5 Essential Tips for getting back on your feet.
Throughout our careers and our lives, all of us will come up against situations or challenges which can throw us off balance. At these times it’s very tempting to focus on quick fixes or mindless distractions, anything that will help to rid us of those negative feelings. But what steps can we take to ensure that at times like these, we remain cool, calm and ready to take on the world?
Speaking personally, I have vivid memories (some very recent) of times when I have become completely overwhelmed by the scale and complexity of the task or challenge ahead. I know what it is to be racked with self-doubt ..….What if I fail? What if I’m not up to the job? What if I’m rumbled as a fraud? Or, what if I am kicked out? My reactions to these ‘confidence killers’ have swung embarrassingly, anywhere between numbed paralysis, to running around like a demented rabbit.
So here are 5 key tips to help free yourself from your fears, so that next time you are afflicted by “What If……?”, you can get back on track and producing the results you really want:
- Discomfort is good. Only by taking risks and ‘putting ourselves out there’ will we move forward from where we are today. Take notice the next time you feel hindered by your fears and congratulate yourself – it’s a sure sign you’re not only alive, but growing and learning too.
- Just notice and breathe. Practise simply being aware of how certain situations tend to get a grip on you and prevent you from acting with your natural wisdom and power. By avoiding the temptation to analyse and self-scold, you will become increasingly detached from these unhelpful thoughts so that you can eventually choose a different and more constructive way to respond.
- Get re-acquainted with You. Remind yourself of the special and unique qualities you possess that have brought you to where you are today. Acknowledge the many positive contributions you make to your work and to others. It’s easy to lose sight of these things when our confidence goes A.W.O.L.
- Adopt a conscious spirit of adventure. Determine to have joyful, learning-ful experiences and appreciate the journey. The simple truth is that our lives and careers are constantly unfolding, presenting us with challenges, big and small, new and familiar. Always.
- “There is no failure. Only feedback.” (Robert Allen) It’s no cliché. Almost without exception, the world’s high achievers see failure as a pre-requisite for success. And in the words of Henry Ford, “Whether You Believe You Can, Or You Can’t, You Are Right”.
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Oooh, so true …… thanks, Carol. I felt the same way about writing my first newsletter and am so glad to see the sky hasn’t yet fallen in – nor have I been eaten!
Good article Sandra!…Bob Parsons of GoDaddy has this as his number 4 rule for Success in Business and Life in General (16 rules in total). I find it useful in extreme situations!:
“With regard to whatever worries you, not only accept the worst thing that could happen, but make it a point to quantify what the worst thing could be.
Very seldom will the worst consequence be anywhere near as bad as a cloud of “undefined consequences.” My father would tell me early on, when I was struggling and losing my shirt trying to get Parsons Technology going, “Well, Robert, if it doesn’t work, they can’t eat you.”