Letting your fears get in the way of your goals happens to the best of us. It’s a common mistake many businesswomen make — especially in male-dominated fields that leave no room for error for the women hoping to make an impact.
But just because it’s common doesn’t mean you shouldn’t try to beat those fears. In fact, there are many things you can do, and they won’t be half as scary as you think.
1. Acknowledge your fears
Attempting to climb the corporate ladder without acknowledging your own fears is near impossible. After all, how can you expect to succeed if you’re too scared to tackle your own issues head on?Instead, what you need to do first is acknowledge your biggest concerns and fears regarding your career — and for some, this is the hardest part.
2. Identify the root cause
Identifying the root cause of your fear is a great way in ensuring you will be able to beat it completely.Because once you know why you have this fear, you’ll know what needs to be done to stop it from coming back.
3. Seek professional advice
Sometimes, no matter how hard or scary it is to seek professional advice, it may just be your only option. It’s important to be able to recognize when your fears go beyond the average person’s and develop into a phobia, and when professional help is a necessity.
4. Use your contacts
Using your connections to help you beat your fears has many advantages. Not only will you be able to tackle your fears, but in the process you’ll be able to strengthen some of the connections you’ve already made — as you’re willing to show you’re not afraid to improve and power through any struggle.
5. Keep your end goal in mind
It needs to be said that with each of these steps come some level of struggle towards your end goal. It isn’t going to be easy and you may find yourself wanting to give up at some point.If and when this happens, it’s important to keep your end goal in sight and remind yourself why you’re doing this all.
6. Trust yourself
One of the biggest reasons it is difficult for some to tackle their own fears, is they don’t trust themselves enough in dealing with them.But how do you expect others to want to work with you if you don’t even trust yourself in beating your own fears? Be confident in yourself.
7. Be realistic
One of the most important things to remember when tackling your own fears is that it won’t happen overnight.In reality, beating your fears is a learning process and takes time, so it’s okay to have a setback which makes you reevaluate things, and makes you a stronger person, reading to tackle your fears once again.
8. But still optimistic
There’s a fine line between being too optimistic that you forget to be realistic, whilst on the other hand you risk becoming too cynical when trying to be realistic. That’s why it is important to have a healthy combination of the two: remain realistic and don’t ignore all the facts, but always find the silver lining and think of the positives which can come out of every situation.
9. Find something that helps you de-stress
Tackling your fears isn’t always going to be easy, and there are sure to be more than a few stressful moments in the process.Therefore, it’s important to find something that will help you de-stress, and allow you a moment to yourself in which you can re-evaluate how you will go about beating your fears.
10. Bounce back
This is perhaps the most important tip for how to beat your fears. No matter what, you need to bounce back.No matter how many times you feel knocked down, finding the strength to bounce back not only makes you stronger but whether you know it or not, brings you one step closer to beating your fears once and for all.
These points should ultimately make it obvious that beating your fears once and for all is not an overnight job, but instead is a constant learning process, which may feature a few setbacks every now and again.But as long as you have the right determination and mindset, you will be able to beat your fears and become a better businesswoman for it.
