Fear Is Fuel by Patrick Sweeney II

Author:Patrick Sweeney II
Language: eng
Format: epub
Publisher: Rowman & Littlefield Publishers
Published: 2020-01-07T16:00:00+00:00

Figure 7.2. Valence Elimination

Courage and confidence drive some of the most famous individuals to make radically better choices than average people. Buzz Aldrin, the legendary astronaut and the second man on the moon, was a fighter pilot in Germany when he first heard about the astronaut training program. One of the principal requirements for application was that the astronauts be experienced test pilots. Aldrin wasn’t a test pilot. Not surprisingly, Aldrin applied and not surprisingly given the strictness of the military in following procedures, he was rejected. He could have responded by telling them to kiss his ass, or going out and getting drunk. He was a winner, though; he was a producer of his own life. Military personnel are trained to follow rules and stay in line so, one would think that after being told he was not astronaut material he would have stayed a fighter pilot, become an instructor, returned to the Military Academy to bring up the next generation, or any one of the opportunities that were open to him as a decorated combat-proven pilot. Instead, he went back to NASA again and reapplied. He didn’t blame the military for stupid rules, he didn’t say it was someone else’s fault he didn’t get it. He rewrote the application and convinced them that he should be accepted. He controlled what he could control. Aldrin says he never thought he’d be one of the first guys on the moon. This time he was accepted. He wasn’t even on the original crew that would go to the moon; he and Neil Armstrong were on the backup crew that got their shot when the primary crew was killed in a freak on-the-ground testing accident months before the launch.

Another easy way to think about eliminating the valence shortcuts when you think you are right is, as Ray Dalio famously learned, ask yourself why you are right (see chapter 10). This forces the same type of thorough analysis on your course of action that will not let shortcuts slip through.

Breathe, Assess, Smile and shift, and Eliminate shortcuts (BASE)—that’s an easy to remember, neuroscience-based method of putting fear to work for you. Try it next time you are feeling anxious. I used it last year and it saved me $125,000 and a bad hangover. I shit you not, it works. If it helps, repeat the mantra “having courage takes fear” as you breathe. I guarantee BASE will get you back to a position to realize only you can control how you feel, only you can create courage, and eventually, just maybe, you will be cool enough to get curious as to why you got so worked up in the first place.

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