Mastering Fear: Harnessing Emotion to Achieve Excellence in Work, Health and Relationships

by Robert Maurer, Michelle Gifford

Achieving and sustaining success is difficult. Why do some people struggle to get started or stay the course? Why do others seem to sabotage their hard-earned victories? What makes some people stumble and fall, when they seem to possess the requisite skills to soar? Most importantly, what can be done to change these patterns and their outcomes?

Based on years of research, Mastering Fear answers these questions and many more with its surprising perspective on stress, fear, and the single most important skill necessary to achieve maximum results.

Studies worldwide have tracked the lives of hundreds of individuals over decades in search of the foundations of excellence. Dr. Robert Maurer has culled and refined this data, dispelling current myths and revealing practical strategies to maximize passion and performance in any individual, team, or organization.

In Mastering Fear, you will discover that:

Stress can’t be cured, because stress as we know it does not exist.
Fear plays a crucial role in undermining—or driving—all success.
There is one skill you absolutely must see in others before you can trust them.
You may already possess the single most critical skill for achieving and sustaining success in all key areas of life!

Genres: Self Help, Nonfiction, Psychology

226 pages, Kindle Edition

Published January 25, 2016

About the author

Librarian Note: There is more than one author by this name in the Goodreads database.

Robert Maurer, Ph.D. is a clinical psychologist on the faculty of the UCLA and the University of Washington Schools of Medicine. He is the founder of the Science of Excellence, a consulting firm, and travels extensively presenting seminars and consulting on kaizen to diverse organizations, including corporations, hospital staffs, universities— even the U.S. Navy. Dr. Maurer lives in Spokane, Washington.

Reviews

[Kimmo · Rating 4 out of 5]

Tämä kirja pääsi yllättämään, odotin perinteistä self-helpiä, sainkin ihan konkreetteja työkaluja omaan asiakastyöhön, joita on päässyt jo käytännössäkin testaamaan hyvin tuloksin. Parasta tässä on, että kirja ei päde pelkästään kliiniseen asiakastyöhön, vaan elämään yleensä.

[Bob Wallner · Rating 4 out of 5]

I have been a very big fan of Dr. Maurer’s books on Kaizen for several years. He has a scientific mind but speaks in plain English. As a Lean practitioner, Kaizen my preferred method for driving business improvement and, as I have learned through Dr. Maurer’s books, Kazien can and should be a driving force in self-improvement. So I was excited when I saw he had a book on another topic – fear.

In this book, Dr. Maurer hypothesizes and argues that fear is the root cause for so many of our ailments including – stress. He demonstrates several pieces of scientific data not only to support this hypothesis, but also to support his theories on how to manage fear, many of which are unhealthy. Some of the studies going back before the dawn of Animal Rights, are very disturbing, but also very conclusive.

This book does a very good job of not only helping you understand why people act in certain ways, but helping you understand why you, the reader, act in certain ways.

I like books that I can take something and apply today. With this book I took away one personal action and one professional action.

Personally through my adult life I have had a series of things occur that have caused me to become more self-reliant. Dr. Maurer does a good job of explaining how having a strong social support network and opening up is critical in one’s well-being. I have always considered myself a good listener, but I also need to learn to be a good talker for my health and well-being.
Professionally, as a “change agent”, I constantly hear people say they “fear change”. Although I don’t consider my approach to continuous improvement as something to be feared, after listening to this book I understand that by human nature not everyone would agree. My take away is this: During an improvement activity or any project on Day 1 right after introductions & expectations I am going to take whatever time it takes to ask and write down the response to the members….”What worries you about this project?”. My guess is that many times things will stay quiet until the first person speaks up so I will be prepared to go first and write a fear or two on the white board. These fears will be addressed at the end of each day in our reflection. “How are you feeling about this now? Worse/Better/Unchanged? What do we need to do to ease the fear?”

[Mark Manderson · Rating 3 out of 5]

One can have no smaller or greater Mastery than Mastery of oneself. - da Vinci 

Preframes gear as good such as wearing seat belts, brushing teeth out of fear of cavities, etc. 

Develop an awareness and acceptance of fear! Assume whenever you are doing something important that fear will show.

ALL FEARS STEM FROM FEAR NOT BEING WORTHY (live) AND FEAR OF LOSING CONTROL (health/finance). 

Stress is actually fear trapped in our culture with an unhealthy relationship to emotion. Fear is good as it fires up your brain and helps you jump into action. 

We are meant to reach to another for support! Highly successful individuals view reaching for and receiving support as a strength.

GREAT QUESTIONS:

Can you help me understand? What are your thoughts about... 

I'd like to know more about this. 

Have you always felt this way? How did you come to look at the issue this way? 

That's really interesting. Can you tell me more about...

How would you respond to people who say...

Is it OK if I ask you about.... 

Please tell me how I can learn more? 

Work in teams to perform better! 

Proximity is important for creation. 

Relationships are key to growth. 

WE ARE NEVER RESPONDING TO A SITUATION, BUT TO THE CONVERSATION IN OUR HEAD ABOUT IT! 

Move from harsh messages to new empowering alternative messages. 

Dr Seuss was rejected by 23 publishers.

Harry Potter was rejected by 12 publishers. 

[Azure · Rating 3 out of 5]

He builds a case for labeling fear when you feel it - as fear; not as stress, anxiety or other forms of discomfort. The antidote to fear is relationship and reaching out for support. True athletes use fear as a flag that they are about to do something extremely special. They use their fear to be cautious but not to let it stop them from moving forward. He wants us to lean into our fear and let it work to make us better.

[Jack · Rating 2 out of 5]

I have a hard time agreeing with the premise of the book - that we need to reach out to others for support when we need to deal with things we have fear of. I prefer Susan Jeffers' Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway... in my experience, fear is a very individual thing and needs to be dealt with by getting on the other side of experience. Looking to a support community doesn't feel like what truly successful people I know have done. e.g., many US entrepreneurs are first generation immigrants, many other entrepreneurs had challenging parental backgrounds, and in both these examples, their success is because they had to 'go it alone' - their back was against the wall and they HAD to be courageous. By contrast, the people I know who take the community support approach are primarily company men schmoozers ("Peter Keatings") who actually are living cowardly lives but have a community of people approving of that. I'd rather be a Howard Roark. In sum... an overly simplistic take on Fear and one I strongly disagree with.

[Alla Boulos · Rating 5 out of 5]

An important and excellent book about human nature, and how to thrive in the universe of fear. It took me a long time to get through because I was pausing to think about all the revelations. The secret to everything? - Other people. We are a communal species that survive in groups and excel in collaboration. Reaching for support is our instinctual reaction to fear, and also the engine for our success. Maurer is a brilliant psychologist. I love his advice and his books. A+

[Logan Kratzer · Rating 3 out of 5]

hits the same points over and over again

[Sai Garimella · Rating 5 out of 5]

excellent book - science backed research on how to manage fear

[Dawid Stronczak · Rating 3 out of 5]

First part boring. Second surprisingly interesting. Learned some new things and listened to some stories.

[Lidia Korpal · Rating 3 out of 5]

Spodziewałam się więcej treści i treningu o radzeniu sobie ze strachem, a sporo było o proszeniu o wsparcie od innych ludzi i o sukcesie w różnych przestrzeniach życia.

[Sheena Buccola · Rating 3 out of 5]

Good message, but I got it after the first chapter

[Michael · Rating 3 out of 5]

I am afraid, and that's OK, I just reach out for teddy and go back to sleep.

[Metoo OM · Rating 5 out of 5]

Heard interview w/ author via Barry Kilbrick's "Between the Lines" on 8.18.16 in C -- I recorded it on 8.13.16. See my J-C notes taken while viewing the show on Ch 20, WYCC.