Social Influence

Fear stops us from chasing our dreams!

Whatever that fear might be, the fear of other people's opinions, the fear of rejection, the fear of not being good enough or smart enough or whatever it may be it stops people from having a life they truly want! It's stopping you from having the life that you truly deserve! Not just the life that you want but the life that you deserve! Because I believe that every single person deserves to have an amazing life and fear of something is keeping you from getting it.

So I'm here to ask you, what is your biggest fear? And I don't mean the fear of spiders, I don't mean the fear of heights. What is the fear deep down to the core of you that is holding you back from following your dreams, from starting that business, from becoming a painter, a tattoo artist, becoming a public speaker, from starting that podcast to coaching other people.

What is the fear that's holding you back from doing that?

Because fear is stopping you from everything that you want, it's stopping you from starting your business, from asking that person out, from pursuing that dream that you have. A feeling deep down to your core is the reason why your alive, fear is holding you back from that. Do you see why fear is the worse feeling in the world?

Let me also tell you this fear is the root of hate, because you fear what you don't know. And It's easier to hate than it is to understand and to love. And so fear is the root of hate.

If you don't understand another person, you don't understand their past or what they've been through, you just see them from a face value sometimes, people hate, they hate for no reason sometimes. But if you can truly understand someone, if you can make that connection, you can see what they've gone through and why they are the way that they are, even If they have a different political belief than you, even if they have a different religion than you. When you see someone and who they have become, why they went through all the things they went through and how they went through all the things they went through then you can never hate them, you can never hate somebody when you truly understand them.

I wanna talk about how to get past the feeling of fear. Here's another thing I'll tell you, fear of failure has nothing to do with failure, fear of rejection has nothing to do with rejection, none of those things are actually the fear of failure or the fear of rejection. It's a fear that my insecurities will come to light. You know like If I'm out there and I have a fear of rejection, then what's really happening is that I'm afraid that somebody will say no to me weather that's a date, weather that's a business proposal, If I have a fear of rejection or someone saying no in my sales pitch, if I have a fear of rejection, really what it is of someone saying no to me, I'm not afraid of them saying no, I'm afraid of them saying no and then the spiral that my mind will go down to show me that I'm not good enough, that I'm not smart enough, that I'll never be successful, that I don't deserve success, I'm afraid not of the actual rejection because that's just words coming out of someone's mouth. I'm afraid of what my mind is going to do with the words coming out of someone's mouth.

Fear of failure has nothing to do with failure. Fear of rejection has nothing to do with rejection.

Hello! This is your host Erica Cuascut, and welcome to today's episode of Social Influence! Let's talk about Procrastination: The action of delaying or postponing something. It's a challenge we all face. We've all done it and we constantly tell ourselves we'll never do it again. So we come up with an elaborate time management system to get us on track only to find ourselves continuing to put things off over and over again. Why do we procrastinate? We often procrastinate because we're afraid of failing at the task that we need to complete. Fear of failure promotes procrastination when we feel incapable of dealing with a task that we're afraid to fail at. Everyone puts things off sometimes, but procrastinators avoid difficult tasks and may deliberately look for distractions. Procrastination tends to reflect a person's struggles with self-control.
"I don't feel like it"
I'll do it tomorrow"
I'll leave it for next week"
It all comes to supersede over our goals or responsibilities, and can set us on a downward spiral of negative emotions that further put off our future goals. Procrastination also involves a degree of self-deception: At some level, procrastinators are aware of their actions and the consequences, but changing their habits requires an even greater effort than completing the task. How to Beat Procrastination: It's possible to overcome procrastination but it takes considerable effort. Changing our behavior consumes a lot of energy. Start by adopting timelines that build in time for delaying, but not too much; making a personal challenge out of big tasks; breaking large jobs into achievable chunks. How can I stop putting off important decisions? Procrastinators struggle to make important decisions, in part because not making a choice absolves us of responsibility of the outcome. But sometimes we simply become so exhausted from making decisions that it seems impossible to make relatively unimportant ones.
So basically sticking to a personal set of decision-making rules Procrastination, or outsourcing some decisions to a partner, friend or co-worker may help overcome decision making. We don't realize it but Procrastination is the Enemy of Success. Every single day you procrastinate is another day closer to not accomplishing your goals and dreams.

Therefore never allow waiting to become a habit.

Live your dreams and take risks.

Life is happening now.

Let’s talk about this four letter word called FEAR! (F)ACE (E)VERYTHING (A)ND (R)ISE What is FEAR? An unpleasant, distressing emotion, feeling or condition of being afraid of something or things that causes feelings of dread or apprehension. The condition of being afraid of something or being worried about an outcome. Now I know each and every one of us has felt afraid during some point in our lives and it’s a normal reaction as it is an emotion we all feel. Whether its: •FEAR of commitment •FEAR of falling in love •FEAR of marriage •FEAR of failure •FEAR of moving on •FEAR of your past •FEAR of being hurt •FEAR of losing someone •FEAR of taking chances •FEAR of change •FEAR of starting over •FEAR of having children •FEAR of flying •FEAR of heights •FEAR of public speaking. Let me let you in on a little secret! I had fear of starting my own podcast. And then I thought about the reasons why I decided to launch a podcast in the first place. It was to inspire and motivate others so I just started recording and here I am today! I had to start from somewhere right! Fear causes anxiety and anxiety causes stress and stress causes us to worry. We all have, face and deal with different types of fear at various stages in our lives. But is fear really a bad thing? Fear is not necessarily a bad thing! What is the message being communicated by fear? It is one of the in-built human survival instincts. Too much fear that paralyses action is the bad thing. Have you ever done something you were fearful of doing then looking back you wonder why I was afraid? Many people face different fears every day including myself. My biggest fear is the fear of failure and as a result I push myself hard and set higher targets for myself so that the effort exerted and progress becomes worth it. Being fearful is a scary feeling, it makes one imagine all sorts of outcomes and scenarios. Sometimes the fear can be so intense to the point of inaction. Let me let you in on a few ways to fight your fears:

1. Take time out! It's impossible to think clearly when you're flooded with fear or anxiety. The first thing to do is take time out so you can physically calm down. Distract yourself from the worry for 15 minutes by either taking a walk or reading a positive book or a motivational video. 2. Face your fears because Avoiding your fears only makes them scarier. Whatever your fear, if you face it, it should start to fade. 3. Look at the evidence. It sometimes helps to challenge fearful thoughts. For example, if you're scared of flying, ask yourself if you have ever heard of this happening to someone else. Ask yourself what you would say to a friend who has had a similar fear. 4. Don't try to be perfect! Life is full of stress, yet many of us feel that our lives must be perfect. Bad days and setbacks will always happen, and it's important to remember that life is messy. 5. Visualize a happy place. Take a moment to close your eyes and imagine a place of safety and calm. It could be a picture of you walking on a beautiful beach, or a happy memory from childhood. Let the positive feelings soothe you until you feel more relaxed. 6. Talk about it Sharing fears takes away a lot of their scariness. Talk to a partner, friend or family member. Each of us must confront our own fears, must come face to face with them. How we handle our fears will determine where we go with the rest of our lives.

Embracing Fear: Acknowledge that it has come to teach you something and allow you to grow. Thank the fear for showing up for you. Fear is used to being shut out and hidden, not embraced. Once you do this, that fear will start to soften, it will lose more power, and you will ultimately disarm it.

Fear makes us resilient: Resilient people accept their fears, and that builds strength to embrace, overcome and harness fear. When you focus on your fearful experiences as sources of personal strength, it can help you learn strategies that can build resilience.

Hi everyone! Welcome to Social Influence!

I'm your host Erica Cuascut, a former writer and journalist turned podcast producer.

I've always been passionate about Arts and Entertainment since I was a little girl. Growing up, I developed numerous passions. I started acting, ice skating and dancing at the age five and modeling when I was fourteen. In the world of dance, I took Tap, Jazz, Ballet, Gymnastics and Hip Hop. I also competed in numerous beauty pageants. I'm a former Ms. Latina International Puerto Rico, Ms. Latina International United States and Ms. Latina International. My parents were my #1 fans, biggest motivation and supporters and always told me to never give up on my goals and dreams that the sky's the limit.

During my adult years, I developed a passion for writing. I was a writer and journalist for Latin Connection Magazine for twelve years where I was featured on two front covers and had my own entertainment, motivational columns and covered numerous events in Miami. One day, I was chatting with a friend who asked me if I have ever considered starting my own motivational podcast because I have the voice and mindset for it and that the audience would be interested in listening to my journey.

And so I got inspired to start my own podcast! I decided to set myself a date, work on a list of potential ideas, topics, guests and a podcast name. Well! Here I am, presenting to you my first podcast episode! I'm really excited to announce the launch of Social Influence where I will be covering topics about Mindset, Traveling, Side Hustles, Dating and Relationships, Success, Fear and many more! I'll be releasing this podcast once a week. 🎙🎧

Why Social Influence?

Because it describes how our thoughts, feelings and behaviors respond to our social world.

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Thanks so much and stay tuned to the next episode!