Article -> Solutions to Address Fear

Date Added: October 2010

Note: This article appeared in the November 9, 2010 issue of The Green Bay Press-Gazette.

Fear can have a large effect on our lives. How we act, live and work. Whether we admit it or not, whether we know it or not; we all fear something.

 

We may fear snakes, spiders or bears. We may fear the dark. We may fear speaking to co-workers, customers, suppliers or leaders because they may not like you, disagree with you, or threaten you.

 

We may fear seeing our children grow up; although we probably grew up too quickly ourselves and want to be children again. We may fear loss of health or wealth; yet our health loss may occur because we worked too much to earn wealth, and we lost our wealth to restore our health.

 

We may fear death or life. However, we live life looking ahead to when we die, and die forgetting how we lived. We may fear love; although we cannot make others love us – we can only love others.

 

Fear can lead to avoidance. In the workplace, if we fear co-workers, customers, suppliers or leaders; we avoid them. Avoiding co-workers creates tension at work and less engagement. Avoiding customers results in loss of revenue as they’ll leave for someone else. Avoiding suppliers leads to lack of partnership and collaboration. Avoiding leaders could cause loss of job if you don’t get along with them.

 

The solution seems easy. Stop avoiding things you fear and you may no longer fear them. We have no control over most items we fear; however, if we address our fears, it seems we’ll achieve greater success.

 

We may sleep better (darkness). We have better relationships with our children, co-workers, customers, suppliers and leaders. We take better care of ourselves (health), thereby enjoying our wealth. We live as if we’ll live forever, while also living as if we’ll die today. Okay… I have nothing for snakes, spiders or bears.

 

Another solution is to avoid fearing our own success. Many believe success is only for CEOs, leaders or wealthy. It’s not. Addressing our fears can only lead to better things. Consider one item you currently fear. Stop avoiding it. Address it. Email me and I’ll share stories in the future.