Silicon Valley entrepreneur James Faulkerson, founder of Imaginative Systems Inc. and TransImage Corp., first faced extreme fear as a young man in Vietnam. The ability to face fear he learned in combat was critical when he had to take risks as an entrepreneur, he says. In the high-tech arena, if you wait until you have all the information, the market will pass you by. I would scour every piece of information I could get, but in the end I had to trust my instincts. Understanding that fear is illogical, yet has power over you, can be one of the most important lessons in your life.
Most people learn about fear as children.
Infants have few fears. Unfortunately, once those fears become present most people acquire many more than they need. I didn't develop an expertise on this topic by parachuting out of a jet over the North Pole. I learned it earlier, during many successive skydiving jumps. Focus on the action you want to do but have been afraid to attempt.