If there are barriers in your life or in my life, they are there because we have created them. We have allowed them to be there because we have listened to someone who has said that what God has called us to do is impossible. And when we think that something is impossible, we don’t try to do it.
If we perceive something as a barrier, we won’t try to go beyond it. We let fear of failure hold us back.
For decades, track and field experts said that no one would ever run a mile in fewer than four minutes. In the minds of most sports experts, this was a barrier that could not be broken. But a runner named Roger Bannister refused to believe it. And he broke that barrier. He became the first person to run a mile in fewer than four minutes. And right behind him came other runners who broke the barrier. And now there are hundreds of athletes who can run a mile in fewer than four minutes. The four-minute mile barrier has been broken hundreds of times since Mr. Bannister first broke it. Since it is obviously possible for a runner to run a mile in fewer than four minutes, why hadn’t anyone done it before Mr. Bannister? They hadn’t done it, because the fear of failure had been planted in them. The barrier was in their minds. But Mr. Bannister didn’t accept it. He didn’t believe in the impossibility. So he kept practicing and developing himself. He kept believing he could break the barrier, and eventually he did it. He had no fear of failure, but rather he took a bold step not to be prevented by fear in achieving something that is possible. Success doesn’t just happen! You have to plan to make it happen!.
Unfortunately, most people assign failure the role of dictator. Failure is so painful at the time they experience it that their natural inclination is to run away from it as fast as they can. Consequently, they never allow a failure to become their teacher and mentor. They view failure as a tragedy. And because they run away from or bury it, all they gain is pain, bitterness, and anger.
You will be amazed at all you will learn. And if you write down what you learn, and review it before you attempt your next goal in that area, your chances of success increase dramatically. If you don’t revisit your failures, learn from them, write down what you’ve learned, and review it, you will repeat the same mistakes over and over again.
Steven K. Scott, author of ‘A Millionaire’s Notebook’, narrates one of his stories as follows: “One of my former bosses was playing tennis with a good friend of his when, in the middle of the game, he collapsed with a heart attack. The paramedics came and tried to revive him in the ambulance, but they were too late. Shortly after the ambulance arrived at the hospital, my boss died. An angry emergency room doctor asked my boss’s friend why he didn’t administer CPR on the tennis court. The friend replied, “I was afraid I’d break his ribs,”. Frustrated and disheartened, the doctor replied, “People can live with broken ribs!”. This is a perfect example of how bad fear works and the kinds of consequences it can deliver. This man’s fear had caused him to focus on the wrong thing (the possibility of breaking ribs) and blinded him to the reality of the situation (my boss – his friend – was dying). It also blinded him to the possibility of achieving an extraordinary accomplishment, saving his friend’s life. And the consequences of his fear were devastating. A man lost his life, a wife lost her husband, and seven children lost their father. Whether or not my boss would have survived if CPR had been administered on the tennis court will never be known. But we do know that he didn’t survive without it”.
While fear may not ever cost you your life or the life of someone you love, it will rob you and your family of many wonderful things that you would otherwise accomplish and enjoy.
