastination. Procrastination is only a waste of your time. You can never get this time back. 
• Self Confidence may be the hardest thing to come by. You may think you have to be the best at something. You do not. If you are a teacher, people learn from your experiences more than the knowledge you have of the particular subject you are teaching. This is of much more value. 
• Never Give Up. (Never Surrender 🙂 

I will be completely frank with you. Over the few years I have been alive, I have come to know one thing for certain. If you leave with nothing from this blog post, take only this one thing. No one knows what they are doing. “Fake it till you make it.” This is a real thing. The ones that make it are the ones that are persistent. A positive attitude goes a long way. Having support around you. Removing yourself from the negative. Do not let fear take hold of you. During our lives, there are people everywhere tell us what we cannot do, and even what we cannot accomplish. When someone criticizes you, it is hard ever actually about you. Usually, these people feel threatened or intimidated that you have the courage to stand and aspire to reach your goals. 

Your time is now! It is time to overcome the fear of criticism and unleash yourself to your full potential unto the world. See what you can give. See your potential. Choose to break the chains of fear and share your story. 

Do you have a story of overcoming the fear of criticism? Let me know in the comments below. We ALL have fears. We ALL have uncertainties. You CAN overcome them. 

-Michael