Ever wake up with the MLM Fear? You know, those feelings that come over you all of a sudden and scream “YOU'RE GOING TO FAIL!” It happened to me this morning, and it was wicked. That sick feeling in the pit of my stomach was so intense I almost couldn't get out of bed. The feeling stayed with me until I reached for my wrist (more on that later).

Jerry Clarke calls this phenomenon part of Murphy's Committee's attacks to make sure we don't succeed. We could even go back to the sixties (1960s) and use the phrase immortalized by Spiro Agnew: Nattering Nabobs of Negativity (N-cubed!). Whatever you call the feeling, the MLM Fear is nothing more than an expression of the fear emotion from within.

Tony Robbins in his Lessons in Mastery series talks about emotions identifying them as action signals. Emotions tell us something is occurring in our lives and if we want to avoid pain and maximize pleasure, we need to take some sort of action.

MLM Fear is an action signal telling us that we're not prepared for something that is happening or is about to happen. It could also be telling us that something we're doing isn't enough and we won't achieve ours goals unless we change our approach.

This first MLM fear can result from inactivity. You signed up for this new business but aren't taking an active role in promoting the business and duplicating your upline. In this case, the MLM fear is that the MLM “business” is going on around you, but your inaction will result in your failure. You're simply not prepared for success.

The second MLM fear can result from taking action, for example, making cold calls, but not making any sales or signing up new members. Perhaps you're only making a couple of calls a night or you could be a powerhouse making dozens of calls a night. If you're doing all this action and not seeing any results, the mind eventually interprets this as inadequate and formulates the conscious message that you won't achieve your goals.

So how do we deal with MLM fear? First, we need to identify the feeling we have as fear. Second, we need to interrupt the pattern of thought or actions that results in this fear. Third, we need to substitute a new, better way of thinking, of responding to the situations that result in MLM fear.

The first step is relatively easy. Whenever you have the sick feeling in the pit of your stomach, it's probably MLM fear. If you have a sense or feeling of dread, of impending doom, it's probably MLM fear.

Granted, it could be something other than MLM fear. If you're being audited by the IRS, that sick feeling may be caused by the audit fear rather than the MLM fear. Perhaps you're going through some personal crisis. This can also result in fear other than MLM fear. Or, like me, you could be cowering in fear because your wife insists on going out dancing. However, if you don't want to be governed by fear even in these areas, the following may help overcoming even those fears.

The second step is breaking the pattern of thoughts or actions that lead to MLM fear (or other fears). Personally, my path to fear lies in my thoughts more than my actions or the way I hold or move my body. It's usually results from my overlooking something I need to do to make my MLM business successful. It begins with guilt for not doing what is required and quickly moves to fear anticipating failure.

There are a number of mental ways to interrupt these thought patterns. But I happen to like a physical way to overcome this MLM fear: a sturdy, strong rubber band around the wrist. Whenever I felt the MLM fear coming on, even when I felt those first inklings of guilt, I reached down to my wrist, grabbed that rubber band, pulled it out almost to the breaking point, and then let go.

Talk about pain! The first days I tried this method my wrist was actually swollen from snapping the band so many times. But by day three, my mind would not let me even consider MLM fear, or any other fear. What I was doing was associating massive pain with MLM fear, and no pain with not feeling the fear.

The method isn't perfect. There are still days/times when I feel the MLM fear like this morning. But all I have to do now is reach for my wrist and the fear goes away. I've reconditioned my mind.

The third step in overcoming MLM fear is to develop a new, better way of thinking and responding to MLM fear. This may seem simplistic but I found that repeating certain key words after snapping the band, or reaching for my wrist, seems to work for me.

Here's how it works. Close your eyes and take deep breaths from the stomach (deep breathing). This calms the mind and body by lowering the heart rate and overall respiration. Then softly but firmly repeat the key words over and over in your mind, almost meditating on them. I've found the best words are “confidence,” “success,” and “courage” to deal with MLM fear.

But also realize that you may have to change your approach to overcoming MLM fear. For example, if you're currently making cold calls trying to recruit people, making calls every night, and you're still experiencing MLM fear, then perhaps you need to find a different way of achieving your goals. There are other methods of recruiting besides cold calling that work quite well. Do yourself a favor and explore other avenues to success, confidence, and courage.

MLM fear is not something you have to accept. You can take positive, active steps to manage your fear and overcome it. Try these techniques out the next time you feel fear crowding in on your plans for success. Your wrist may not like it, but the rest of you will.

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