Conquer Doubt by Vic Johnson

"Thoughts of doubt and fear can never accomplish anything. They always lead to failure." - As A Man Thinketh

There is significant economic evidence that the Great Depression might have been avoided but for the "panic" that swept over the country (and the world) after the 1929 stock market crash. What should have been no more than a deep recession altered our world forever because of the prevailing "thoughts of doubt and fear."

So great were the thought of fear that President Roosevelt felt compelled to deliver a speech about it. By the way, FDR's speech with his now famous, "the only thing we have to fear is fear itself," was suggested to him by Napoleon Hill, author of the classic, Think and Grow Rich.

If the thoughts of many can bring such great tragedy to our world, is it any wonder that our personal thoughts can do so much damage to our "individual world." When we spend inordinate amounts of time fearing some thing or event in the future, many times that which we fear comes upon us. When it does, we wring our hands in despair and wonder why it had to happen to us, when in reality, we are responsible for our troubles.

Bob Proctor says that the process begins first with a thought of doubt, which causes an emotion of fear, which manifests itself physically as anxiety. Anxiety robs us of our power, our energy and our purpose. Severe anxiety can even undermine our health. And it's all brought on by a thought of doubt.

I have found three things that help me conquer doubt. First, change your mind about the doubt, and keep it changed. If you have a doubt about whether you're going to have enough money to make it to the end of the month, change your mind about it. Whenever the doubt creeps in, affirm to yourself that "I always find a way to have enough of what I need." I love what Emmet Fox says about this, "If you will change your mind concerning anything and absolutely keep it changed, that thing must and will change too. It is the keeping up of the change in thought that is difficult. It calls for vigilance and determination."

The second thing that overcomes fear and doubt is action. "Do the thing you fear and fear will disappear" is more than a nice rhyming aphorism. It's some simple wisdom that always works!

And the third and most important thing to overcoming doubt and fear is Faith. Fear and Faith are directly opposite views of the future and they cannot co-exist. My Faith is in a Creator who has given me dominion over all things. Your Faith may be elsewhere, but know this: Faith and fear cannot be present at the same time.

And that's worth thinking about.

-- Vic Johnson

Overcoming your fears

First I had a bad feeling or unwillingness to go and meet these traders in a country where intellectual property is not respected. I felt concerned for my own safety because my visit entailed threatening these traders with legal action for selling copy product. Also, the fact that a European would accompany me to one of these less than reputable market areas to conduct discussions made me more nervous.

Visualization helped me here. I saw my colleague and I going there and being beaten up with our car stoned before we made a hurried escape. But banishing the negative thought from my mind, I pondered deeply. What if I were to face my fears – after all courage is not the absence of fear. It is the act of walking through your fears and doing what you are supposed to do. Call it trial by fire. Now I felt a bit more relaxed.

It struck me that it would be better to convey a toned down message rather than an aggressive one. At least the experience of talking to them would be an informative process – collect market intelligence, tell them about our patents and actions we take in the market. We were meeting them not to threaten them but to make them aware that our patents do exist and we have initiated action against one of the major brands in the market. I feel more confident about handling the situation and look forward to the visit.