Is fear sapping your energy and holding you back from achieving all you want to in life? A simple change in focus can help to free you from debilitating fear and propel you into enhanced self-belief and bring about successful results in your life. Learn how to use the power of your mind to unlock the motivation and determination required to bring about your success. Put your renewed energy into taking positive action that will help you achieve your dreams.

Are you held back by fear?

* Our minds can only focus on one thing at a time
* What we focus our thoughts on determines our actions
* Our actions determine our results

If your focus is on avoiding the pain of failure then you are unlikely to take the kind of actions that will lead to successful results in your life. Instead you will avoid situations that might make you look less than perfect, or remain frozen in place worrying about whether you are good enough, smart enough or beautiful enough to live up to other people's expectations.

These fears and negative thoughts are debilitating and rob you of energy and motivation, preventing you achieving the very things that are calling out to you. William Shakespeare said in his play Measure for Measure: 'Our doubts are traitors, and make us lose the good we oft might win by fearing to attempt'.

It doesn't have to end here

* Fear is just our way of helping us avoid getting hurt
* We don't have to 'overcome' our fears in order to move forward
* Shifting our focus can re-energise and motivate us to succeed

The good news is you don't have to judge yourself for fearing failure. The great news is you don't have to spend endless hours trying to uncover the cause or trying to overcome your fear by sheer force of will.

Accepting that it is natural to feel fear in unfamiliar situations allows you to get your doubts into perspective. Taking positive actions to give you the best possible outcomes can help to lessen the fear of failure.

Shifting your focus onto what you do want, instead of what you don't want is powerful. Remember, your mind can only hold one thought at a time. If that thought is success, then fear of failure has lost its hold over you.

Use the power of your mind

* Developing a compelling vision of success creates motivation
* Identifying the benefits that success will bring builds our resilience
* Drawing on this motivation propels us into action

Create a clear vision of what success means to you. Become really specific about what you want to achieve. Imagine yourself attaining success. How will you know? How will you feel? Make sure that your goals are aligned with your core values and truly reflect what is important to you, not what you think you should be doing to please others.

Naming the benefits that will flow from succeeding will build your determination to keep acting in ways that will bring about the success you seek. Use your imagination to your advantage and make it work for you. Use the energy that comes from this focused way of thinking to propel you into motion.

Then take positive action to move you forward step by step. Draw on your strengths and your abilities to put your plans into action so that you can achieve the goals you desire and fulfil your dreams.

About the author

Marian Kerr draws on experience and skills gained through self-employment, team leading, training, journalism and extensive community work to gently communicate her vision of self-acceptance and self-empowerment to clients of all ages.