“I’m the only son of my parents. No relatives. I want to join the forces. I’m a die hard aspirant. But sometimes, my senses ticks me saying that if I ever became an officer in the armed forces and there is a war, then let my fate be alone, if something happens to me, who will look after my parents?”
These are the words of an aspirant who wants to join the army and at the same time, wants to look after his aging parents.
Let me tell you one thing if ever you became an officer in the armed forces, your life will be totally different from what it is now. You will be a ‘sarkari damaad’. Your parents will be in a full custody of the Indian Government. Nothing less than but initial years of training will keep you apart and after your marriage, you can move into well furnished ‘damaad ghar’ with your family and take them along wherever your posting is.
There is nothing to worry about in this case and it’s never late to start now. So turn the deviating steering of your vehicle towards your goal and push the accelerator hard.
Here, I give some tips on how to overcome the fear you possess and how to motivate yourself:
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Taking small steps: This is good for fear that can seem overwhelming at first. For instance the strong feeling – it can almost feel like a flight or fight response – just before doing public speaking or every time you think of thoughts like this again.
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Consider the cost of missed opportunities: The biggest risk that aspirants fail to consider is the benefit they lose by avoiding high risk/high reward opportunities. If you are in front of such an opportunity then grab it tight.
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Getting some concrete, positive motivation: Get to the stage where you really feel that you need to stop waiting – or need stop reading one personal development book after another – and action can take some time. One way to get moving is to replace some of your negative thoughts – that creates negative feelings – with clear, positive reasons to get going. Take 5 minutes. Take out a piece of paper and a pen. And write down all the wonderful ways you can come up with how making this change will improve your life.
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Seeing failure and rejection in a new light: Often it´s easier to not do something because we fear failure and rejection. We may fear failure when starting on a new career path. And rejection from friends, family and the people around us if we fail. Don´t take failure or rejection that seriously. Know that it´s not the end of the world if you fail. Instead, look at each failure and see the good part about: what you can learn from it and improve next time. Have an abundance mentality. Learn from failures and then they try again.
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Take action – The best way to reduce fear and build confidence is taking action. As soon as you do, you’ll begin accumulating experience and knowledge. Everything is hardest the first time. It’s like jumping off a cliff into a lake — after you do it once, you see that the water is safe and each time afterwards is easy. Start off with small steps and build up your confidence until the fear of failure is manageable.
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Burn the boats – When ancient Greek armies traveled across the sea to do battle, the first thing they would do after landing was to burn the boats, leaving them stranded. With no way to make it home besides victory, the resolve of the soldiers was strengthened. When success and failure are the only options, you have no choice but to follow through.
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Stay Motivated: Here’s a mantra for staying motivated. Just say to yourself every morning and night:
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Today is the day that I drop the heavy weight of doubts and fears, bury them deep under the ground and take the rest of the journey without them.
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Today is the day that I take my dreams seriously (but myself not so much!).
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Today is the day that I make no exceptions to my values but plenty of room for failure, should it wish to show up.
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Today is the day that I refuse to touch any endeavor unless it is with my absolute best effort. Tomorrow, I will raise the bar higher.
Feel free to contact me for any queries through my social link below.
