Interesting. Just that very morning I had breakfast with
Paul Hartunian, famous publicity expert and a licensed medical doctor, when he told me, "There is no such thing as fear."
"There isn't?" I asked Paul.
"No. You are born with only two fears," Paul explained. "The fear of loud
noises and the fear of falling. You lose those early on. Any other fears are created by you. They aren't real."
"How do you get rid of fear?"
"Stop it."
"Stop it?"
"Just stop it," Paul said. "Say you have a fear of bridges. If I put one
million dollars in cash on the other side and said you could have it if you walked across the bridge, nude, in front of a
crowd of people, you'd do it. Why? Because the reward is greater than the pain. Make the rewards greater and the fears will
vanish."
I told the young man before me the same thing. I then went on to add that
most people in business have a fear of success, or a fear of failure.
"I was just in a seminar with Ted Nicholas," I went on. "Ted said he had
failed many times, and what he learned is that nothing bad ever happens to you when you fail. Instead, you get life's greatest
lessons."
Of course, Ted is known as the four billion dollar man because he is now
a legend in direct marketing. It's obvious no failure ever stopped him.
"As for the fear of success," I told my new friend in Chicago, "what I've
learned is that the more successful I am, the more I can help myself, my family, and the world."
In the last week alone I had made contributions to a new children's foundation
dedicated to helping babies suffering from a stroke at birth, and I made donations to Paul Hartunian's dog rescue work. I
also built a health club for myself on my property, shopped for a home theatre system for myself, and I sent money to help
a relative with an operation.
"Success enables me to help myself as well as everyone else," I said. "When
you realize the good you can do as a success, the fear evaporates."
I saw a light come on in the eyes of the fellow before me. He seemed to get
it. He seemed to realize that fear was stopping him, but that he was the one creating it, so he could be the one to let it
go.
As Dan Kennedy said in Chicago, "There is no limit to the money available.
The pie is infinite. It's up to you to go scoop it up." Fear?
Stop it.
You've got a life to live, and people to help.
Go for it.
