Fear Setting vs Goal Setting

I’m a fan of Tim Ferriss and his 4-hour Workweek book.

So when I ran across an article about his recent TED talk and the title ‘4-Hour Workweek’ author credits a simple 3-step exercise with putting him on the path to success I was excited to read it.

Here was Tim Ferriss’ early struggles before fame and fortune and how he came across his 3-step exercises of what he calls ‘fear-setting’.  He starts out with really getting clear on your fear and the possible outcomes.
Okay, that makes sense.

Next, is taking a realistic look at what could go right.

Finally, he suggests getting clear on what would happen if you Don’t take action.

When I finished I found myself underwhelmed.  Really? That’s it? Get clear on what you’re afraid of, and what might go both right and wrong, and then write down what would happen if you don’t take action on the thing you fear?  How is that helping to put you on a path of success?  Sure, it won’t hurt and I’m not against taking these three steps but I fail to see how writing those things down helps you take action which is ultimately what you must do to achieve results. Sure visualizing worst case scenarios is a step to getting past fear but then what?

Maybe part of my disillusionment was because in his TED talk he describes it not as a path to success but as “… tools to avoid self destruction”.  Okay, that makes a little more sense now. His talk gave us part of the puzzle, but he never got to the next step and that’s why I felt shortchanged.  It felt incomplete.  If TED is about ideas worth spreading I thought he missed the mark.

I was also not crazy about his use of “what if” questions because they come from a perspective of negativity as he uses them to get clear about your fears.  I much prefer the Power of IF (From my book ASK) when it’s used positively.

Maybe I’m wrong.
Take a look at the article and his TED talk and see for yourself.

If you want steps on how to not just define or get clear about fears and outcomes, take a look at my book.  The “how” is what the book is all about.