A small village by the sea depended on fishing to survive. Each year the village boats had to go farther and farther from shore to catch enough fish to feed the population.

But as the anglers ventured farther away, they encountered a problem. Their usual practice was to put the fish they caught in big tanks to keep them fresh until they returned home. But the fish grew lethargic in the tanks, and many died before the boat could reach shore again.

After much thought, one of the crew hit upon a solution: On their next fishing trip, they caught a small shark and placed it in the tank along with the fish. The shark ate only a few fish, but the rest swam frantically around the tank trying to keep away from the predator -- and made it to shore fresh and healthy for the villagers who depended on them.

The moral of this story is that sometimes a little fear is what we need to stay active and alive. I certainly find that to be true. If I begin to coast, I lose concentration and focus. I perform best when I have a little anxiety or fear. I am sharper and more on my game.

A little fear can be healthy. But fear can hold a lot of people back and stop them from living life to the fullest. I understand that feeling of being afraid. However, there is only one thing worse than a quitter, and that is a person who is afraid to begin. There are no hopeless situations; there are only people who have grown hopeless about them.

Dale Carnegie once said: "Inaction breeds doubt and fear. Action breeds confidence and courage. If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it. Go out and get busy."

Don't let fear block your success. If you truly want to learn to control your fear and advance in your career, I have some ideas that have worked for me. They can work for you too.

-- Explore your memories. Look back over your career. What situations have made you feel afraid? Do you see any common denominators? When was the last time you were afraid to do something and did it anyway?

-- Look at your responsibilities. You have a lot of priorities in your life. Which ones make you fearful? Why are you afraid of them? Dig deep, and keep asking "why" until you are satisfied that you have found the root of your fear.

-- Construct a worst-case scenario. When a certain situation makes you nervous, try to think of the worst thing that could realistically happen. Chances are the reality won't be as devastating as you think, and examining the possibilities ahead of time will prepare you to avoid the potential pitfalls.

-- Shift your focus. When you're confronted by a task that makes you fearful, stop and think about all the positive benefits it will produce in the end. Focusing on the outcome helps you put the small worries aside.

-- Try new things. At every opportunity, take on a new task or a different responsibility. This will increase your capacity to take risks. It will also expand your skill set and build your confidence.

-- Review your risks. Look at some of the risks you've taken recently. Chances are, most of them turned out OK. Figure out what made them work. Can you duplicate those decisions that led to success and apply them to other situations?

-- Know that your fears will resurface occasionally. Accept this fact, because there will be times when you feel like you are out of control. Outside factors can influence situations adversely. Prepare yourself to handle disappointments and unsettled situations. Stop and assess the circumstances so you can decide whether further actions will help or hurt.

Not knowing how to control your fear can have disastrous results. Consider the great tightrope walker Karl Wallenda. He died many years ago in a tragic fall. His widow was quoted as saying: "All Karl thought about for three straight months prior to the accident was falling. It seemed to me he put all his energy into not falling – not into walking the tightrope."

Mackay's Moral: Don't let your fears get in your head -- get ahead of them.

The great Greek sculptor Phidias had high standards when he was carving the statue of Athena for the Parthenon about 2,400 years ago.

According to an old story, he was busy chiseling the strands of her hair at the back of her head when an onlooker commented, "That figure is to stand 100 feet high, with its back to a wall. Who will ever know what details you are putting behind there?"

Phidias replied, "I will."

Perfectionism or a waste of time? I vote for doing the best you can at every opportunity, regardless of your line of work.

Perhaps because works of art often outlast the artist's life span, such creators are more inclined to strive for utter perfection. When Frederic Auguste Bartholdi completed the Statue of Liberty in the late 1800s, there were no airplanes or helicopters to inspect its detail from the air.

Yet many years later, when helicopters can hover close overhead, it is clearly evident that the sculptor meticulously finished every detail of the lady's coiffure and crown without "cheating" in any area that could not be seen from the ground.

Clearly, Bartholdi was a perfectionist. He wanted to create a thing of beauty that was perfect from every point of view and over any period of time. He did his absolute best because he could. That's a good principle to follow when creating anything of lasting value.

"Perfect" may be the ultimate praise, but trying to attain perfection can cause stress, hinder efficiency and create unnecessary conflicts with the people around you. A more productive goal is excellence -- meeting the highest standards agreed upon for oneself or by a group.

I find that if I set a goal for myself, get the best coaching available, practice the right concepts and give it all I've got, there is nothing more I can do. I've done the best I can humanly do, so there is no reason to stress out and be nervous. I take my lead from my longtime friend, Coach Lou Holtz, who said: "Ability is what you are capable of doing. Motivation determines what you do. Attitude determines how well you do it."

Attitude is central to assessing your ability and pushing it to its maximum. To move from strict perfectionism to the pursuit of excellence, may I recommend you consider these suggestions:

-- Be realistic. When you find yourself becoming frantic about a goal, stop and ask, "Is this goal really worth all the frustration I'm experiencing?" You cannot do your best work when you are preoccupied with worry.

-- Establish clear expectations. If you know what's expected of you, you can better track your progress and draw boundaries when needed. Then you can move forward with the project instead of trying to alter it just for appearance's sake.

-- Identify your triggers. Learn to recognize the factors that lead or contribute to your perfectionist thinking and behaviors, and avoid them. That does not mean you give any less than your best; just be aware that you can undermine a terrific outcome by nitpicking minor details.

-- Delegate. Many perfectionists mistakenly believe that they, and only they, can complete the task at hand. Allow other people to assist you, which will improve the odds that a group will more easily reach excellence.

-- Know what's important. Consult with friends, colleagues and your boss about the most crucial points of the project at hand. Analyzing your objectives, then narrowing down key points and agreements, allows everyone to measure his or her performance accurately.

One note of caution: When you think you've arrived at excellence and can now relax ... BEWARE! Contemplate the lesson learned from the window washer of the Empire State Building in New York. After doing a superb job with the windows on the 116th floor, he made the mistake of stepping back to admire his work.

Mackay's Moral: Never apologize for doing your best.

There once was a strange storekeeper who talked to himself. He talked to himself while he rang up groceries. He talked to himself whenever he leaned into the candy case for the children who wanted to purchase a treat.

One day, a woman named Francie came in and watched the storekeeper talking to himself.

"What's wrong with you?" asked Francie.

"Ain't nothing wrong with me," answered the storekeeper.

"Well, then, why are you going around acting like a fool and talking to yourself?" probed Francie.

"I reckon I got two reasons," said the storekeeper. "First off, I like to talk to a sensible person. And second, I like to hear a sensible person talk."

Now I don't recommend going around talking out loud to yourself in public, but I do recommend talking to yourself.

During most of my corporate speeches, I ask the audience, How many people talk to themselves? People are uneasy acknowledging this, but I do typically get about a third of the room to raise their hands. Then I say, "To the two-thirds of you who didn't raise your hands, I can just hear you say to yourself: 'Who me? I don't talk to myself.'" It always gets a good laugh.

But the point is, I want you to talk to yourself. Self-talk can have a great impact on your confidence. It can be positive or negative, and have a great effect on how you feel. Obviously, I want to focus on the positive self-talk.

Some of the smartest people in history have talked to themselves. Albert Einstein talked to himself. According to Einstein.org, he "used to repeat his sentences to himself softly." If it worked for Einstein, it's good enough for me.

Talking to yourself makes your brain work more efficiently. It boosts your memory, organizes your thoughts and helps you to achieve your goals.

In a study printed in the Quarterly Journal of Experimental Psychology, psychologists Daniel Swingley and Gary Lupyan discovered that talking to yourself is beneficial. Swingley and Lupyan found that allowing people to repeat an object's name to themselves helped them find the object in a crowded tableau.

Can I ever relate to that research! Whenever I make a to-do list or plan my day, I make sure I not only write it down, but also say it out loud. Use as many triggers as you can to help you remember or to reinforce your message.

Let me give you another important reason to "think out loud." You are your own best and toughest critic -- and most enthusiastic cheerleader. You serve two significant roles. You can assess your abilities and chances for success because you can be brutally honest with yourself.

So when you talk to yourself, you will know the difference between true potential and flattery, commitment and apathy. You can only fool yourself so long. In your heart of hearts, you know what you can and cannot do.

In her book "Recreating Yourself," Nancy J. Napier discusses self-talk: "It is the dialogue you have with yourself about who you are, what you are doing, how well you're doing, whether you're good enough, what people think of you and so on." Your self-talk is a reflection of what you took in about yourself as a child, "particularly those things that were reinforced time and again."

Napier says that in cognitive therapy, identifying negative self-talk and challenging it can bring about positive change. You question the assumptions underlying the statements. Napier uses this example: "Joe stood me up for a date last night. I guess I'm not attractive enough to get the man I want."

Once you become aware of what you are telling yourself, Napier suggests you replace the statement with a positive statement. "Yes, Joe did stand me up. I guess that's reason enough to realize that Joe isn't the kind of guy I want to have around."

I will never stop talking to myself. After all, I have a captive audience.

Mackay's Moral: When you talk to yourself, make sure you listen carefully.