When Faith Meets Fear The best care for your heart, and for everyone in it.

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It took Alexander the Great 10 years—from the time he was 23 to his death at age of 33—to conquer most of the known world. Alexander has been studied and admired throughout the centuries for his incredible willingness and ability to take action in the face of adversity.

This is made even more interesting by the fact that Alexander’s armies were always outnumbered, sometimes by as much as twenty to one. But Alexander’s philosophy was to attack so swiftly and move so quickly that his soldiers didn’t have time to be afraid. He knew that fear is the greatest obstacle to success. The more we think about all the possible reasons something won’t work out, the more our fear paralyzes us, and we end up not taking any action at all.

Fear blocks more people from achieving their goals. It is the anticipation of negative results, imagination working overtime. People are afraid of failing, afraid they will make a mistake, afraid they will look foolish. Many times, what we’re afraid of isn’t even real. You could look at the acronym F.E.A.R., which stands for False Evidence Appearing Real, and realize it’s the reason we start to believe the excuses we make for ourselves. Therefore, the first step in taming any fear is to analyze what is real and what is not. Then dive in and take action.

In order to take action, we have to learn to get rid of our fear of failure. Author Tom Peters tells about how he had the privilege of introducing the late Sam Walton, the founder of Walmart, when he was going to be introduced into the sales and marketing executives Hall of Fame.

“What can you say in two minutes about a guy like Walton?” says Peters. “During that time, I called David Glass, CEO of Walmart. I said, ‘If you had 90 seconds to say something about Sam Walton, what would you say?’ Quicker than a wink, he answered, ‘Sam Walton is not afraid to fail. He’ll give something a try, he’ll make a total mess of it, and walk back in tomorrow with a smile on his face and another idea.’ It’s that ability to try something, make a mess of it, and get on with the next action that allows us to win out over fear.”

What we don’t think about is that there’s only one first time. Once you take an action, it could never be quite as scary or difficult again. Comedian Rita Rudner told me when she got up on stage for the first time in the beginning of her career she was in front of a handful of drunken patrons at three in the morning. Those times were difficult, but she faced her fears and went on. Not only did she put the worst behind her, she learned something every time she stepped up to that microphone.

Every time we step up to try something we’ve never done before, we learn more than we expect. The uniqueness of the experience gives us insights we could never get except by taking an action. Why is it that children are such quick learners? It’s because everything is new to them. They’re experiencing everything for the first time. When we venture out into new worlds, we open our minds and our senses to things we might never otherwise experience. Our knowledge of the world expands tremendously with each new step we take.

RWJBarnabas Health has a passion for heart health, with the largest adult and pediatric cardiac surgery programs in the state, a heart transplant program that’s in the top 10 nationally, the latest technology and medical advancements and hundreds of wellness and prevention programs to strengthen and protect healthy hearts. Whoever your heart beats for, our hearts beat for you. Learn more at rwjbh.org/tavr

Barry Farber is a best-selling author, an award winning radio and television host as well as an agent and marketing consultant for corporations, professional athletes, and entertainers. He’s also the creator and marketer of the FoldzFlat® Pens. His latest release is an inspirational children’s book “In search of the magic tree” available at www.barryfarber.com