If we approach our fear with compassion , however , we can change the relationship with it so that we can turn towards it and hear its messages
Is your fear telling you what to do ?
To gain control we must first understand more about our current relationship with fear . When does fear get loud for you ? When is it difficult to ignore it ? Understanding the way in which our body reacts to our fear voice , what our fear voice says , and how it talks to us , is crucial .
It is easy to be self-critical of our fears , anxieties and worries , or critical of ourselves for having these sensations in the first place . If we are ashamed of our fear , a natural response is to deny or ignore it . When we do , we lose touch with some important self-awareness cues and may end up carrying some new hard emotions such as shame and guilt . If we approach our fear with compassion , however , we can change the relationship with it so that we can turn towards it and hear its messages .
Fear has wonderful things to give us : it gives us the gift of working harder and warning us of failure or rejection . But , we want to learn when to listen to it and when not to . We don ’ t want to be blindly controlled by it .
How to get fear under your control
We want to evaluate what to do in relation to our goals , not our fears . We must learn to evaluate the content so we can hear the message that the guest of fear is giving us without having to take on the drama and catastrophising .
For example , we don ’ t need to listen to stories of the past or future that fear often uses to remind us of the dangers . We want to tune into the ‘ now ’ so that we can truly evaluate the action that will serve our goals . We may also want to tune into what other important voices have to say , for example , hope , excitement , joy . We can control how we move our attention around these different voices , rather than listening to fear , using strategies such as writing or finding ways of letting fear travel through rather than getting caught up .
Learn when to listen to fear
Professional success relies on learning when to listen to fear and , more importantly , when not to . Becoming more courageous is easy when we ’ ve decided to build a closer relationship with fear . Making sure we are in control of fear is one of the most essential skills we can practice driving our professional success ( individually and as a collective ). We will be able to make deeper connections , influence decisions , act quicker , create more , opt into - not away from - challenges , be calm and have more fun . We are not our fears , we are the host .