Common Sense Ideas for Becoming the Career Star You Are Meant to Be

Today is Monday, so this post is on self confidence.

In previous posts, I have commented that fear is the enemy of self confidence.  Lorraine Cohen is a business consultant and life strategist.  In her e book, Fearless: 7 Keys to Turning Mountains Into Mole Hills, she identifies the 12 most common fears that keep people from getting what they want in life. 

This is a great list.  I suggest you take a few minutes and read it.  Which of these 12 apply to you?  What can you do to overcome them?

1. Fear of failure – based on the old idea that everything we do has to be entirely successful and that there even is such a thing as a real failure!
2. Fear of success – success could mean more responsibility, more attention, abundance, and a continued pressure to perform at a high level.  Many of us are taught to be prepared for failure and not success.
3. Fear of being judged – comes from the need for approval, which evolves from childhood.
4. Fear of emotional pain – fear of the severity and ability to handle or survive the pain.
5. Fear of embarrassment – feelings associated with making mistakes, being human and shame by empowering others to judge us.
6. Fear of abandonment and/or being alone – feelings of grief and loss that tie into feelings of rejection and self worth.
7. Fear of rejection – personalizing the responses and behaviors of others in a way that is taken to heart when we take a social of professional risk.
8. Fear of expressing our true feelings – lack of clear, direct communication ruins both personal and business relationships.
9. Fear of intimacy – getting too close to people and letting them know and see the “real you”.  Brings up thoughts like “if you really get to know me, you won’t love/like/want me.  Tied to self worth and strong fears of rejection.
10. Fear of the unknown – needless worry and speculative anxieties, what ifs.  Imaginative perceptions of things that most often never materialize.  Expecting the worst, not the best.
11. Fear of loss – related to the fear of pain associated with no longer having something or someone of personal emotional significance.
12. Fear of death – related to the fear of loss.  Focuses on the question, “what will happen to me when I die?”

Numbers 1 (Fear of Failure), 3 (Fear of Being Judged) and 5 (Fear of Embarrassment) resonate with me.  I have had to work hard to overcome these fears.  However, the work has paid off.  It’s led me to where I am today – a successful small business owner.

Which of these 12 resonate for you?  What are you going to do about them?

That’s it for today.  Thanks for reading.  Log on to my website www.BudBilanich.com for more common sense.  Check out my other blog: www.CommonSenseGuy.com for common sense advice on leading people and running a small business.

I’ll see you around the web, and at Alex’s Lemonade Stand.

Bud

PS: Speaking of Alex’s Lemonade Stand – my fundraising page is still open.  Please go to www.FirstGiving.com/TheCommonSenseGuy to read Alex’s inspiring story and to donate if you can.