Fear. Whether you like it or not, it is one of the most propelling emotions on the planet. It causes us to act and to withhold action.
Fear is most commonly associated with what stops us from doing something. You back out of a social encounter because you are afraid it will be awkward and embarrassing. You don’t try because you are afraid of failure. You didn’t sign up for that competition, even though you had a solid shot at winning, because you have stage fright. You don’t climb the mountain because you have a fear of heights.
There is a reason fear is all around us in media and marketing: it works. It doesn’t have to be a negative thing: it can drive some very powerful positive behavior.
Fear doesn’t have to hold you back. Instead, it can be what makes you move forward. Indeed, you run your fastest when in fear for your life. In that way, overcoming fear can be a simple matter of using it your advantage.
Make Fear Your Alley through Learning How to Box
This year, you can turn your fears into strengths through learning how to fight.
Boxing will help you overcome your fears in a number of ways, both obvious and surprising, by teaching you some invaluable life lessons.
Here are 13 tips that apply in and out of the ring and will help you become the master of your fears and ultimately of your life.
Don’t Fear Failure; Fear Holding Back
In boxing, failure to block a punch means you get hit. In time, though, you will find that getting hit is not so bad just as in life you will learn that failure is not so bad.
The only thing worth fearing is holding back. If you go for it and you give everything you’ve got—even if you lose—you won’t regret having fought.
Bruce Lee, whose fighting style was shaped in many ways by boxing, is quoted for the following:
[bctt tweet=”Don’t fear failure. Not failure, but low aim, is the crime. In great attempts, it is glorious even to fail. —Bruce Lee” username=”fortisfight”]
This year, turn your fear of failure into a fear of not trying. Don’t sit on the sidelines anymore: get up and learn how to box—and count it a win even if you fail gloriously.
Face Danger with Open Eyes
One of the first things you will have to train your body to do when learning how to box is to keep your eyes open. When something flies at your face, shutting your eyes is an instinctive response. Unfortunately, in boxing, this habit is highly impractical and will take some time to break.
We close our eyes because we are afraid but that’s not handling the threat: it’s running away. Boxing will teach you to keep your eyes open when danger rushes at you—and that is the first step toward flying in the face of it.
Boxing will teach you to be more afraid of the hits you can’t see coming, which is a far more useful fear to have. Be more afraid of keeping your eyes shut than of what is coming at you.
If you stuff a bill into the bottom of your drawer because you are afraid of the amount inside, your dues will only increase. Instead of being crippled by a fear of a hard hit—whether physical or financial: let fear of ignorance be what motivates you to face every threat head-on.
Become the Pursuer
The first time you spar, you will be reacting. Your opponent will throw a blow and you, in response, might try to block or counter it. If they are coming at you too hard, you will probably back away. You will be in survival mode.
Over time, however, boxing will teach you to take the offensive.
Through hard work and consistent training, you will soon find that you are not automatically the weaker of two opponents. You will start realizing that you don’t have to fear your opponent’s punches or back down every time they take a swing at you.
While you will begin by learning a solid defensive stance—shoulders hunched, head tucked, gloves pressed against your temples—you will eventually advance to a level at which you can stand taller and hold your gloves out in front of you for better vision and control.
Boxing will teach you that you can become the pursuer and eventually this can become your response to every challenge in life.
Be Tough
Boxing will teach you how to turn the fear of getting hurt into a fear of staying weak.
Part of how you learn that getting hurt is not so bad is by realizing that you are much tougher than you or others might think.
Boxing teaches you to be tough, in and out of the ring. It teaches resilience. This is what I have found, in my personal life, to be one of the most powerful benefits of boxing.
I complete a tough training session with two straight hours of sparring and walk out of the gym beaten, bruised, and entirely exhausted. But my step is light and my heart is soaring. If I can handle this, I tell myself, I can get through everything else too.
Believe in Yourself
Muhammed Ali, arguably the greatest boxers of all time, is a perfect example of how important it is to believe in yourself, yet he only got to the top by starting at the bottom:
[bctt tweet=””Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.” —Muhammad Ali” username=”fortisfight”]
“Only a man who knows what it is like to be defeated can reach down to the bottom of his soul and come up with the extra ounce of power it takes to win when the match is even.”
—Muhammad Ali
Ali teaches us that believing in yourself is crucial: believe you are great and you will be. Boxing will teach you how to turn defeat into faith. Instead of fearing defeat, use what you learn from it—that is how you will become great.
In his book, The Soul of a Butterfly, Muhammad Ali quoted Jesse Jackson:
[bctt tweet=”“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it—then I can achieve it.” —Jesse Jackson” username=”fortisfight”]
“If my mind can conceive it, and my heart can believe it—then I can achieve it.”
—Jesse Jackson
Boxing will teach you to believe in yourself, so you can stand in front of the mirror and say with Muhammad Ali: “I am the greatest.”
[bctt tweet=”“I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.” —Muhammad Ali” username=”fortisfight”]
“I am the greatest. I said that even before I knew I was.”
—Muhammad Ali
You can also wear the great Muhammad Ali’s words on this boxing tee .
Don’t Fear Criticism; Fear Stagnation
The people who will acknowledge what you do well while telling you openly and in a nonhostile manner what you are doing wrong are some of the most valuable individuals you will ever meet.
In boxing and in life, feedback is critical in order to improve. If you have a sparring partner who stops to point out how you can better block their punches or land yours, buy this man or woman a drink!
Positive feedback is important, too. Without it, you won’t know or be able to find confidence in your strengths. Without criticism, though, you won’t know or be able to target your weaknesses.
If you are the kind of person who is too arrogant to take criticism, people will probably stop giving it—at least in a constructive way, and that would be a sore loss. Instead, become the kind of person who is constantly improving by seeking out criticism.
Be Fueled by Your Indignation, Not Frustrated
Let your frustrations be what motivate you, not what make you quit. Quitting, along with not trying, is the thing to fear above all else.
Take it from Marvelous Marvin, the undisputed middleweight champion of the eighties, who let indignation fuel his fight to reach the top:
[bctt tweet=””In order to be at the top and maintain your focus you have to have something that motivates you. For me, it was what I perceived as a lack of respect from the boxing world as well as the media, which made me want to work so hard and be great.” —Marvelous Marvin Hagler” username=”fortisfight”]
“In order to be at the top and maintain your focus you have to have something that motivates you. For me, it was what I perceived as a lack of respect from the boxing world as well as the media, which made me want to work so hard and be great.”
—Marvelous Marvin Hagler
He didn’t let the fear that he wouldn’t be respected stop him from fighting: he used it to propel himself forward and become one of the greatest boxers known today.
Don’t be Afraid of People
Fear of other people manifests itself in many ways, from social anxiety to fear of performing in front of a crowd. But there is no reason to be afraid of people—whether strangers or friends—nor of what they think.
Maybe you are one of those people who, like me, has preferred exercising in the comforts of your own home. Perhaps it’s because the idea that people are watching you at the gym makes you feel anxious. Maybe the pressure of social interactions gives you yet another reason to skip an exercise class.
If any of this sounds familiar, you need to face your fear head-on. What better way to get over a fear of strangers than through the close quarters and sometimes painfully awkward situations of a full-contact sport?
Again, you will learn that you are tough, even when a stranger is trying to hurt you. (Some sparring partners do more than others.) There is a silver lining here: if you can stand people trying to punch you in the face, you should be well equipped to handle it when they are simply looking at you.
More importantly, boxing will teach you how to understand yourself through others.
Observing, interacting with, learning from, and teaching other people is one of the best ways to understand yourself.
In that way, people are extraordinarily valuable. If you’ve read my article about 10 Types of Sparring Partners, you may have discovered a little bit of yourself in each one.
By watching others at the gym, you can learn about yourself and ultimately improve your game.
Don’t Fear What’s in Your Heart; Fight from it
What is in your heart—the things that make it flutter with excitement or causes your blood to boil in rage? Fight for that, and fight from there.
Don’t cower from or try to hide your innermost feelings: embrace them and use them. Make sure your heart is in rhythm and driving you forward.
Everything comes from your heart, including your rhythm, and a boxer without rhythm is no more than a stumbling pair of shoes and gloves.
Generally regarded as one of the greatest boxers of all time, Sugar Ray Robinsons shares the following pivotal advice:
[bctt tweet=””Rhythm is everything in boxing. Every move you make starts with your heart, and that’s in rhythm or you’re in trouble.” —Sugar Ray Robinson ” username=”fortisfight”]
“Rhythm is everything in boxing. Every move you make starts with your heart, and that’s in rhythm or you’re in trouble.”
—Sugar Ray Robinson
Fight for Perfection
It doesn’t matter if you will never achieve it: perfection is still worth fighting for.
Mike Tyson, another one of the greatest boxers in history and an undeniable legend in the sport, is famous for saying: “I fight for perfection.”
[bctt tweet=” “I fight for perfection.” —Iron Mike Tyson” username=”fortisfight”]
“I fight for perfection.”
—Iron Mike Tyson
When asked by his interviewer, Charlie Rose, if he achieves it, Tyson replied: “No one does, but we aim for it.”
Once again, you must face your fear of failure. The aim is not to avoid failure at all costs: the aim is to succeed or do a damn good job trying.
Learn from the Greats
I’ve quoted a few great fighters in this article and there are many more from whom you can learn.
In boxing and just about any area of life, there are inspirational figures who can share what they have learned in their pursuits. While there is a lot we can learn from, for examples, the world’s greatest boxers, a great person doesn’t have to be a celebrity.
Find someone at your own gym whom you respect and who is willing to share what their experience has taught them. No one achieves success alone: we all need mentors.
Share What You Know
One of the greatest joys in life is being able to pass on what you have learned to someone else. If you have been a mentee, you can also become a mentor.
Another invaluable skill I have gained from boxing is learning by teaching. To that end, here is a final quote to conclude this post, not from the greatest boxers of all time but from one of my own trainers:
[bctt tweet=”“I’ve found when people rehash what they’ve learned by teaching somebody new it reinforces in their own head.” —Uro Pavi” username=”fortisfight”]
“I’ve found when people rehash what they’ve learned by teaching somebody new it reinforces in their own head.”
—Uro Pavi
So go on and share what you’ve learned and, if you enjoyed this post, don’t forget to share it too!
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