Last night, my phone slipped from my hand and hit the ground. That heart-stopping moment watching it fall reminded me of something deeper. The way we freeze when faced with uncertainty. The way fear grips us when we’re about to take a leap toward something we want.
Fear. It’s this invisible wall between where we are and where we want to go. It’s the thing Napoleon Hill called the greatest enemy of achievement.
We’ve been working through the Self-Confidence Formula this week, and there’s something we need to address head-on: you can’t build unshakable belief in yourself while fear is taking up residence in your mind. It’s like trying to fill a bucket that has holes in the bottom.
Release fear first. Then watch what happens.
The Fear Inventory Exercise (Do This Tonight)
So many of us walk around with fears we can’t even name. They operate behind the scenes, pulling strings, making decisions for us. The first step to releasing anything is knowing what you’re holding.
Grab a blank piece of paper. At the top, write: “Things I’m Afraid Might Happen If I Pursue My Dreams.” Then set a timer for 7 minutes and write non-stop. Don’t censor yourself. Nobody will see this but you.
Some of what comes out might surprise you. “People will laugh at me.” “I’ll lose all my money.” “I’ll succeed and then not know who I am anymore.” “My family will think I’ve gone crazy.”
The point isn’t to analyze these fears yet – just to get them out of your head and onto paper where you can see them. Most fears lose power when dragged into the light.
Flip the Script on Your Inner Dialogue
Our minds love to run disaster scenarios. What if everything falls apart? What if I look stupid? What if I fail?
But we rarely balance these with the opposite question: What if it works out better than I could imagine?
For every fear thought that crosses your mind today, force yourself to create its opposite. If you think, “This presentation might bomb,” immediately counter with, “Or this presentation might be exactly what someone needs to hear.”
This isn’t positive thinking fluff. It’s mental discipline. Napoleon Hill called it “definiteness of purpose” – the ability to keep your mind fixed on what you want rather than what you fear.
Try it for three days. You’ll start to notice how automatic your negative projections have become – and how powerful it feels to reclaim that mental space.
Physical Release Matters (Fear Lives in Your Body)
Fear isn’t just mental – it lives in your body. That knot in your stomach? The tension in your shoulders? The shallow breathing when you think about taking a risk? That’s where fear physically resides.
You need a physical practice to release fear.
Sharon swears by what she calls “shake it off” – literally shaking her body for 2 minutes when anxiety strikes. Sounds silly until you try it. It’s based on how animals naturally discharge stress – they literally shake it off after a threatening situation passes.
Other options: intense exercise (running works wonders), deep breathing (5 counts in, 7 counts out), or even just putting your hand on your heart and saying, “I’m safe right now.”
The body needs to release fear as much as the mind does. Don’t skip this physical component.
Who Are You Surrounding Yourself With?
Our fears get amplified or diminished by the people we spend time with. No technique for releasing fear will stick if you’re constantly around people who reinforce your limitations.
Hill wrote about this extensively. He called it the “mastermind principle” – the idea that our minds naturally blend with the minds we’re exposed to most frequently.
Take an honest inventory of the voices around you. Who makes you feel like anything is possible? Who subtly suggests you should “be realistic” or “not get your hopes up”?
You don’t need to dramatically cut people off. But you do need to be strategic about whose voice gets the most airtime in your life.
Find even one person who believes in you unreasonably. One person can be enough to help you release the fear of what others think.
Your Environment Either Feeds or Fights Fear
I reorganized my workspace last Monday. Took everything off the walls. Put up only things that reminded me of past successes and future possibilities. It made a surprising difference in my baseline confidence level.
Your physical environment is constantly sending you messages about who you are and what’s possible for you. These messages bypass your conscious mind and speak directly to your subconscious – exactly where fear and self-doubt live.
Make one change to your environment today. Add something that represents courage to you. Remove something that triggers doubt or negativity. It could be as simple as changing your phone background to an image that represents who you’re becoming.
Your environment shapes you more than you realize. Use that to your advantage in the battle to release fear.
Practice Micro-Courage to Release Fear
Trying to eliminate all fear at once is like trying to bench press 300 pounds without training. You’ll get crushed. Instead, build your courage muscles gradually through daily practice.
Create opportunities for what we call “micro-courage” – small acts that push you just slightly beyond your comfort zone.
Make that phone call you’ve been avoiding. Share an idea in a meeting. Reach out to someone you admire. Speak up when you’d normally stay quiet.
These small acts might seem insignificant, but they’re not. They’re training your nervous system to withstand discomfort and teaching your mind that fear doesn’t need to control your actions.
The secret to releasing fear isn’t about eliminating it completely – it’s about building the strength to move forward despite it. That strength comes from practice.
The Release Through Focused Action
Fear thrives in the gap between planning and doing. It multiplies in that space where you’re thinking about something but not yet taking action.
The most direct path to releasing fear? Focused action.
Choose one thing today – one small step toward your goal – and do it with complete attention. Don’t multitask. Don’t check your phone. Just immerse yourself in that action.
When you’re fully engaged in doing, fear has no space to exist. It needs your attention to survive, and focused action denies it that fuel.
This is why Hill emphasized definiteness of purpose combined with persistent action. It’s not just about achievement – it’s about creating a mental state where fear cannot thrive.
Where Do We Go From Here?
Releasing fear isn’t a one-time event. It’s a practice. Some days will be better than others. You’ll have breakthroughs followed by setbacks.
But if you commit to even one of these techniques – the fear inventory, flipping the script, physical release, surrounding yourself with believers, changing your environment, practicing micro-courage, or taking focused action – you’ll feel the difference.
The Self-Confidence Formula we’re building this week requires this foundation work. Clear away the fear first, then build something new in its place.
Remember what Napoleon Hill discovered after studying the most successful people of his time: Fear is learned. And anything learned can be unlearned.
Start today. Your potential is waiting on the other side.