I arrived in Miami without a college degree but with one of the greatest motivators in life: fear. Mostly fear of not being able to feed and support myself. I was very proud of my Cuban heritage, and how self-sufficient my father had been all his life, and I was determined to live up to his example and honor his legacy. When I had been accepted to a private Jesuit high school back in New York, he would not even let me accept the scholarship money because it was based on my being a minority, not earned by my achievements. So I had to get a job even back then to help pay for my education.

By the same token, I wasn’t about to ask him to pay for my school or support me in anyway when I left the service, so I set out to get a job and soon I was knocking on doors in the Miami area selling life insurance. This was another humbling experience; I remember one neighborhood where I must have knocked on 1000 doors and was rejected at every last one. I didn’t sell a thing, but my salary was nearly twice what it was in the army, so I was grateful – even hopeful that it meant in another three years my salary would double again!

This was a difficult time but also very rewarding and an invaluable learning experience. Fear is not only a great motivator but can also be a great opportunity to grow if you don’t shy away from the challenge. You never know what you can do until you face a challenge head-on. In the army, I chose the 82nd Airborne precisely because they jump out of airplanes and I had a fear of heights. Even after 47 jumps, I’m just as afraid of heights now as I was back in 1972 – but I learned how to manage my fear from the experience.

It may not come easy at first. The first few times I jumped I literally had to be kicked out of the plane. It wasn’t until my fourth attempt that I jumped on my own without feeling someone’s boot on the small of my back.

How you deal with the fear often determines how you handle any situation in life. Instead of freezing with fear, warm to the possibilities and look for the positive benefits any situation has to offer. Embrace the fear and you will soon overcome it. Fear is simply something you must learn to manage in your head. That is what enabled me to jump out of an airplane even though I am afraid of heights. That and wanting to make a gracious exit.

It doesn’t matter what it is that you fear. Many people fear snakes, while others fear germs. They say more people fear public speaking than death. Any fear is a humbling experience but also represents an opportunity to grow beyond your perceived limitations.

In business, we all fear rejection. Being in sales put me on a fast path to overcoming the fear of rejection, because of the ample opportunity to experience it and learn how to handle it. Going into sales because you fear rejection is exactly what I mean by facing your fears as a means to grow and find greater success.

Giving in to fear, on the other hand, is giving in to someone else’s power and putting it all in their hands. Nobody should have the ability to define you or limit what you can or want to do. That should be driven by your own vision and the short-term actions you take toward reaching your long-term goals.

This bit of wisdom was perhaps best exemplified in my family by an uncle that my father was sent to live with in the countryside as a young boy. This uncle eventually moved to California, and he was very determined to live to be 100 so that he could receive the customary letter from the President of the United States at such a milestone. And in fact, the day after receiving his letter, he died. He was just waiting for the acknowledgement to come from the country he had learned to love so much – and driven by his own vision of what was possible, unencumbered by fear, he achieved his ultimate goal.

Like overcoming fear, wisdom comes from our learned experiences and the shared experiences of those who lived through even tougher times. In such cases, we’re not only humbled by our own journey, but by the journeys of those who came before us.

Proceeds from “Humbled by the Journey: Life Lessons For My Family…And Yours,” go to The Early Childhood Initiative Foundation.