The following is a guest post by Aaron Kitchen:

Anxiety in certain individuals can be brought on by an intense fear of failure. In my case, not only was I intensely afraid of failure, but intensely afraid of things outside of my control as well. As the stress of losing a child, having a two-year old to care for at home, a new baby on the way, beginning a new job, and becoming responsible for the sole income for our household began to have a cumulative effect on my emotions, I began to slowly come apart at the seams with crippling fear.

Then during the late fall of 2013, I received a gift that would change my life to an incredible extent and ultimately rid my life of the fear that was taking control of my psyche, emotions, and body on a day-to-day basis.

That gift was a course on goal setting. From the first few moments of listening to that audio course I was completely captivated by the examples of the effects of goal setting in the lives of individuals. After listening through the course multiple times I crafted what I thought would be a reasonably simple game plan: use goal setting to get my income to a level where fear could no longer be a threat.

So, I began immediately logging my goals in a journal each morning. Although I was initially most concerned about goals in the area of career and personal finance, something interesting began to happen. As I wrote out my goals in those areas I began to think of things I wanted to accomplish in other areas. I began to write out goals for being a better husband and father, my weight, blood pressure management, workouts, and even for managing my fear.

In the following weeks, I was beyond amazed at the effect goal setting would have in my life. I structured each goal in a personal, positive, and present tense format. This voided my goal setting initiative of negativity, made the process extremely customized to the life I was trying to carve out for myself, and also assisted me in feeling as if I were already vested in the outcome. I was even able to create an affirmation statement from each goal that I could repeat to myself in the car, during the workday, while I was running, or at any time I needed reassurance that I was moving along the right path.

The result of my goal setting efforts over a period of approximately 18 months was nothing short of phenomenal. I accomplished nearly every short-term professional goal I set for myself. I lost weight, improved my workouts, ran a faster 5k, raised my income, became more charitable, and most importantly, overcame the fear that had plagued me for far too long. Now during those moments when fearful thoughts try to occupy my mind, I simply glance over them. I realize the power that goals and affirmations have when dealing with thoughts and feelings of that variety.

The proof is in the results. I would recommend goal setting not only to anyone seeking an improvement in a given area of life, but specifically to those looking to defeat anxiety.

Where are you in this process? Are you suffering from anxiety and experiencing constant fear in your life? No matter where you are it’s never too late to take a step in the direction of getting centered on a set of goals and carving out a life that fits your expectations. Don’t wait until fear has complete control. Stop letting fear and negativity take the lead in your life and begin to get goal-oriented today.