Fear Our Greatest Adversary

Have you thought about what role fear plays in our lives? How does it affect the decisions we make?
Fear always paralyzes our actions. It prevents us from fully realizing the potential that is within us. Why is this the case?

Fear is related to our safety

I am convinced that fear is related to our safety. In a threatening situation, we always want to protect ourselves first and foremost, and only then do we think about benefits or profits. And this is the moment when competitors who can risk more and are less afraid can gain an advantage over us.

Feeling fear, we can never realize our full potential. Let me try to illustrate this with an example from my life.

Like at a chessboard

I am a chess player. I often play in chess tournaments. When playing against a stronger opponent, there is a feeling of fear. I’m afraid to risk playing bolder, to attack more, because in my mind there are thoughts that my opponent will defend himself anyway, because he is better. He has certainly anticipated my plan, so my attack will certainly stop and win the game as a result. Therefore, I will better play conservatively, passively. And this style of play will certainly suit the opponent. Because since he is stronger than me, so he must and wants to attack. And since we only defend ourselves, he will play the game according to his own scenario, so there is a high probability that the game will be won.

The opponent takes advantage of our fear, because he doesn’t feel it at the same level. Even though we start the game with the same forces on the chessboard. He can fully implement his plan of action, he can show his creativity. And our creativity has been stifled by fear.

Not only risks

The same is true in running a business. Often we focus only on the risks, and we don’t see the opportunities. We don’t want to risk money on something that can bring profits in the long term. In addition to fear, there is also the problem of patience, about which there is different article.

Fear is used everywhere and in every situation. And the purpose of such action is to paralyze our actions. For example, in Poland there is a lot of talk about war with Russia, etc. The result is that investments in eastern Poland, near the border with Ukraine, are practically non-existent. Companies are afraid to invest there because they have been spooked by the vision of war in the area. It’s just that if a war actually took place, it doesn’t matter where you launch your business. The risk of collapse is high everywhere.

Free market abhors a vacuum

But the free market abhors a vacuum, and the first new investors will appear in these areas, and they will gain a competitive advantage. Why? Because their fear will be less than that of potential competitors.

There is a similar fear situation in the stock market as well. Investors do not make the most money when the market situation is stable and everything is growing. It is exactly the opposite. They buy various assets when the market is pouring blood. Because the market has it that it usually bounces off the bottom. And then, having companies in the portfolio bought cheaply will increase. The condition, of course, is to have good companies that are able to cope during the crisis, and their value falls only because “everything” is falling.

Mastering fear

In summary, the key to success is, first of all, to master fear. It’s worth getting used to uncertainty in the market and in life, and not reacting emotionally to what’s going on around you. One option is to stop watching TV and other media that live by scaring people every day. I did this a long time ago and my quality of life has definitely improved. Because I no longer feel as much fear as I did before, when I used to get emotional about every news item that reached me. Today this is practically gone.

Am I ignorant therefore? Probably yes, but that is already a topic for a separate article.