FFN 055： Feel the Fear
Episode Stats
Words per Minute
191.08281
Summary
Fear is real, and it s time to embrace it, not run away from it. Fear is a powerful emotion, and we should use it to our advantage, not against it. You are a man of action. You live life to the fullest. You embrace your fears. You boldly chart your own path. You are not easily deterred or defeated.
Transcript
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You're a man of action. You live life to the fullest. Embrace your fears and boldly chart
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your own path. When life knocks you down, you get back up one more time. Every time.
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You are not easily deterred or defeated. Rugged. Resilient. Strong. This is your life. This is who
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you are. This is who you will become. At the end of the day, and after all is said and done,
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you can call yourself a man. Gentlemen, what is going on today? My name is Ryan Michler,
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and I am the host and the founder of the podcast you are listening to right now,
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The Order of Man. I wanted to welcome all the newbies and the Order of Man veterans that may
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be listening in right now. If it weren't for you, this whole movement that we're creating
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just would not be possible. So I first and foremost want to thank you for that.
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Just in case you are new, you are now listening to the Friday Field Notes segment of this podcast,
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which is released each and every Friday. Obviously, that's why we call it the Friday Field Notes.
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I'm going to share with you some thoughts for the next eight to 10 minutes on some things that have
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been bouncing around in my brain for the last week. But I do want you to know we also have an
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interview show where I interview the world's most successful and interesting men. I extract their
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lessons and then I bring those lessons straight to you. Next week, guys, is no exception to that.
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And if you have not yet subscribed to the podcast, make sure that you do. Do it today if you have not
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done it because you are not going to want to miss my interview with the Motor City Madman himself,
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Mr. Ted Nugent. I'm so stoked to bring this podcast to you next week. So again, make sure you subscribe
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so you catch that one and every other episode that we're putting out there. Also, if you are
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interested in asking me a question, any question, I don't care what it is, I'm going to try to be a
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bit more active on Twitter so you can post your questions to me by tagging at OrderOfMan on Twitter
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and I'll look forward to answering you over there. Now, let's get into the discussion today.
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I heard this phrase early in the week. I've heard it before. You've heard it. And it talks about fear,
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that fear is not real. I'm sure you've heard the acronym that explains fear as false evidence
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appearing real. And I'm here to tell you that that line is total BS. Fear is real. And in the next
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eight minutes or so, I'm going to prove to you that it is real. I'm going to tell you why you should
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be embracing fear, not running away from it, and how you can use that emotion of fear to your
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advantage. That acronym, false evidence appearing real, it's a cute little catchphrase used by the
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motivational gurus to teach you that you have nothing to fear. And while I can see that there
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may be some validity to that, trying to keep fear from being real is, in my experience, a very damaging
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thought. If anyone listening to this has been in the military, for example, you can assure others
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that fear is real. If you have ever come face to face with the business end of a gun, you can assure
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others that fear is real. If you have done anything at all difficult in your life, you can assure other
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people that fear is real. In other words, every single one of us has experienced fear. And rather than run
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away from it, again, we should be running towards it. We should be embracing it. Children, boys,
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they run from fear. Children pretend the things that scare them don't exist. I remember, for example,
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when I was younger, I was afraid of the dark. I would hear things at night that would scare me,
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probably just the house creaking. And I would pretend that I was somewhere else. And when my daughter
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gets scared, she covers her eyes as if somehow the threat disappears just because she can't see it.
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And that is the danger of pretending that fear is non-existent or that it's simply false evidence
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appearing real. Could you imagine if, while I was in Iraq, our unit pretended that the enemy
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just didn't exist? Or watching a football game where one side didn't realize they were playing
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against somebody else? It's laughable in those conditions, yet we ignore the enemy every time we
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try to suppress the natural tendency to feel and experience fear. Every time we ask a woman on a
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date, every time we go on stage to talk with hundreds or thousands of people, every time we have a
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conversation with our employer about a raise, every time we need to have a difficult conversation,
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I want you to know that fear is real. It's ugly. It's cruel. And it is the enemy. It will keep you
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from doing what you know, what you know you should be doing. It's going to keep you from living the
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incredible life that you're trying to live. So again, rather than run from it or pretend
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that it doesn't exist, let's embrace it. Let's run towards it. And more importantly, let's strive
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to understand. This is the key to understand that fear is an indicator. It's an indicator. What do I mean
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by this? What do I mean that fear is an indicator? Fear is simply an emotion. That's all it is. It's there
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to warn you that you're about to do something incredibly stupid or something that's just
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going to push you outside of your comfort zone a little bit. Imagine this. You're driving down the
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road and you begin to hear a beeping noise coming from your dashboard. You look down and you notice
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the low fuel light is blinking at you. Are you afraid of that? The fact that it's blinking at you?
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Of course not. But I'm willing to bet that you're going to be looking for a gas station within the next
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few miles. Fear works the exact same way. When you feel that fear welling up inside you, don't freak
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out. Pause. Strive to understand the indicator that it is and then you can act accordingly. The problem
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though is that through thousands of years of evolution, our brains, our human brains, still have
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a difficult time distinguishing between events that will kill us and events that might just make us
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a little uncomfortable. Our ancestors felt fear because they were running away from the T-Rex on
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their heels or that they were about to freeze to death. But the likelihood of you being consumed
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by an overgrown lizard or freeze because you can't find a cave to dwell in are significantly lower than
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they used to be. More likely, it's that you'll say something dumb or you'll get rejected or you'll lose
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your job or people will say mean things that hurt your feelings. Hardly life-threatening situations,
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guys, that we're dealing with here. And yet here we are dealing with the same exact emotion and
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biological programming our Neanderthal ancestors dealt with thousands of years ago. Is walking out on that
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stage in front of thousands or hundreds or dozens even of people going to get you killed? No. It's going to
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build your confidence. Are you going to die by asking that woman you've had your eye on out? No.
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It's simply going to get you a date. Is starting that business going to cause you serious harm,
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injury, and or death? No. It's going to open your eyes to a whole new world of making money.
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So our job, again, is not to run from fear, but to run towards it. To recognize it. Recognize it for
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what it is, an indicator, and then respond accordingly. While everyone is out there living
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in la-la land pretending life is a series of magical rainbows and unicorns and fairy tales and that fear
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is quote-unquote false evidence appearing real, you're out there looking that fear in the face,
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slaying dragons, and crushing every single thing that gets in your way. While everybody else is out
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there complacent and lazy and comfortable because nothing could possibly be out there that would
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hurt you, and heaven forbid you do something that makes you feel just a little uncomfortable,
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you're going to be out there growing your mind and your body and your soul. You're expanding,
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you're living, you're embracing what you've always been afraid of and turning it into your strength.
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While everyone is out there living a docile, lifeless, soulless life,
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you're out there making things happen. You're feeding off the energy of the thing that once
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crippled you and you're making something of your life. While everyone's out there resting
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on the mild success they may have had as the quarterback in high school, you're out training
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harder and reading more and fighting like a caged dog because you know the enemy is real.
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That enemy, guys, is fear. It's real. It's mean. It wants to destroy you. And the only thing that
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keeps that enemy in check is for you to become better than it. And the only way for you to become
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better than the fear that is keeping you back is to meet that fear on the battlefield and destroy it.
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So guys, that's my message for you today. If you are interested in learning more about fear,
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how it hurts you, how to use it to your advantage, and how to beat it on that battlefield,
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I encourage you to join our exclusive band of brothers, the Iron Council. When you band with us,
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one of the first things that you're going to do is you're going to create a battle plan.
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This is an opportunity for you to figure out exactly, exactly what you want, how you're going
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to get it, what's keeping you from having it, that fear and those other barriers that keep you from
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having success in your life, and most importantly, the specific actionable tactics that you'll need
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to employ to have what you want. So I don't care if that's an incredible marriage to a beautiful
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woman, the body that you've always wanted, the bank account you've always dreamt of, the business
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that you've always wanted to start. Maybe it's the connection with your kids that you wish you had.
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Whatever that looks like for you, my goal, along with the other 280 members of the Iron Council,
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is to give you the tools and the guidance and the resources and the direction that you need to
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have it. So if you're ready for that calling, you can find out more and reserve your seat at
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orderaman.com slash ironcouncil. That's orderaman.com slash ironcouncil. Remember guys, subscribe so you do
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not miss my conversation with Ted Nugent next week. Until then, feel that fear. Embrace that fear.
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To respond accordingly and become the man you are meant to be. Thank you for listening to the
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Order of Man podcast. You're ready to take charge of your life and be more of the man you were meant
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to be. We invite you to join the order at orderofman.com.