To my mind the dirtiest 4 letter F word in the English Language. Fear
In relation to entrepreneurs and indeed managers of small and medium businesses I think there are a number of areas we should explore
- Fear Of Failure
- Fear Of Reputational Damage
- Fear Of The Opinions Of Peers
- Fear Of Authority (Taxman, Regulatory Bodies)
- Fear Of Public Speaking
- Fear Of Success
To Start let’s look at Fear itself.
I heard a definition of fear which is False Expectations Appearing Real. And while in many cases this is true it is mainly because the thing we fear is probably quite unlikely to happen. That is true about many things we fear. People ride roller coasters, do bungee jumps pursue extreme sports for the express purpose of being made afraid in a controlled environment – Where the level of fear experienced is disproportionately greater than the actual risk.
Fear has a purpose. We still have in our physiological make up a basic fight or flight response and that is there to protect us from danger to life and limb. But in our society that risk is almost completely removed. So we have the Roller coasters etc. Based on our life experience, socialisation and education we experience an appropriate level of fear. The younger you are the less fear you experience. Then you get hurt or injured and fear of repeating that experience sets in. For example in Australia children are taught to fear snakes by their parents because some Australian snakes are deadly. Parents are afraid of their children being really harmed so they pass on the fear culturally. In Ireland wed have no snakes – A quick thanks to St Patrick here – and so people are a bit grossed out but not so scared of snakes.
So if we extrapolate this theory then the level of fear should be appropriate to the level of risk to us Right?
This is where the theory breaks down. We have an imbalance between the level of fear and the level of risk. How many people are afraid of spiders? No dangerous spiders in Ireland so why? Mice? I even heard of someone too scared to touch the sticky side of a label.
Fear, If we allow it to, can control and even paralyse us preventing us from taking action when we need to. IF WE ALLOW IT TO.
So Down to brass tacks
Let’s look at the business cases I mentioned earlier
- Fear of failure
This is ultimately a tool we use to keep us motivated. Everyone experiences it from time to time and we usually have the means at our disposal to take appropriate action to deal with the things that might cause a project or even a business to fail. It just requires a cool head – to Feel the fear, acknowledge and decide: Is this level of fear reasonable for this risk? Then act to mitigate the things causing the fear so reducing the risk and the level of fear. Feel the fear and do it anyway or if appropriate re assess the risk
- Fear Of Reputational Damage And Fear Of The Opinions Of Peers
This one harks back to being 14 years old and thinking what will other people think of me? Remember your sense of who you are does not come from what other people think of you, good or bad. It comes from what you think of you. What do you think of you? Why have you formed that opinion? Based on what? Obviously the opinion of your clients and potential clients is very important. You should do everything possible to enhance both your personal reputation and that of your business. But this is one of the fears that can totally paralyse you and do more harm than good. If this fear stops you from acting then again you have to put it on the see saw does the fear balance the risk?
- Fear Of Authority (Taxman, Regulatory Bodies)
This is totally controllable
If you are compliant then there is nothing to fear So Go and get your Taxes, your Health and Safety, your GDPR and so on in order. Then if you are ever audited you have nothing to fear.
- Fear Of Public Speaking
More business people experience this than any other fear and it can be crippling. It can cripple both the individual and the business. It is in essence a fear of the response of the audience, the judgement of the audience and again it is based most often in our experiences of rejection in the past. Abraham Lincoln once said: You can please all the people some of the time and some of the people all the time but not all the people all the time. So in this case please YOURSELF. You will feel the fear but measure again against the Risk. Is it appropriate fear?
- Fear Of Success
This one controls us if we let it and again it boils down to 2 questions
- In what currency do I measure success? Love? Money? Prestige? Freedom? Adulation?
Or something else
- Do I believe that I deserve to be successful?
Believe. Just Believe.
The truth is that it is all in our own hands. We are in control of our lives and:
It is not what happens to us but the response we offer to that event that matters.