Are you scared your startup won’t succeed?

Even the world’s best entrepreneurs fight fear in their daily life, but how does it affect you, the choices you make and the risks you take?

“Every one of us carries fears in an invisible backpack,” says change management expert Mila Kachovska in Thrive.

Deep-seated fears that go unchecked can hold back many promising entrepreneurs.

“Fear itself is an emotion that causes a change in the brain and leads to visible changes in human [behaviour],” Kachovska says.

Some of the most common fears that prevent people from realising their full potential relate to the unknown, failure and rejection.

Read more: Why entrepreneur Jia Jing exposed himself to 100 rejections

“Fear stops many people to step forward into the unknown,” she says.

“And when we are afraid that we will fail, we often do quite unproductive things. The worst is that we surrender in advance.”

So what fear is stopping you right now from chasing your wildest dreams?

“[Because] the truth is that we have the choice to use fear as a driving force rather than a hindrance,” says Kachovska.

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