One of the unique characteristics of all humans is fear. We all have something we are afraid of. Some have a fear of heights, fear of spiders, fear of water, and the list goes on. Fear is the natural way our body protects us from danger. When we are doing something that seems potentially dangerous, our mind steps in and creates fear to prevent us from the perceived danger. However, there are times where fear no longer becomes helpful but limits us instead and this is especially true when fear is keeping us in our comfort zone.
Unfortunately, fear can also hold you back from achieving financial success and as such I want to share with you 5 money fears you must overcome to be rich!
Fear #1: Fearing The Judgment of Others
Do you often ask yourself what others will say when you want to do something? Or maybe feel that all eyes are on you when you walk down a room full of people? If your answer to these questions is yes then you are likely suffering from the fear of judgment from others. When you see other people laughing suddenly and you believe they are laughing at you, then it’s because you are afraid of being judged by others. This condition is usually a result of the experiences you had when growing up. If your parents always compared you with other kids then you are more likely to be affected by this fear. If you also received a lot of criticism as a child and you were constantly told that you were not good enough then you are going to be affected by this fear.
You must learn to overcome the fear of being judged by others to become rich. You may be wondering what the fear of judgment from others has to do with becoming rich. But just like all other fears, it is one of the reasons why most people don’t become rich. Fearing judgment from others lowers your self-esteem and makes it difficult for you to make important money decisions.
Most times it is your mind that is judging you when you think others are judging you. The truth is that most people have their own problems and will rather focus on them than judging you. They are even too busy to notice you. When you think others are judging you it is because of what you are telling yourself.
What you need to do is to build up your self-esteem. You need to learn to forgive yourself and tell yourself that you are good enough.
Rich people learn to accept themselves for who they are and they don’t let the judgment of others affect them. They don’t care what people will say about them because they know that no matter what they do, people must talk. People have the right to their own opinion just the same way you have the right to your own opinion too. Learn to accept yourself for who you are and stop believing that every other person is better than you.
Know your strengths and weaknesses. Learn to capitalize on your strength and improve your weaknesses. This way you won’t care about what others have to say about you anymore. Also, you will begin to make important financial decisions that will benefit you. You are not the other person and you don’t know what is going on in their mind. People are actually nicer than you think so stop worrying that everyone you meet will judge you for wanting to be rich!
Fear #2: Fear of Taking Risks
The fear of not taking risks is even more dangerous than taking risks. Everything we do every day is a risk whether you realize it or not. When you leave your home to go to work you are taking a risk. You are not sure of what may happen on the way. The difference between the rich and the poor however is that the poor take risks or avoid risk entirely while the rich make calculated risks.
Not to mention, fear of taking risks will affect your normal functioning and reduce your productivity. When you are fearful you often can’t think straight and you lose focus and concentration. Because of this, jobs that should be easy for you become difficult tasks. The fear of taking a risk will never go away. Successful people have learned to fail so many times that they don’t care anymore if they fail or not but the fear is still there. So don’t think the fear will go away someday, just know that you just need to take action anyway. The fear of taking risks is why you will have several reasons why you should not take the actions that will make you become rich. Instead of seeing why something will work out, you only see the reasons why they cannot work. This fear will make you prefer doing the same things you have been doing before and this will not get you any result except you are willing to try new things.
The rule of life is that the greater the risk the greater the reward. When you start seeing things from the perspective of reward you will be motivated to take action. You will no longer see the actions as a risk but rather as an opportunity with greater reward. Your mind is configured to always keep you safe. So when you want to try new things your mind will build up fear because of the perceived danger in order to protect you. You must be willing to take risks and step out of your comfort zone if you want to become rich.
When you refuse to take risks, your mind begins to build up fear. You may think you can’t take action because you are afraid but you are really afraid because you did not take action. The only way to kill this fear is to get up and do something. Most times, the thing that you are so scared to try is actually easier than you think. When you face your fear, you will realize that it is quite easy to do the things that you are running away from in the first place.
Taking a risk does not have to be dangerous, it only means trying out new things. And I believe that most people enjoy new things, they just may not realize it. For example, you may want new clothes, a new car, or a new house. Think of taking risks as trying new things too and it will become easier for you that way. You can’t keep doing old things and expect to get a new result.
Another reason why you may be scared to take risks is that you don’t want to make a mistake or fail. You have to understand that failure is just an event which means it is not the end. Rich people see failure as a lesson so they are not afraid to fail. There is no famous person that has not made a mistake or failed at one time or the other. The difference between the poor and the rich is how they see failure. The poor see failure as too risky and they are afraid. The rich see lessons in every failure and they do their best to learn well.
Fear #3: Fear That Investing Could Cost You Everything
You have to understand that courage is not the absence of fear but believing that there are other important things than fear. To become rich you must have the courage to invest. You miss every shot that you do not take. You also lose on every investment you refuse to make. I know that you may be thinking that you don’t want to lose all your money by investing but the truth is that you lose on every investment you refuse to make.
Poor people are afraid to invest because they don’t want money to leave their hands. The rich understand that investing is the way to make money work for them so they are not scared to invest. Most often, the worst that can happen is that the value of your investment will reduce, seldom will you see anyone lose all your money on an investment.
There are ways to overcome the fear that investing could cost you everything. The first way is to start very small. Start investing with an amount that you are comfortable with and that way you will not be scared to lose it. The only thing that is risky is what you don’t have any knowledge about. Before you invest any money, make sure that you educate yourself. Read everything you can about the company before you make your final decision to invest. It is best to think of the long term benefits of an investment rather than the short term gain. There is a saying that you don’t put all your eggs into one basket. This is true if you don’t want to risk losing all your money on a single investment. Learn to diversify your portfolio by investing in low risk and high-risk assets. You should get a financial advisor to avoid making the wrong investments and losing money.
Fear #4: Fear of Always Being In Debt
One of the most common pieces of financial advice you will receive is to avoid debt by all means. So when you eventually find yourself in debt you are afraid and want to get out of it by all means. This leads to the fear of being in debt. Fear of debt always leads to wrong financial choices. The rich are not afraid of debt because they understand what it is. The rich see debt as a tool so they use it as leverage. They don’t borrow money to spend but rather spend money to invest. They have learned to understand the difference between bad debt and good debt.
Fear of always being in debt does not help you to be free from debt but rather it keep you in debt. One of the problems of fear is that it causes emotional instability which affects how you think and the decisions you make about money. Don’t let the fear of debt interfere with your ability to make money. You must understand that with a good plan, it is easy to repay debts. It is important to clear your debts but you also need to understand that you must not neglect saving more money at the same time.
It is best to avoid debts if you don’t have any need for it. That way, you can easily avoid the fear of falling in debt and can focus on more productive activities. Always have an emergency fund that you can always fall back on in case there is an urgent financial need.
Fear #5: Fear of Building Money Relationships
If you want to become rich then you must learn to build good money relationships. The money relationship that you are able to build will determine to a great extent the amount of money you will make. The fear of building a money relationship will limit you and keep you poor. It can be difficult when starting on your own but with good relationships, you easily achieve more. For example, Microsoft was not built by Bill Gates alone but together with Paul Allen, his childhood friend. Google was founded by two partners who met at grad-school. They built a relationship and they were able to establish a business. Yahoo, Twitter, Intel, and Apple among many others are examples of businesses built on money relationships.
In short, fear can definitely hold you back financially, but only if you let it!