Fear is a Career Success Killer

You probably know that I send a life and career success quote to my subscribers every day.  If you aren’t receiving these quotes and would like to, all you have to do is go to http://budurl.com/STExp and sign up.  You’ll start receiving my daily life and career success quotes and I’ll send you two of my most popular career advice books: Success Tweets and Success Tweets Explained.

The career success quote I sent last Saturday (August 6, 2011) was a good one.  So much so that I’ve decided to blog about it.  It comes from Paul Sweeney and Irish writer on business – especially business in Ireland. While Mr. Sweeney may be an Irish business writer, the quote to which I’m referring has universal appeal.   Check it out…

“True success is overcoming the fear of being unsuccessful.”

I devote several tweets in career advice book Success Tweets to fear…

Tweet 45 – “Everyone is afraid sometime.  Self confident people face their fears and act.  Look your fears in the eye and do something,”

Tweet 46 – “Four steps in dealing with fear that sabotages your career success: identify it, admit it, accept it, do something about it.”

Tweet 47 – “Act.  Feel the fear and do it anyway.  That’s the definition of courage, and a great way to build your self confidence.”

Tweet 48 – “Procrastination is the physical manifestation of fear and a confidence killer.  Act – especially when you’re afraid.”

Fear is the enemy of self-confidence and life and career success.  Self-confident people face their fears and act.  Procrastination is the physical manifestation of fear.  When I find myself procrastinating, I stop and ask myself “What are you afraid of here, Bud?”
Usually, the answer is on the 12 most common fears on the list below.  Which of these stop you from moving forward?  What are you doing about them?

1. Fear of failure – This type of fear has its roots in the misconception that everything you do has to be 100% successful.
2. Fear of success – This type of fear is based on the idea that success is likely to mean more responsibility and attention, coupled with pressure to continue to perform at a high level.
3. Fear of being judged – This type of fear comes from the need for approval that most people develop in childhood.
4. Fear of emotional pain – This type of fear is rooted in wanting to avoid potential negative consequences of your actions.
5. Fear of embarrassment – This type of fear is a result of empowering others to judge you when you demonstrate that you’re only human by making mistakes and having lapses of judgment.
6. Fear of being abandoned or being alone – This type of fear is related to rejection and low self-esteem.
7. Fear of rejection – This type of fear comes from personalizing what others do and say.
8. Fear of expressing your true feelings – This type of fear holds you back from engaging in open, honest dialogue with the people in your life.
9. Fear of intimacy – This type of fear manifests itself by an unwillingness to let others get too close, lest they discover the “real you.”
10. Fear of the unknown – This type of fear manifests itself as needless worry about all of the bad things that could happen if you decide to make a change in your life.
11. Fear of loss – This type of fear is related to the potential pain associated with no longer having something or someone of emotional significance to you.
12. Fear of death – The ultimate fear of the unknown.  What will happen once our spirits leave our bodies?

By identifying your fear, you are more than half way to conquering it.  Action is the antidote to fear. In most cases, you’ll act wisely and your fears won’t be realized.  In the cases when you choose poorly, you’ll find that failure isn’t as catastrophic as you imagined.  Successful people learn from their failures.  By taking action on your fears, you win on both counts.  You win if you make a good decision and things work out.  You even win if you make a bad decision and things go poorly, because you have an opportunity to learn from your decision and the subsequent problems you faced.

The career success coach point here is simple common sense.  Successful people are self-confident.  Self-confident people face their fears and act.  They follow the career advice in Tweets 45, 46, 47 and 48 in Success Tweets.  “Everyone is afraid sometime.  Self-confident people face their fears and act.  Look your fears in the eye and do something.” (45)  “Four steps in dealing with fear that sabotages your career success: identify it, admit it, accept it, do something about it.” (46) “Act.  Feel the fear and do it anyway.  That’s the definition of courage, and a great way to build your self confidence.” (47) “Procrastination is the physical manifestation of fear and a confidence killer.  Act – especially when you’re afraid.”  (48)  Procrastination really is the physical manifestation of fear.  When you find yourself procrastinating, figure out what scares you about the situation.  Is it fear of failure?  Is it fear of success? Is it fear of rejection?  Is it fear of being embarrassed?  Is it fear of the unknown?  Once you’ve figured out why you are afraid, do three things: admit your fear to yourself; embrace your fear; take action.  Action is the antidote to fear and a career success builder.

That’s my career advice on dealing with the fears that can sabotage your self-confidence and career success.  What do you think?  Please take a minute to share your thoughts with us in a comment.  As always thanks for reading my daily musings on life and career success.  I value you and I appreciate you.

Bud

PS: If you haven’t already done so, you can download a free copy of my latest career success book Success Tweets Explained.  It’s a whopping 390 + pages of career advice explaining each of the common sense tweets in Success Tweets in detail.  Go to http://budurl.com/STExp to claim your free copy.  You’ll also start receiving my daily life and career success quotes.