Frozen by Fear

Most of us have heard about the fight or flight response to fear, but what many don’t know is that the most common response to a frightening situation is freezing.

Even the smallest fears can immobilize you, stopping your progress dead in its tracks, and the fear of failure can be one of the most crippling you’ll ever face. After all, experience has shown that you’re not afraid of a little hard work; your inaction comes from the fear that all that hard work will fail.

What will other people think? Will you get fired? Will your partner leave you? Will your dog run away in shame and disappointment?

The truth is, you would not be in the position you are in today if you were not qualified to accomplish the tasks set before you. Your boss would not give you a project to complete if he didn’t have confidence in your experience. Your partner believes in you and is there to help you succeed. And your dog…well your dog loves you unconditionally.

Your fear of failure is stopping you from being the awesome you that everyone already knows you to be. The good news is, you can overcome that fear.

Here are 3 easy tricks you can use today to unfreeze and get back in action…

1. Break It Down…

Chop up whatever project you’re facing into smaller, more manageable tasks. By creating the smaller steps needed to finish the job, you can concentrate on one step at a time. Before you know it, the project is done and you feel great.

 

2. Feelings? What Feelings?

Sometimes it’s best to ignore your emotions and just get things done. When you’re facing a big pile of work, take the first step and repeat after me, “I am a machine; I will finish this and move on.”

Virgil Thomson has a great quote on trying on new things: “Try a thing you haven’t done three times. Once, to get over the fear of doing it. Twice, to learn how to do it. And a third time to figure out whether you like it or not.”

 

3. Accept Progress Over Perfection

Every step you take gets you closer to your goal. It doesn’t have to be perfect, it just has to get done, and once it’s finished, you can always go back and polish it up. Commit to progress, and leave perfection to posterity.

Action is the answer to the freeze of fear. Momentum is your friend. The only way you’ll actually fail is by not taking any action at all.

What steps will you take to overcome your fears TODAY?