Why It’s Time to Let Go of the Fearless Mindset

Welcome to Faithful on the Clock, everybody! You’re listening to the show that gets your work and faith aligned, and for the next 10 minutes or so, I’m your host, Wanda Thibodeaux. Today’s episode is going to challenge one of the most popular mindsets in business, the fearless mindset. I’ll explain why the idea of fearlessness actually can hold you back in business or other areas of your life, so let’s hit it.

All right! So, the fearless mindset is this concept I hear all the time in business circles that you have to just be a warrior and face everything that scares you, you know, that you’ve gotta overcome or conquer all of your anxieties. And people will tack this idea on to positive risk-taking. So for example, maybe you’ve got an investment opportunity, and you’re a little apprehensive you’re gonna lose your money, but you go ahead and you invest anyway. Or maybe you’ve never worked in a certain industry before, so you’re nervous, but you go out and jump into it and just tell yourself it’ll be good for your career. And so it’s usually meant in a good way. Like, the people who say, “Be fearless,” I understand they’re just trying to encourage you to get out of your comfort zone and to grow a little bit. And again, this is a really popular idea. I know one professional, he’s kind of centered his whole game and brand around it.

But here’s the problem with the fearless mindset. My opinion is that every emotion, including fear, is a very normal part of life. It’s just there as a signal to you that says, “Hey, wait a minute. This might be unsafe. Have you really thought about what’s gonna go down here?” So fear, it’s just a protective mechanism. That’s all it is. And it’s 100 percent a regular part of the human experience, OK? Anybody who tells you they have no fear at all is lying. And in that context, in the context that fear does serve this positive purpose for you, I don’t really like the way we always treat it as this horrible thing that has to be eradicated.

That said, too much fear is stressful if you don’t handle it the right way. It can mess with you in all kinds of ways, whether that’s, you know, stomachaches, just freezing in your spot, keeping you awake at night…so even though God designed you to have this little alarm bell warning system inside of you that you might be facing some kind of risk or danger, fear also isn’t something you want to hang onto or let control your life. And so I first want to point you to 1 Timothy 1:7, which says, “For God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” And the way I interpret this is, it’s not that we’re never gonna feel fear. But our spirit, our core way of being, that center part of us that’s most connected to and reflective of God, that’s filled with strength. So when things get rough, we can have courage. We’re not gonna break and the fear isn’t going to rule or control us, because that center is so solid. And I know this might be a little confusing for some of you out there. You might say, “But Jesus has no idea of what fear is.” Or you might think God is too powerful to understand it. But we see in Matthew 26:39, when Jesus is about to be crucified and He’s in the garden of Gesthemane praying, He says, “O My Father, if it is possible, let this cup pass from me.” And you know, He says, basically, not my will, Father, but yours. But I really think that even though Jesus knew what was coming, He had that moment where He felt the fear of death, and I think God allowed that so that we really could say that Jesus has suffered and been tempted with everything anybody else suffers.

Now, if you want to extend this a bit, again, what did Jesus say? He said, “Not as I will, but as You will.” So in that moment of fear, He handed complete control over to God. He trusted God to do the right thing. And in the same way, when we get scared, we need to trust that God’s gonna make the right call for us, too. But there was something else going on in that garden, too, that I’ll show you. So now I want to take you to Isaiah 41:10, which says, “Fear not, for I am with you; be not dismayed, for I am your God; I will strengthen you, I will help, I will uphold you with my righteous right hand.” And there are similar verses like Joshua 1:9 and Deuteronomy 31:6. But all of those verses give reassurance that, you know, even when you’re on your own face in your own garden praying, God’s not gonna leave you. But this is the big verse I want you to memorize, OK? It’s Philippians 4:6-7, which says, “Do not be anxious about anything, but in everything by prayer and supplication with thanksgiving let your requests be made known to God. And the peace of God, which surpasses all understanding, will guard your hearts and your minds in Christ Jesus.”

See, it wasn’t just that Jesus trusted God to do the right thing. I think it was also that Jesus trusted that, if He went to God, God was going to take the fear He had and replace it with peace. He knew God could do that. I mean, think about a little 1- or 2-year-old kid. If they came to you and were just terrified, what would you do? You’d comfort them, right? You’d let them know you were right there. And that’s exactly what God wants to do with you. He wants to take all the fear you’ve got and calm you down. But I think what happens is, we get fed this message that there is no way to deal with fear except to face it all by our own strength. If we stick with the toddler analogy, we’re basically telling ourselves, “Well, tough luck, there is no parent or comforter, so I gotta just be brave and dig my heels in or I’m a nobody and I’m never gonna have any success.” And I want you to see that you never were really meant to do that, OK? You were never really meant to be dealing with fear without God. And I think the fearless mindset we have in business today, that's exactly what it promotes. So I just want you to understand that you don’t conquer fear. You give fear to God so that He can conquer it. Do you see the difference? Because remember, just like a parent compared to the toddler, He’s got so much strength, so much knowledge, so much everything that we don’t, and so He is infinitely more equipped to carry it.

So what it boils down to is, you can be, quote-unquote, fearless, but it doesn’t come from you. It comes from your relationship with God. It comes from, you know, like Proverbs 3:5-6 say, leaning not on your own understanding and submitting to Him in everything. And my challenge for you in this is that, when you need to get fear out of the way, instead of, you know, making a list of your accomplishments or coming up with all sorts of rationalizations about why the fear doesn’t make sense–because remember, a lot of the time, fear, it’s not logical at all, anyway–just stop. Just stop and tell yourself, “I can be fearless thanks to the God Who walks alongside me.” It’s that little “thanks to” part that really helps you connect to the accurate why behind it all so you can be courageous without losing the humility you should have.

So let’s just take a moment, and I just want to offer a quick prayer to wrap things up before I send you on your way.

Lord, part of what makes You so amazing is that you understand us so completely, including all the things we feel, including fear and anxiety and all the stress that comes along with that. And God, I thank you that, because you understand how hurtful fear can be to us, how devastating it can be, that you always are beside us and willing to exchange that fear for peace. I ask that you help us set our egos aside so we remember we don’t have to carry this burden, and I thank you for your Son, Jesus, who died to make sure we’d always have Your help. In Jesus’ name, I pray, Amen.

We’ve finished another episode, listeners. Thanks for sticking with me. You’ll definitely want to be ready for the next show, because we’re talking about the essential things you need when you are pitching. That could be to win a project or funding or reaching out to someone for mentoring, there are a lot of scenarios, but I’ll lay out exactly how to make a case for yourself or your business. To make sure you don’t miss that, subscribe to the show at faithfulontheclock.captivate.fm or wherever you get your podcasts. I’ll see you in two weeks, everybody. Be blessed!