As promised, here's valuable information on managing your fears!

ICE-ing your fears.
Like most entrepreneurs, I struggled to make my business more and more successful. At times, I encountered numerous obstacles which I feared were threatening my dreams. At other times I knew exactly what I had to do, but just couldn't bring myself to do it. For instance, I remember at one point being afraid to send out too many advance copies of my first book, This Game of Exposure for fear that some more established person or company would simply steal my idea and run me out of business. However, once I learned the four truths of fears, I developed my own technique for conquering them: ICE-ing. To ICE your fears, you must first (I)dentify, then (C)onfront, and finally (E)liminate them. Let's take a closer look at each step.

Identifying your fears. The first step in conquering your fears is to be honest with yourself. Once you've admitted to yourself that fear is the reason you are not doing what you should be doing, then ask yourself, what am I afraid of? Try putting into words exactly what the consequences are that you fear. Don't be surprised if at first you can't come up with any real reasons. With practice you'll become more aware of what's really going on in your head, and as you keep questioning each reason, you'll get to the bottom line. Forcing yourself to put your feelings and fears into words helps you to make sense of them, and to understand yourself.

Confronting your fears. Confronting your fear means accepting that you have them, and accepting what they say about you. In other words, you may not like that you are the type of person who is frightened by what others think of you, and so you'd rather remain a definite failure than a possible success. But, unless you accept these truths about yourself, you won't be able to get to the next level.

Eliminating your fears. The basis of fear is uncertainty. You are fearful of what you perceive might happen, but you do not actually know what will happen. Fear is how we react when we "don't know". Your goal then, in conquering your fears, is to find the answer to the "what will happen if..?" question. Once you realize this, you'll realize that only one thing can accomplish this: Action! Action eliminates fear. Remember, we said that your fear is based on the fact that you don't know. So, once you take action, you'll immediately "know" what the consequences are. You may fail, or you may succeed, but at least you'll know the answer to the "what will happen if....?" question. The fear has been eliminated. If you don't take action, you'll live the rest of your life with that single burning question: What if I had? Remember: A fear avoided lingers for eternity. A fear confronted dies in a second.

Now none of this is intended to imply that it's going to be easy. Being an entrepreneur is about taking risks. Risk taking requires courage. Despite what many people believe, however, courage is not the absence of fear, it is action despite the fear! The fears never stop coming. As you conquer one, another appears to take its place. What you can change, however, is how you react to them. Eventually, what others will consider your fearless approach to life, you'll know simply as a commitment to action in the face of fear. You wont be eliminating your fears, you'll be eliminating your fear of your fears! And that, future Hip Hop Entrepreneur, is the key to success!

To help you on the journey of developing the courage you need here are some other tips

Start small:
building up the courage to tackle your fears takes practice. Start with the easier problems and work your way up to the bigger issues.

Make daily affirmations:
An affirmations is a statement of a desired outcome stated in the present tense. "I am a successful entrepreneur". "My company is making enough money to support me." These are examples of effective affirmations that you can write on 3"X5" index cards and read them to yourself in the mornings and in the evenings. What you'll be doing is reprogramming your mind to think in terms of success!

Read motivational books
It's normal that your energy level will fluctuate. Several good books exist which can help you keep the motivation high. They can usually be found in the self-help or psychology sections of your local bookstore. Live Your Dreams, by Les Brown, How to Win Friends and Influence People by Dale Carnegie,The Master Key to Riches and Think and Grow Rich by Napoleon Hill are some of my favorites. I usually provide a success reading list in all my books!

Hang out with positive people like you
Misery (and failure) loves company! Stay away from negative thinkers and align yourself with people who are going or are already where you want to be!

Hip Hop Culture, from Music to Art to Dance, is filled with opportunity. The only reason more of us aren't taking the plunge is fear of the unknown brought about by years of conditioning. Those of us who sit on the sidelines willl forever wonder what might have been. Those of us who are willing to take a chance will grow and eventually be able to live our dreams of being successful Hip Hop Entrepreneurs!! Success is journey, not a destination! Peace.

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Walt Goodridge is an entrepreneur and author of several books. His company, Niche Market Exclusives, publishes his books and other "success tools", which he creates especially for MLM Entrepreneurs, Hip Hop Entrepreneurs, Internet Entrepreneurs and othersto show how to succeed in business. For a free brochure, call 301-587-9226! or visit the site at http://members.aol.com/nichemrket

Copyright © 1994 by Walt Goodridge. (Originally published in The Fever Magazine)