FEAR FACTOR >> Conquering Doubt & Uncertainty!

For most people, the challenge of building an online business and making money online has nothing to do with the "how-to".

It's mostly a mental game.

You might know exactly what I mean.

The "how-to" is relatively simple; if you're unsure about something, the answer is usually easy to find. It might take a little searching and some Q&A. And for some of us, myself included, it takes time to learn new things.

But very few, if any of us, have been held back because we could not learn HOW to do something.

It's the mental game. The fear of failure and the frustration of failure.

It's the doubt and uncertainty.

Maybe you doubt that it works at all, or maybe you doubt yourself. Either way, it leads to uncertainty and the fear of failure.

And you will fail. You'll also get frustrated by the failures.

If you've grown up following the traditional path; going to school and getting a job... these things are incredibly uncomfortable.

Schools discourage mistakes and failures, which must be avoided at all costs. The last thing you want to do in school is fail.

And making mistakes while working your job can get you fired.

We also go to school and get a job for certainty. Or at least the illusion of certainty. You may hate your job (or maybe not), but you love the certainty of knowing you'll get paid for the work you do.

Even if the pay is less than you'd like.

A job also gives you a sense of long-term certainty. You can plan vacations a year in advance. You can buy a house with the reasonable confidence that you can make the monthly payments for decades to come.

So most of us are conditioned to seek that certainty and avoid failure. We were taught that mistakes are bad, which I DO NOT teach my daughters. Instead, I encourage them to make mistakes and fail.

But if that wasn't the world you grew up in, it may have been the world your parents or grandparents grew up in.

And then, you join Wealthy Affiliate, start building your online business, and doubt, uncertainty, and the fear of failure whisper in your ear. Maybe they overwhelm you.

Not at first, because you're excited. But after the honeymoon phase is over, you're not so sure.

"What if it doesn't work?"

"What if I can't do this?"

"Success is for other people, not me?"

I've had everyone one of those thoughts, and I still have them. This has been my full-time income for 4 or 5 years, and still... doubt and uncertainty nag me.

But I gave up listening, and you don't have to listen to them either.

That's been my best strategy for dealing with them because the truth is, they just don't matter.

Having said that, the "fear of failure" is what I mean, which is different than failure.

Failure... I love.

Failure has become my best friend and teacher.

But the "fear of failure" and the doubt and uncertainty that come with it don't matter.

What have been your strategies for dealing with the fear of failure, doubt, and uncertainty?