Fear, doubt and local max

Seth Godin has a nice post called, "Understanding Local Max," that does a good job of capturing the inherent peaks and valleys one must traverse to achieve breakout success. 

His timing is ironic because I was working on a short post about an axiom that coincides directly with what he is talking about. The axiom is: never confuse fear with doubt.

Why?  Fear can be a natural response to negotiating a treacherous climb. Absence of healthy fear, leads to not being prepared, which unfortunately often leads to death.

Doubt, on the other hand, is a formal belief that there may not be light at the end of the tunnel.

One is all about preparation (preparing the mind to work through fear, readying yourself to successfully negotiate the path).

The other is all about pragmatism (seeing things as they really are).

Never confuse fear with doubt, or vice versa.