Killing Sacred Cows Blog

How are you limited by fear? Is it keeping you from living your ideal life?

Paul Slovic , a psychologist at the University of Oregon, has spent decades studying how we decide what’s risky and what isn’t. His studies have shown that how risky something actually is has almost nothing to do with how risky we think it is.

Slovic has demonstrated that people think skiing is safer than flying on a commercial aircraft, that smoking is less dangerous than being around handguns, that nuclear power plants are riskier than cars.

Think about these questions: Do more Americans die of suicide or homicide? Which is more lethal, kidney disease or AIDS?

According to the U.S. Government, in the year 2000 nearly twice as many people killed themselves as were murdered, and kidney diseases caused nearly three times as many deaths as AIDS. Although Americans consistently rate nuclear power as one of the most dangerous of all technologies, it’s actually safer by any objective measure than most other forms of power. And two of the deadliest things in America are cigarettes and cars; auto accidents alone kill an average of 115 Americans every day.

So, what do you fear? Public speaking? Failure? Selling? Think of something that you fear, a fear that is limiting your production, then ask yourself the following questions:

1. What's the worst possible thing that could happen if my fear occurs?

2. What's the worst possible thing that could happen if I never overcome or eliminate this fear?

3. What's the best possible outcome I can expect if I don't overcome or eliminate my fear?

4. What's the best possible outcome I can expect if I do overcome or eliminate my fear? 

What possibilities would unfold in your life if you were to face and overcome your fears?