At an event a few years ago, where there were a little over a hundred business persons (mostly women) who kept saying the same thing:
“I’m too frightened to begin… or take the next step…” to the point where many were crying and scared.
But, what were they really afraid of and how can we fix this to control your fear?
Fear in business can be paralyzing. When I asked these women what their TOP fear was, I got many answers:
- They were afraid of selling, afraid of being “found out” (or a fraud) — that’s called the “Impostor Syndrome”, afraid of failing, afraid they will do all this work and nothing will come from it…
- …afraid that they don’t know enough, or that they will disappoint someone (like a spouse)… but it all boiled down to ONE main fear:
- They were afraid of all the stuff they need to do. They were totally overwhelmed.
- “How can one control your fear?”
And, much of the fear is because of not knowing what you don’t know. It’s called conscious incompetence. You know that you don’t know.
It’s better than unconscious incompetence which is not even knowing that you don’t know.
So, one way around conscious incompetence is making a shortlist of THREE essential skills you need to know or THREE pieces of information you need to begin.
And, then… just begin!
Another problem arises when one is consciously incompetent and that is the feeling of being overwhelmed. You’ve taken a bunch of courses, seminars, watched a bazillion DVDs and now you don’t know what to do first, right?
Here’s how you get over the fear and start taking action. And, I know this, because I’ve done that a zillion times myself.
You pick ONE thing to do and complete it. Then, move on.
Now, I know what you’re thinking… that’s too simple. “Pick one thing.” But, most people (myself included) try to learn a lot of stuff that they think they need, they don’t learn it (or they take it in and move on to another learning experience) and they feel bad about it and get overwhelmed with all the things they “should” be doing?
Sound familiar?!
Right now, this week, I am learning about a new advertising method. I have THREE courses on this and lots of people giving me advice. I am on complete overwhelm and what I decided to do was to watch just ONE course and follow it to completion.
Funny thing… once I made that decision… all MY fears and the feeling of overwhelming went away. Nice!
So, what’s holding YOU back? Put your comments in the box below…