The Fearless Mind: 5 Steps to Achieving Peak Performance

by Craig L. Manning

Our deepest fear is not that we are inadequate. Our deepest fear is that we are powerful beyond measure. It is our light, not our darkness, that most frightens us. We ask ourselves, WHO am I to be brilliant, gorgeous, talented, fabulous? Actually, who are you not to be? You are a child of God. Your playing small doesn’t serve the world. There’s nothing enlightened about shrinking so that other people won’t feel insecure around you. We are all meant to shine,

as children do. We were born to make manifest the glory of God that is within us. It’s not just in some of us; it’s in everyone. And as we let our own light shine, we unconsciously give other people permission to do the same. As we’re liberated from our own fear, our presence automatically liberates others.1

A fearless mind is achieved when we have cleansed ourselves of the barriers that prevent us from reaching our greatest potential. We do this by learning to accept what we have control over and what we don’t. Once we understand what is our responsibility and what isn’t, then we are able to channel all our energy into mastering those aspects that we have direct responsibility for and not waste energy (emotional, mental, or physical) on those things that are not within our responsibility.

However, when the match is over, I will go back to my responsibilities and to my own life. I can’t live his life, nor do I want to. I have to be responsible for those things over which I have direct control.

From the choices that are left for us, genetics has little impact on how successful we could become. High performance is created. We have to want it; nobody can give it to us, and nobody can do it for us.

High performance is when those factors within our direct responsibility are being controlled and mastered—when we are completely at one with ourselves.

channel our mental energies toward objectives that we have direct control over, which in turn builds confidence and feelings of empowerment.

In contrast, directing our mental energy toward objectives that we don’t have direct control over greatly increases the level of anxiety and creating feelings of learned helplessness.