Five Fears that Limit Your Potential

Five Fears that Limit Your Potential

You must manage the fears that limit your potential if you want to maximize your potential. Fear prevents you from growing and causes you to miss out on learning opportunities. In addition, fear creates limiting beliefs that serve as a glass ceiling for your potential.

Most psychologist agree that you can’t necessarily eliminate fear. However, there is a belief that with the right practice you can manage it.  In order to manage fear, you must recognize it. With that said, I believe there are five fears that limit your potential most often.

Fear 1: Fear of Rejection

The fear of rejection puts a limit on your potential because it creates a low hanging fruit mindset. In this mindset, taking chances is not an option. You never try “fighting above your weight”. For example, going for jobs that seem above your qualifications or seeking relationship with people that appear out of your league. You also my avoid asking questions, selling, or asking for help because of limiting beliefs around the fear of no.

Never let the fear of striking out get in your way. —Babe Ruth

Our greatest weakness lies in giving up. The most certain way to succeed is to try just one more time.” – Thomas Edison

If you aim at nothing, you will hit it every time.” – Zig Ziglar

Fear 2: Fear of Ridicule

When you fear ridicule you limit your potential in a similar way as fearing rejection. Your avoidance of risk is your primary emotion. However, what’s layered on top is the constant worry of people talking behind your back. This combination causes you to avoid public speaking, dancing in front of others, and just generally being social.

If you are always trying to be normal, you will never know how amazing you can be. – Maya Angelou

You wouldn’t worry so much about what others think of you if you realized how seldom they do.” – Eleanor Roosevelt

Never dull your shine for somebody else. – Tyra Banks

Fear 3: Fear of Losing

The fear of losing puts you in a constant state of trying to protect what you have. This fear severely limits your potential because what you have is not close to what you could potentially have without this fear. This fear will cause you to rationalize bad situations or mediocrity, avoid risks, and live a stagnant life with no personal growth.

If you always do what you’ve always done, you’ll always get what you’ve always got.” – Henry Ford

“Winning is great, sure, but if you are really going to do something in life, the secret is learning how to lose. Nobody goes undefeated all the time. If you can pick up after a crushing defeat, and go on to win again, you are going to be a champion someday.” – Wilma Rudolph

“You can’t win unless you learn how to lose.” – Kareem Abdul-Jabbar

Fear 4: Fear of Change

Fearing change is closely related to the fear of losing.  As a result, this fear may also keep you in bad situations longer than necessary. What’s more, when you are afraid of change, you consciously and routinely decline opportunities to grow.  By definition, personal growth requires change. So if you aren’t willing to change, you will never grow enough to reach your potential.

Change is the law of life. And those who look only to the past or present are certain to miss the future.” – John F. Kennedy

The best thing about the future is that it comes one day at a time. – Abraham Lincoln

By changing nothing, nothing changes.” – Tony Robbins

Fear 5: Fear of Not Enough

The fear of not enough triggers stress and anxiety. It could be due to not having enough or not being enough. Similar to the other fears, this fear may limit your willingness to take risk. However, this fear could also have the reverse effect in causing you to take unnecessary risk. In addition, this fear causes selfishness, hoarding, or the unhealthy need to compete with friends and family.

Every time you are tempted to react in the same old way, ask if you want to be a prisoner of the past or a pioneer of the future. – Deepak Chopra

Too many people spend money they haven’t earned, to buy things they don’t want, to impress people they don’t like.  – Will Smith

If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough.” – Oprah Winfrey

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