Dr. Hall also suggests that when confronted with a life-changing choice, you use guided imagery. The scenario she uses for herself involves imagining herself near the end of her life, with a grandchild asking what she most regrets and what she is most proud of. To her, the ability to say to her grandchild “I did it—I wanted to and so I tried” is often more valuable even than saying “I succeeded.” Using your imagination to find out what you really want out of life will create in you the determination to get past fear.

JOE GIRARD: CONFIDENCE BREEDS CONFIDENCE

Joe Girard, who has been described by the Guinness Book of World Records as the world’s greatest salesman, details the start of his incredible career in How to Sell Yourself. Girard describes listening to a sermon by Dr. Norman Vincent Peale, in which he said that the most powerful word in the English language is faith, but that there is a second word “so powerful that if you let it, it can wipe out faith.” Girard continues:

“That word,” [Peale] said, in tones that showed his contempt for it, “is a four-letter word called fear.” Again, he spelled it. “Fear that you can’t be or do something, fear of the past and its consequences, fear of tomorrow for what tomorrow might bring, fear that you might fail.”

Girard tells how Peale’s vivid description perfectly described his early career. Prior to age 35, “fear became the ruling factor in my life.” He describes his own climb out from under this destructive weight and concludes that there are “five rules to

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