If you are not making progress in your career or are not on a path that is allowing you to reach your full potential, most likely it is your unconscious beliefs and fears that are stopping you embrace the opportunities that are there laid out for you.
Most of our lives in the present are filled with stress, anxiety, nervousness, worry and frustration. And the fact is that most of these have the same underlying cause: fear.
Different types of fears have an impact on our wellbeing, stop us progressing with our careers and our lives and prevent us from reaching our full potential. But most of the differing fears can be put into four categories:
- Fear of failure
- Fear of success
- Fear of rejection
- Fear of selling (ourselves)
How does a new mum move through fear and step into the confidence to go back to work? How does an executive work through her fear and lead her team through change with resilience? How does someone overcome their fear of rejection and apply for a job that aligns with their true passions?
They master their fear.
If you master your fear, it does not mean you are fearless. It means you are aware of your fears and are able to control them rather than them controlling you.
Here are six steps you can take to let go of your fears which will help you progress forwards:
1. Identify your fear.
Get curious with yourself, ask yourself some honest open questions and name what it is that you are truly afraid of.
2. Embrace your fear.
We all tend to run away from fear but the truth is that when you do you are in fact feeding the fear with fear.
3. Let go of the fear.
Most of what we believe is because of what we have seen and heard as part of our life experiences. You are not the fear. It is not you.
4. Identify the worst case scenario
If you really take your worst case to its end point, it’s usually not as bad as you think.
5. What’s the probability of the worst case actually happening?
Try and talk through all the options of what could or might happen and weigh up the risks.
6. Have a fearless focus
When you are ready, you can ask yourself: “What do I really want that the fear was getting in the way of? How can I get it?” Start believing and visualising that you have already got the new job or the promotion and design an action plan to help you get it.
Don’t let fear stop you becoming the woman you want to be.
Click here to download my Reignite Workbook. This workbook will show you how to heal from your past, embrace the present and reignite your future.
Suzy Malhotra is a partner coach specialising in letting go, embracing the present and moving forwards with a future focus.
November 11, 2022
