Fear and it's impact on Decision Making

So very true...this is way you have to be clear as to what you look to achieve, how you plan on achieving it and WHY you look to achieve it in the first place. Hands down, it'll beat fear every time!!

Thanks for sharing minitg.

The only reason why we don't make a decision is because we fear to do so. We fear what might go wrong, what can happen, the unknown.

To become a better decision maker, become a decision maker. Practice making decisions quickly. Don't worry if they are the wrong decision, your accuracy improves over time. Form the habit of weighing the facts out and choosing quickly. This kills the habit of indecision in its tracks.

Ryan Biddulph

I think fear can pop up in ways you don't realize as well. A great way to overcome it is to realize that a lack of forward motion on pretty much anything is probably down to a fear of some sort. For me, I just have to acknowledge that and it helps motivate me to push forward anyway.

Yes, fear compels us to do things and sometimes, its against our will already but we still have to do it because of fear. However, that's why we need to evaluate ourselves at times too to check if what we're doing is right and if it will lead us to the right path as sometimes, due to fear and too much passion, we tend to do things leading us to the wrong path.

Fear is a decision stopper as well as decision starter. Example: As a decision-action starter, Fear of poverty/bankruptcy motivates an individual or a company to remain in productive action mode. Fear as a stopper holds back individuals and companies in pursuing activities that are outside the realm of activities which they usually perform.

As they say, you get the same result if you do the same thing. Doing things that are different brings different results but it involves an element of risk and the FEAR of receiving negative results act as a stopper.

I think, best way is to acknowledge the fear which is the cause of indecision and then evolve a strategy to combat the fear which may involve research, learning and real life simulated testing. Fear feelings are a good indicator of the things/areas in which self-improvement is needed. If you've learned to drive well - there exists no fear of driving but that fear was there when you were a newbie in driving but it disappeared as you learned and mastered driving.

And, sometimes fear has to do with your wrong belief's -- in this case your belief stops you from doing something but somehow after doing it you come to realize that you were holding a wrong belief, in this case learning to drive out the fear was not needed but what needed was just changing the your own belief.

Fear is truly a powerful feeling that stop you from taking that risk to go further in life. I think decision making and critical thinking is so huge to work on to become successful and better person.

Some very interesting posts on this topic. Thanks and keep the input flowing as we all face some fear at some point in time every now and then and it holds us back.

Fear is basically a state of mind and is subject to control and direction. It's interesting, take for example, Physicians, without fear or hesitation, have been known to physically contact hundreds of people, daily, who were suffering from such contagious diseases as small-pox, measles or tuberculosis, without becoming infected. Their immunity against the disease consisted, largely, if not solely, of their absolute lack of FEAR.

Nothing kills dreams more than fear. It's truly a silent killer.

One way to overcome it is preparation. Like a taking a test, more you prepare for it, more you'll be able to face it with readiness.

You sum it up very well. We all get stuck due to fear. For me fear of what people think would have to be the biggest block. The only way for me to move past this block is to set goals and push to achieve them. That way I focus more on the goal and the fear gets pushed to one side.