What strategies do you use to overcome fear?
That was the topic of conversation at the Thurston County Chamber’s YPN Smart Talk series on Mon., Feb. 13 at the Hotel RL Olympia.
The group came to an agreement that fear can derive from uncertainty, the feeling of being powerless, or anticipation of a negative outcome.
Jaron Banks led the discussion and brought up a well-known quote,
“Fear is simply false evidence appearing real”.
Many people believe that fear is a feeling experienced when something goes wrong, but–the group agreed–fear is actually the emotional experience that takes place before anything happens. People experience fear because they believe that a future event may cause physical or emotional discomfort. Many of the individuals in the group expressed they experience fear of rejection or failure, not because they have failed or are regularly rejected, but because they worry it might happen.
When professionals feel fear in business situations they fail to start new ventures, they also may interrupt current projects, or they might avoid taking potentially rewarding risks.
Ashley Worth from South Sound Bank offered the idea that
“We encourage our clients that failure is not a bad thing. If a business makes it through an economic downturn then they have overcome and are better for it!”
The group listed several ways to overcome fear: focus on the potential reward for the risk, have a defined goal, and have plans to overcome the worst case scenarios.
