What If Fear Is Actually Pointing You Toward Your Biggest Breakthrough

Wayne Sutton: The story you're telling yourself is controlling your life. So, welcome to another episode, Prosper with Wayne, creating health, wealth, and happiness in your life. Today I want to talk about something that affects every single one of us, and that's the word fear. Fear. Now, it's easy to just jump to a Facebook meme like false evidence, appearing real, etc. It's easy to say ignore fear. the Bible tells us over 300 times: do not fear. See, But fear is something we must recognize is there. And so once you recognize it, then you can handle it. You can use it even to achieve greatness in your life. Fear, not just fear of danger, not fear of an actual threat. I'm talking about the fear that lives in our minds, the fear that keeps people from starting businesses, the fear that keeps people from having difficult conversations, the fear that keeps people from asking someone on a date, from changing careers, the fear that keeps people from stepping into their purpose. But here's the strange thing. Most fear isn't real. Most fear is simply a story. A story your mind created about a future that That does not exist. about this. It's a hallucination at best. Most of the things we fear never happen, but they steal our joy, our confidence, and sometimes even years of our lives. Fear is often nothing more than a hallucination about tomorrow. And many people are allowing that hallucination to control their reality. We need to go back. If we're going to understand fear, we have to understand your mind. Your mind. Your brain is a storytelling machine. Your mind is constantly trying to predict the future. That's actually how God created you. So, and reason is because predicting danger helps you survive. We go back to the story of your ancestor, if they heard a rustle in the bush, it was safer to assume it could be a predator. The problem is that same system that helped us survive now creates unnecessary fear. Today there's probably, at least here in you know modern civilization, there probably isn't a saber-toothed tiger in the bushes. but the lie today, or saber-toothed tiger today is what if I fail? What if they reject me? What if I look stupid? That is a huge one. What if nobody buys? What if I lose money? What if people criticize me? And your brain starts creating movies, detailed movies. Movies so convincing that your body will react if something's actually happened. Now, this isn't the only reason, but it's part of the reason people have panic attacks. Because the mind creates a movie, the movie creates a sequel, a prequel, the mind just goes into its own creativity mode. And these movies are so convincing that your heart races, your stomach tightens, your palms sweat, but nothing's happened. You're responding emotionally. To a future event that was only created in your imagination. So fear is often rehearsing tragedy before it arrives, if it even arrives. Now, here's another thing about fear. Fear doesn't just make us uncomfortable, fear makes us small. Fear convinces us to stay where we are. Fear loves comfort zones. Over the last two years, I've gone through some really traumatic. areas of life. it's been a lot of ups and downs. And truly over the last two years, more downs than ups. See, fear though wants me to just get into a comfort zone now. Fear says, hey, just be average. Because fear loves average. Fear loves excuses. Fear whispers things like, well, maybe next year. Well, wait until you're ready. You need more experience. You need more money. You need more confidence. And before long, years have gone by. That dream? That dream of yours is still sitting on the shelf somewhere. The book isn't written, the business isn't launched, the conversation never happened, the purpose remains dormant. Not because you lacked talent, not because you lacked opportunity, because you believed the story that fear was telling you. See, the greatest lie fear tells us is this: if you wait long enough, you'll eventually stop being afraid. But that's rarely true. Confidence actually comes from action. See, most people are waiting to feel brave, but successful people they move while they're afraid. Listen to that again. Successful people move while they're afraid. They move while they're afraid because courage is not the absence of fear. Courage is the ⁓ action in the presence fear. The entrepreneur launches anyway. The speaker gets on stage anyway. The salesperson makes the call anyway. As a leader, you take responsibility, in the face of fear. The fear will be there, but you're no longer allowing fear to drive the vehicle. Think about this just for a moment. What if fear is actually a compass? Let me say that again. What if your fear is actually a compass? What if fear isn't your enemy? What if fear is pointing you towards growth? Think about the biggest breakthrough in your life. Most likely they were preceded by fear. When I left the corporate world, I remember sitting at a restaurant, sitting at Chili's with my pastor at a time. I'm like, this is what I want to do, but I'm so nervous, what do I do? And he listened and he finally said, Yeah, sounds like you're being controlled by fear instead of faith. Boom, that one statement changed the direction of my life. And a lot of times, we think about our biggest breakthroughs, they were probably preceded with fear. Whether that's starting a business, getting married, having children, taking a new job, moving to a new city, stepping into ministry, launching the podcast. Every major breakthrough comes wrapped in uncertainty. Because fear shows up at the doorway of growth. The problem isn't that we feel fear. The problem is too many people worship the fear. They obey fear. They give it authority. Instead of asking, how do I eliminate fear? Try asking, what is this fear pushing me towards? What is this fear possibly trying to teach me? Because sometimes fear is revealing where growth is waiting. Let me say that again. Your fear could be revealing where growth is waiting. Now, over the years, I have literally coached of people in business, in ministry, sales, personal development. And I've noticed something. The people who achieve extraordinary things are not fearless. We've had those conversations. They simply have a better relationship with fear. They understand that fear is actually information. Now, understand what I mean by that. It's not instruction. Fear can speak, but it doesn't get the final vote. When fear says, well, hey, you might fail, respond with, yeah, but I might succeed. When fear says you'll look foolish, okay. Respond with I'll learn. When fear says, what if it doesn't work? Go back. What if it does? And see, that shift changes everything. Now, I'm gonna give you, I don't want you to come to this podcast going, Wayne, that sounds great, but what do I do? I still live in fear. So I'm gonna give you three ways to overcome fear. Number one, name it. Okay, name the fear. Most people feel fear without defining it, but write it down and be specific. What are you afraid of? And let's not talk about vague feelings. Let's get into the actual fear. Get it out of your head and onto paper. Clarity will weaken your fear. Write it out. What are you afraid of? Embarrassment, failure, poverty? What are you afraid of? Number two, challenge that story. Once you write it down, and listen, you can't go to step two until you did step one. So write it down. Ask yourself, is this a fact? Or is this just a prediction? Most fears are just predictions, and predictions are often wrong. So stop treating a possibility as if it's certainty. Challenge the fear. Challenge the story. Demand evidence. Become a detective instead of a victim. And number three, this is my favorite part. Take one. Small action step. shrinks fear where overthinking feeds fear. But the right action step will actually starve fear. You don't need to conquer the entire mountain today. Take one small step. What is that for you? What is it for you? Build the website. Hey, let's go even smaller. Send the email. Make the call. Record the video. Start the workout. Apply for the job. Take one step, then another, then another. Because momentum creates confidence. One of the most repeated commands in scripture is simple. Do not fear. Why? Because fear and faith are focused both on the future. Fear imagines the worst possible outcome, but faith believes God is present regardless of the outcome. Fear says, what if everything falls apart? But faith says, what if God is already making a way? I want you to grab a hold of this because fear itself will magnify problems, but faith magnifies possibilities. Fear focuses on what you can't control. Faith focuses on who is in control. And this is never a promise that life will be easy. It just means that fear doesn't get to become your master. So today, I want to challenge you. I want you to identify one thing you've been postponing because of fear. In fact, if you're watching this on YouTube, Facebook, wherever, let me know in comments. Let me know in comments. And by the way, take a moment right now, if you haven't subscribed yet. Again, wherever you're at, iHeartRadio, Spotify, Apple, wherever, just hit that subscribe button. Follow us. But here's what I want you to do: identify that one thing you've been postponing because of fear. thing, not 10-1. Then ask yourself, if I wasn't afraid, what would I do today? And then do the smallest version of that thing, not tomorrow, not next week, today. Because the life you want, usually just waiting on the other side of a conversation you've been avoiding, a risk you've been resisting, or a step you've been delaying. So as we close out this podcast today, I want you to remember this fear is just a story. A story about a future that hasn't happened. A movie playing inside your mind. Truly hallucination of tomorrow. Never let imaginary future steal a very real present moment. Take the step, trust the process, move forward, and I'll see you on the next episode. God bless.