Action Cures Fear
I had a phone call today that I was not looking forward to and I had thought of putting it off until “tomorrow”. I had plenty of reasons why I could rationalize putting it off for another day, but I knew that the more I put it off the worse it was going to get. So, I made the time, and made the call.
Going into the call I was expecting a battle. The email that I had received beforehand was negative, accusatory, and disrespectful so I wasn’t excited to talk with this person. Amazingly enough, 10 seconds into the call the person on the other end was not acting ANYTHING like I had imagined they would.
I realized that what they thought they were communicating in email was not what I had perceived in the email, and that when we actually talked about it, we were in agreement on most accounts.
This led me down a trip on memory lane. When I was selling books door to door in college, the person behind the door that I was about to knock on was no where near as scary or mean as the “ogre” that I had pictured them as being. Every time I have called a client or customer to work out a “misunderstanding” or “problem” the problem/drama/conflict that I pictured in my mind before I called was always far scarier and intimidating than the actual conversation.
Remember, it is rarely as bad as you have pictured it. People generally want to get along with other people. And ACTION cures FEAR.
ACTION CURES FEAR! If you ever find yourself afraid or apprehensive to take on any task (i.e. calling a prospect, calling someone who is upset, asking for one more referral, cold call, or whatever) just take a deep breath and dive in.
Do it! Don’t hold back. Trust that in the end, no matter what might happen in the next 5-10 minutes, you are going to be just fine, and more than likely you will come out of it with a very positive lesson (about what to do or what NOT to do the next time) and many times you will come out with some sort of a result (which will usually be a good one).
Its like diving into chilly water, it is always worse when you stand there “thinking” about how cold the water is, and putting one toe into the water to remind you how cold it really is THAN realizing that if you must get into that water the easiest way is to dive head first. More often than not, the water is not that bad and you will get used to it, and if it is life threatening you can get yourself out of the water.
Take the scariest thing on your task list, or the activity that you have been consistently putting off, procrastinating and by the end of the day DO IT! DO IT TODAY! Action cures Fear!
In the comments below tell us what that activity is and what you are going to do about it.
Be Free!
Instructor
I was pretty fearful about committing to a massiv project at work that would affect a ton of people, but it was a good feeling once it was complete! I can relate to this article Tom.
Comment by Dave — March 15, 2010 @ 10:26 am
Great article Tom and thanks for sharing some of your experiences. There is something very energizing and powerful about tackling the tough issues, FIRST. After that, it’s all gravy.
A good, simple book that might be useful is Bran Tracy’s “Eat The Frog”, which is all about this point of tackling those tasks that are sometimes unpleasant or leave a bitter taste in your mouth, first. Follow them up with a cupcake and you’ll be feeling sweet all day!
Comment by Budka — March 15, 2010 @ 10:27 am
I experience this fairly often and as long as I go into it knowing I’ll do everything I can to “help,” the situation almost always plays out to be less threatening than I had imagined.
Comment by Nick Wodka — March 15, 2010 @ 3:04 pm
love it tom!
Comment by eric — March 15, 2010 @ 3:10 pm
Great point. Surprisingly, I have been focusing on this for the past week and have experienced a lot more piece of mind. Rather than postponing a conversation and allowing my mind to wander to all the horrible things that could happen, I have been just acting on it quickly, if not immediately and have noticed a lot less stress in my business dealings. Good point too Budka.
Comment by Shoup — March 15, 2010 @ 5:10 pm