I meet them regularly \u2013 people from all walks, snaking about with the foul word on their lips, spewing the venom left and right, indignant about why they can\u2019t do \u201cthis\u201d in their lives, what\u2019s preventing \u201cthat\u201d in business, or the other thing that\u2019s got them chained to mediocrity.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s FEAR, and it blinds, it paralyzes, it blocks paths of opportunity. Those who wield it know it\u2019s sabotage; those who embrace it often know, too. Gen. George S. Patton III said, \u201cThere is a time to take counsel of your fears, and there is a time to never listen to any fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
Fear is a naturally distressing emotion aroused by the perception of impending danger, pain or other highly undesired condition, whether the threat is real or imagined.<\/p>\n
What fascinates me about the definition of fear is that the threat may be real or imagined. Most of the fears experienced by the people I coach are not entirely valid; the level of threat is imagined.<\/p>\n
Fear is often a projection of the future and rarely about what\u2019s happening in the moment. It\u2019s our thinking that\u2019s the problem. We believe the false messages that our brains conjure up and then we get mired down in the thought process-or, kaboom!, we explode with anxiety.<\/p>\n
Either way, it\u2019s a show-stopper, literally.<\/p>\n
Steve Chandler, business coach, speaker, and author of 20-plus books, has an interesting take on the subject. \u201cIn my life as a coach I have never had a client who experienced a fear that was not based on a false evaluation of threat. In other words, on an illusion. Einstein said that there was only one truly important question, and that was whether or not the universe is kind. He discovered in the symphony of his mathematics and physics that the universe is indeed kind. Most of us have not yet made the same discovery, but more of us are every day.\u201d<\/p>\n
Recently, a prospect asked in an email, \u201cDo you have some time in the next week or two for lunch? I want to talk to you about what our company is doing for marketing (not much) and see what you can do to help our direction.\u201d<\/p>\n
He talked about why he was afraid to do this or try that. I later tailored a plan to meet this company\u2019s needs, goals and budget, with components that had proven successful for other businesses in Hampton Roads.<\/p>\n
But this business owner was too afraid to take the plunge.<\/p>\n
Over and over he claimed, \u201cI know we have to do something, but we just can\u2019t right now.\u201d<\/p>\n
He cited the \u2018dangers\u2019 of approaching clients for testimonials and the potential rejection that lurked at the other end of every phone call. He was a victim of his own thinking. As a result, his business remains stagnant.<\/p>\n
Such a mindset could spark the beginning of the end, says Sheila Guilette-Moore, business analyst and master NxLevel instructor with the Small Business Development Center. \u201cAs a small-business owner, you cannot afford to be hostage to fear.\u201d<\/p>\n
These five tips have helped my clients push past their fears and into the light of success:<\/p>\n
Stop snaking around; I dare you. Take one bold step to defy the F-bomb today. Let all the others behold your courageous stance.[\/vc_column_text][\/vc_column_inner][\/vc_row_inner][\/vc_column][\/vc_row]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
I meet them regularly \u2013 people from all walks, snaking about with the foul word on their lips, spewing the venom left and right, indignant about why they can\u2019t do \u201cthis\u201d in their lives, what\u2019s preventing \u201cthat\u201d in business, or the other thing that\u2019s got them chained to mediocrity. The F-Word: It really is a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":3693,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[53],"tags":[15,4,16,17],"class_list":["post-114","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-leadership-development","tag-anxiety","tag-fear","tag-management","tag-progress"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=114"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":3666,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/114\/revisions\/3666"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/3693"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=114"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=114"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/blog.kellymeerbott.com\/home\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=114"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}