What’s the secret to dealing with fear? As a skydiver, I’ve confronted significant fear in more than 1,300 jumps, including one over the North Pole. The prospect of a job or career change can be an equally rich source of fear. For some people, this fear can be so powerful that it paralyzes them from taking action. Fear can control, limit and make decisions that hinder your career.
However, you don’t have to become immobilized by this force. By taking constructive steps, you can overcome your fear and keep your career on track. Start with the simple, but often difficult, step of admitting you’re afraid. The step is difficult because it attacks the core of your psyche: your pride.
When you can admit that you’re frightened (even if only to yourself), you begin to regain control. You can then resume making decisions for yourself. The fear doesn’t disappear, but its power over you will wane.
A National Aeronautics and Space Administration study confirms this assumption. Researchers wanted to know why some pilots and astronauts completed their missions without suffering motion and stress sickness while others consistently had these problems. Based on empirical research, NASA found that only one factor distinguished the two groups. Those without physical problems had acknowledged in advance that they were going to be afraid. They had a constructive response to fear.
Many professionals find that the willingness to face fear and take intelligent risks is critical to their success. Silicon Valley entrepreneur James Faulkerson, founder of Imaginative Systems Inc. and TransImage Corp., first faced extreme fear as a young man in Vietnam. “After that, I knew life couldn’t throw anything tougher or crazier at me,” he says. The ability to face fear he learned in combat was critical when he had to take risks as an entrepreneur, he says.
“The greatest risk I had to take in business was making critical decisions based on limited information,” says Mr. Faulkerson. “In the high-tech arena, if you wait until you have all the information, the market will pass you by.” Whether trying to survive in combat or succeed in business, he says, “[I had to] take every precaution and trust my instincts. I would scour every piece of information I could get, but in the end I had to trust my instincts.”
Your “Confidence Voice”
If you’re like most people, particularly if you’re achievement-oriented, the idea that fear can control you can be hard to accept. The thought that a mere emotion — unrelated to your intellect or will — could influence you may be disturbing. Understanding that fear is illogical, yet has power over you, can be one of the most important lessons in your life.
Most people learn about fear as children. Infants have few fears. In childhood, you tune into your “confidence voice” like a radio picking up a strong signal. Never again will it speak louder — fortunately. If you didn’t “catch” certain fears from society, you’d likely die young.
Unfortunately, once those fears become present most people acquire many more than they need. They become more adept at hearing their “fear voice” than in tuning in to their fainter “confidence voice.”
I didn’t develop an expertise on this topic by parachuting out of a jet over the North Pole. I learned it earlier, during many successive skydiving jumps. Now, when I leap out of a plane, I use the following exercise to tune into my “confidence voice.” By applying these steps, you can learn to develop a constructive response to your fears when job hunting:
1. Focus on the action you want to do but have been afraid to attempt. Perhaps it’s interviewing with a company in which you’ve had a long-standing interest but never felt comfortable approaching, or applying for a position which interests you but is outside your primary area of expertise.
2. Identify the sources of your fear. Do you fear rejection from appearing unqualified in a new pursuit?
3. Determine what other emotions could counteract the fear. Is the excitement about the possibility of joining your dream company strong enough to overcome the fear of rejection? Does the prospect of having a daily passion and purpose about work outweigh the fear of being seen as unqualified?
4. Close your eyes and concentrate on the emotions that run counter to your fear. Let them become powerful in your mind. Listen to the voice from these emotions that says, “Go for the interview! Give it a try! It might be a good match!” Or, “Why not pursue the position in a new field? Otherwise, you’ll never know if you could have landed the job.”
5.Repeat until you hear the message in a clear and compelling tone.
6.Take the action you fear.
Peak performers use this process to exploit change and to excel while others avoid it and falter. Catherine Monson, vice president of Franchise Services Inc. (parent company of Sir Speedy Printing, PIP Printing and MultiCopy Centers) in Mission Viejo, Calif., says that when she’s addressing a business fear, she started by spending time alone to build her confidence. She affirms her abilities, drawing on her success in similar situations. After she’s tuned in to her “confidence voice,” she develops a plan and executes it.
Like other successful professionals, a willingness to take risks, despite her fears, has been vital to Ms. Monson’s advancement. “Had I not been willing to take the risk of accepting many challenging high-visibility assignments, I wouldn’t have advanced nearly as far in my career,” says Ms. Monson.
Don’t let your fears hold you back. Use these steps to harness fear and propel you past your personal and professional barriers.
The Leap
The steps to tuning-in to my “confidence voice” ran through my mind during my North Pole jump in 1995. After three hours in the air, the Russian jet I was aboard arrived over the Polar Cap. As I approached the exit ramp with my team, I realized I hadn’t tightened my leg straps. I tightened them immediately. Then I wondered what else I’d missed. Should I head back into the plane for a more thorough gear check? If anything else was loose when I went into freefall, my harness could shift upward. My chest strap could shift across my face, likely knocking off my goggles.
Without goggles in the frigid, arctic air, a single tear and a blink of my eyes could freeze my eyelashes together. Should both eyes freeze, I wouldn’t be able to tell if I was heading for ice or water. I wouldn’t be able to see when I approached the surface to make a safe landing.
In the worst case, my chest strap could shift above my head, no longer holding me in my harness. I’d pitch forward and free fall for what would be my final dive.
There were only a few moments to decide between another gear check or leaving with my team. Due to the speed of the jet, my only hope of surviving in the Arctic would be by exiting with my team.
As I tried to make my decision, my “fear voice” said, “Jim, get back in the plane! You’re about to kill yourself.”
My “confidence voice” had a quiet, deliberate tone: “Jim, you’re well trained, well prepared and you don’t want to miss this opportunity. If you leave the aircraft now, you’ll have the experience of a lifetime.”
I listened to the two voices to decide whether I was ready to take the next step and jump.
I did, and the rewards are immeasurable. I’m now speaking professionally to help others understand how to take risks and step beyond their comfort zone to achieve higher job performance and greater personal satisfaction. Rewards await you if you’re willing to confront your fear and take thoughtful risks.
2003 Jim McCormick
Jim McCormick a professional skydiver and motivational speaker. As a skydiver he regularly deals with performance threatening fear. As a speaker he regularly encounters the challenge of cold calling. In both roles, he draws on his experiences as a World Record and North Pole skydiver to prevail. More information on Jim and his presentations is available at http://www.TakeRisks.com or +1.650.726.2900.
