WHAT SHOULD YOU DO WITH FEAR?
Over the weekend, I gave a talk in a group on basic presentation skills. A section of the presentation focused solely on “How to overcome the fear of public speaking.”
Just like I mentioned in the talk, I’ll reiterate it here. Fear is normal — it’s okay to be afraid, especially if you’ll be addressing a large gathering of people. What do you do with the fear? Do you let it cripple you to inaction, or you acknowledge it and go all out to give the best version of yourself?
Essentially, it is what you do with the fear that makes it good or bad.
Now, let’s relate this to life generally.
Every time we have a new idea, plan to start something new or implement something that’s always been a dream — fear comes up. And more than half of the time, it’s still the fear of;
- What if I fail?
- What if I embarrass myself?
- What will people think about it?
While the fears may be valid, dwelling on them so much such that it moves your mind towards shelving your proposed idea is terrible.
How do you overcome this part of the process and not get stuck on the new idea — inaction cycle?
1. Start by imagining the worst-case scenario. What is the worse that could happen; you’ll fail at it, you’ll be jeered or booed? Then what? Life continues. You get up and forge ahead.
2. Flip it! When the fear creeps up on you, and the worst-case scenarios keep playing up in your head, flip your thoughts from negative to positive. If all you’re thinking about is, “what if I fail at this?” Tell yourself, “What if I do succeed?”.
Flipping the thoughts allow you to bring positivity into the picture and that can do you a lot of good.
3. Plan! When you fail to plan, you plan to fail. If what you want to bring to reality is dear and essential, do all the background work, research and necessary planning.
Doing this lets you in on the possible hurdles and challenges that may come up when you move to execution. Identifying these ahead gets you accustomed to what may go wrong and prepares you for them.
4. Seek out worthy opinions! Sometimes, many people have towed the same path that we are about to tow. Seeking out people who have been on the course, and learning from their experiences can save you from making mistakes you could avoid as well as time and energy.
Using the tips above will help you manage your fear so that your worries do not lead you to give up on everything you conceive.
I’ll end this with the words of Dale Carnegie, “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.”
Latifat Abifarin
12/10/2020
Photo by energepic.com from Pexels
