Being afraid is normal and even helpful. The main thing is to handle your anxiety properly.
What would you do — whether it’s life or work — if you weren’t afraid of anything? Such a simple question awakens countless fantasies, desires, and regrets.
If your fear of failing or appearing as a complete idiot has ever held you back from what your heart called for, some essential advice from business consultant Sandja Brygmann will come in handy. There is no need to fight fear. Just accept it, and don’t let your feelings slow you down on the path to your dream.
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We usually view fear as an unpleasant emotion that we do our best to avoid encountering. Fear literally paralyzes, so instincts, willy-nilly, switch to survival mode. Alas, this behavior can lead to actions that have nothing to do with the movement towards our goals.
Sandja Bruegmann, Business Consultant
In other words, if you let fear rule you, you can forget about success.
This is especially dangerous for entrepreneurs. Doing business is quite frightening and exciting in itself; it involves taking on financial obligations, communicating with annoyed clients or subordinates, and realizing that the decisions you make affect not only your well-being but also the lives of other people.
On the other hand, says Bruegmann, fear is an emotion inherent in humans by nature. You won’t be able to get rid of it once and for all, and you don’t need to.
We are not faced with the task of curbing fear and preventing it from occurring in the future. Our goal is to understand what it is and learn to act, relying on willpower without burying our heads in the sand.
Richard Branson phrased the same idea in a slightly different way.
Fear sometimes makes you wet yourself, but courage makes you act even in wet pants.
Richard Branson, entrepreneur, founder of the Virgin Group
The metaphor is not the most elegant, but it correctly absolutely correctly absolutely correctly absolutely correctly conveys the essence; do not give up dreams because of fears, accept them as part of life. Here are some tips to help you stop being afraid and start doing something.
1. Accept your fear
“What if I say your fear is a gift?” – asks Bergmann. Pain and tension help us fill our lives with true depth because without all this, it would be boring. Fear indicates the direction of growth and ultimately helps you understand who you really are. When we view fear from this perspective, it evokes curiosity or even gratitude.
2. Control your instincts
When faced with something intimidating, people usually exhibit one of the following types of behavior; trying to fight, running without looking back, or falling into a stupor. If you have noticed this in yourself, know; instincts guide you. They make us trust fear to make decisions. What will come of it? Nothing good for sure.
3. Treat each situation as your choice.
Entrepreneurs know that things often turn out the way you never planned. As Eckhart Tolle said, “Whatever the present moment brings you, treat it as your own choice.” For both you and your team, this is the most humane way to deal with what happened. By fully accepting the current state of affairs, you rid yourself of various forms of emotional resistance, including fear.
4. Give your work everything you have
This is not about savings under the pillow. I mean the ability to fully immerse yourself in work. This is how easily you engage with coworkers and activate your thinking abilities to look at a problem from a non-standard perspective and find creative ways to solve it.
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5. Be positive about objections and criticism
“If you’re doing something truly new, be prepared to be hostile to traditional thinkers,” says Bruegmann. By creating something that didn’t exist before, you are challenging the status quo. Some are frightened by innovations, while others are forced to feel ashamed that they themselves have not thought of it before.
Adapted and translated by Wiki Avenue Staff
Sources: Life hacker
