Dr. Robert H. Schuller is founder and senior minister of the famed Crystal Cathedral in Garden Grove, California. His book, Tough Times Never Last, But Tough People Do has helped many people to hold on to hope and faith in the face of adversity during these rough economic times. Following is an excerpt from Part II of the book, entitled: Here’s How You Can Be Tough Too!

Don’t surrender leadership to your fantasies. It’s amazing. God gives you a brilliantly exciting idea, and you soon give in to negative fantasies. “I might try it and be rejected.” “People might laugh at me.”

My dear friends, let me tell you something very honestly. I am not immune to such negative thoughts.

When we dreamed of the Tower of Hope and the Crystal Cathedral, two major building projects on our church campus I wondered, “What will people say? What if we try and it fails? We’ll be the laughingstock of the country.”

Let me tell you, if your dreams are bigger than most, if your ideas are more creative, there will be criticism. There will probably be some ridicule. But don’t create more condemnation than is really there. Don’t allow yourself to indulge in negative fantasies that limit the size of your goals and stifle your creativity.

Don’t surrender leadership to fears. The Bible says, “God has not given us a spirit of fear, but of power and of love and of a sound mind.” That means when you surrender to fears, you can be sure the fears did not come from God.

If you have many fears, all you have to do is cure yourself of one fear, and that’s the fear of failure. This will help: “I’d rather attempt something great and fail than attempt nothing and succeed.”

I admire people who make a commitment, and stick their neck out. I admire a person who tries to reach the top and doesn’t make it. Perhaps he is someone who declares candidacy for public office in a sincere desire to be a public service for community good. He can be sure that he will be criticized and condemned, and probably misinterpreted and distorted. His ego will surely take an awful beating. What does he get out of it? Even if he loses the race he is a winner because he has conquered his fear of trying. In doing so he has won his biggest battle. Every loser who tries to do something great is really a winner.

Don’t surrender leadership to fatigue. Everybody runs tired once in a while. You better be able to know you’re running tired and then back off. Because if you don’t you’re going to make some bad decisions.

I’m not one who likes to give in or slow down when I’m tired. But even Jesus retreated occasionally. Do you remember the tie when the multitudes pressed up-on Him and He got into a boat? While they were calling to Him and reaching to Him, He left them. He just pulled away, escaped, and went to the mountains to pray.

History will long ask the question: “Did Franklin D. Roosevelt surrender leadership to his fatigue at Yalta?” He was a very sick man. The wisdom of his decisions that affected the present-day Eastern bloc countries is still being debated by historians.

There are times when you should not see people or make decisions. When I’m tired, I often do not see people. I owe a great deal to my dear wife. She knows me very well and she has arranged my calendar very carefully. She knows when my energies are taxed, and she blocks off time for renewal. Each year she plans mini-vacations for me immediately after busy times of the year. That way I never get burned out.