The Fear Response
Monday, March 2nd, 2009 | Uncategorized
Can you imagine what Batman would’ve been like if his butler Alfred had been a chronic worrier? Every time he’d try to go out and fight crime he’d have someone behind him going “oooooh, what if you get hurt?” or “maybe you’d better let the police get the Joker this time.” It would’ve been a real drag on Batman’s dreams. The same thing applies in personal finance (and life in general) - you need to have good, positive people on your side.
I realize the Batman analogy is based upon a fantasy comic book world, but what if Tiger Woods or Warren Buffett had friends and family that tried to drag them down before they had achieved anything? It’s hard to achieve something when your own side isn’t cheering for your success. If you want to reach your goals - whether it is saving money, losing weight, getting a new job or learning a new skill you need to surround yourself with people who say “yes you can!” rather than “but what if this happens??”
The problem is that most people are weak and afraid. Any time an unusual or bold idea crosses their paths, they run and hide rather than embrace it. They have a huge fear response to risk taking and the unknown. For example, if you told a friend you were trying to get a new job in the X industry, the fear response would sound like this:
“It’s hard to make it in the X industry.”
“Too many people are already in the X industry.”
“But you’ve never worked in the X industry before.”
“You need a degree in Y to get into the X industry.”
A friend with a positive respone would say things like this:
“Way to go!”
“I have a friend in the X industry - let me give you their number.”
“Let’s celebrate!”
“I always thought you’d be perfect for the X industry.”
Do you see the difference? What kind of people are you surrounding yourself with?
1 Comment to The Fear Response
Great Post!
The analogy made me laugh… just thinking about it.
March 2, 2009