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We all have heard/seen the famous dialogue from Bollywood film SHOLAY,”JO DAR GAYA WO MAAR GAYA” but if we double click on DAR or FEAR, WE will find, one Who fears will not die rather will survive but can also be victorious, sounds strange but most of the times it is the truth.

We can validate the same by the present pandemic, if we fear CORONA and stay inside, we may be victorious against it.

To have fear is really good, rather important. If we deep dive into FEAR, it is just like salt in our meal. Salt is very important ingredient, but it should me in balance amount, neither too much nor too low, so fear is like a catalyst ,which one need to get the end product, called success, achievement, Goal.

What Fear Is?

Fear is “a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain, etc., whether the threat is real or imagined “. In other words, fear is state whereby you feel frightened or afraid, regardless of whether you should be afraid or not.

The science or the physiological changes that takes place in our body due to the fear.

When we experience fear, our adrenal glands (located directly above our kidneys) release adrenaline into the blood stream which causes a series of biological reactions in our body.

It increases blood and oxygen flow to our muscles so we can run fast

It restricts blood flow to other areas such as our stomach.

It dilates our pupils so we can better see things around us.

How Fear Helps To Get Success:

1.   Heightened Awareness:

At the basic level fear guides our fight or flight responses and helps to keep us safe and alive. Fear heightens your senses and awareness; it keeps us alert and helps in better preparation. Eg. Our Security personnel , who are always aware for the safety of the county from any attack.

2.   Motivates You to Build Skills:

We can understand this by an example, It  was 3rd ODI of IND VS AUS ODI series in 2007 at Rajiv Gandhi International Stadium, Hyderabad.. The bowler, Braad Hogg  was happy, of course, he had clean bowled Master Blaster .He had taken the most precious wicket after all. In fact, such high was the value of that wicket, Hogg felt that the wicket was the guarding anchor to his career. And so, it made complete sense to approach Sachin for an autograph now. Sachin , was hard at practice in the nets as Hogg walked towards him, carrying a photograph of the Sachin’s dismissal, with the bails scattered about on the ground. Sachin being Sachin, signed the photograph with a message for Hogg, and underneath the impressive sign were the words, This will never happen again, Hoggy.  And guess what? Despite having gotten many chances, never succeeded in taking Sachin’s wicket from then on. That is Sachin Tendulkar for you, people.

FEAR of getting out again to Hogg , Sachin build his skills in such a way that by the strides of Hogg , Sachin used to understand  which delivery, Hogg is going to ball.

3.   Opportunities and Resource Identification:

 Lets understand this with another example,

How the legendary basketball player, Michaael Jordan turned it around for himself with sheer grit and determination. Jordan was scrapped from the High School Team and at 5’11″ was deemed too short to play at that level and was told to lack skills. But he never gave up. Living on the principle of “I can accept failure but I cannot accept not trying,” Jordan scripted one of the best failure to success stories as he went on to become the best player in the history of the sport.

Once in his interview he told, the FEAR of not having his name in the locker room , motivates him to do more and more practice and we all know , what Michael Jordan has done.

4.   Fear of failing in exam help us to study hard:

We all know this, we had gone through it, in our school and college days, here also FEAR plays a very important role, fear of failing is always a motivation to study.

5.   Fear for security of our family helps us work more sincerely and honestly:

We all in our job or whatever we are doing for living , always want to do our job sincerely and honestly, fear of security of our family is always there. If we not do our job sincerely than we may get fired, our EMIs will be at stake, our family will get affected , so that FEAR always help one to do his job more sincerely and honestly so that the cycle should go on.

6.   Fear of defeat makes us practice more.

We all know the famous story of Ferrari and Lamborghini. Its because of    the passion and the fear of defeat Lamborghini took head on with Ferrari , and the rest is history.

7.   Fear of no growth we switch jobs.

We all understand this very much, fear of stagnancy inside a individual forces him/her to switch jobs, because if there is no new learning , no growth and no future then one will loose his/her competitive edge and that fear of no growth forces to switch jobs.

The amateur believes he must first overcome his fear; then he can do his work. The professional knows that fear can never be overcome. He knows there is no such thing as a fearless warrior or a dread-free artist- Steven Pressfield

So fear is a vital emotion of life. Fear  can be our best motivation or a disaster but the the MANTRA is BALANCING the fear and how one can use it as a success factor.

Cheers.

BT

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THE 10TH APPLE EFFECT

A hunter once lost his way deep inside the jungle while chasing a deer. He used all his navigation skills but neither did he find any way out of the jungle nor could he find any food to eat for 8 days at a stretch. He started feeling so damn hungry that he could eat an entire elephant at one go. Disappointed, he lost all hope. And that is exactly when an apple tree caught his sight. He collected a dozen apples to feed him for the rest of his search.

As he ate the 1st apple, his joy knew no bounds and he just couldn't stop feeling grateful and blessed. He thanked life. He thanked God. He could not believe his luck when he ate the 1st apple but he was less grateful while having the 2nd apple and even lesser grateful when he had the 5th apple. Somehow, with each passing apple, the hunger still kept on increasing and the joy kept on reducing drastically. He just could not enjoy the 10th apple.

Why? He had already taken for granted the gift of having found an apple tree in the middle of a forest after 8 long days of wandering with hunger. When he took the 10th apple in his hand, he was still very hungry but he just did not feel like having it any more. Economics calls this diminishing marginal utility. I would like to call it diminishing gratitude, in simple words, taking things for granted. Or let’s just call it the 10th apple effect.

The 10th apple did not lack taste, it did not lack the potential to satisfy his hunger but the only thing lacking was his gratitude for finding food in the middle of the jungle.

The hunter represents us. And the apple represents the gifts that life gives us. The 10th apple represents our lack of gratitude for these gifts of life and our ‘take everything for granted’ attitude. As we continue receiving the gifts of life, our hunger, our greed keeps on increasing and the joy we get from these gifts diminishes.

The 10th apple is as sweet as the first apple. If the 10th apple fails to give you as much pleasure as the first one, nothing is wrong with the apple, everything is wrong with you. If you get bored on a dull day, it is not because the day is dull and boring. It is because your gratitude has become dull and boring. The gift of life for another day cannot be taken for granted. The Nth year of life should seem as exciting as the 16th year, as the 25th year, as the 50th year .