Your client is hesitant about new career paths. How can you help them overcome their fear of failure?

F.E.A.R. - Face Everything and Rise Deep dive into your fear to: - Break Barriers, Confronting fears smashes mental limits, freeing you to take bold leaps in your new career. - Smart Risks, Knowing your fears means you can take daring, calculated risks, turning pitfalls into opportunities. - Rebel Growth, Embrace discomfort and chaos, obliterating your comfort zone and becoming unstoppable in your career. Enjoy the discovery and rise!

To help a client overcome fear of failure in new career paths, emphasize their past achievements and transferable skills. Encourage setting small, achievable goals to build confidence. Share success stories of others who have changed careers and provide resources for skill development. Frame setbacks as learning opportunities to foster resilience and empower them to embrace new challenges confidently.

F.E.A.R - False Evidence Appearing Real If you are worried about tackling a new career path, start by looking at your current job and the things that you do that aren't specific to the type of work. These can be things like scheduling, planning, mentoring, training, running meetings, etc. Make a list. Now go through the list and see how many of them apply to the career direction you are considering? Chances are there's a fair amount of overlap. The average person can learn the important aspects of a business in about 60 days. Hopefully this reduces the amount of fear you have about this new direction.

Instead of focusing on fears, I work with my clients on what brings them alive. What they love about themselves. What intrinsically drives them. How to get out of the busy, overthinking mind (which creates the fear) and into the distributed intelligence of the body to feel into what's true for them. This grounding process naturally creates the conditions for clarity and confidence to emerge.

It's easy to forget what we've already accomplished and how we've grown. I like to ask my clients to write down every achievement they can remember, even small wins back in childhood. This list is always much longer than they'd initially expected, and it gives a confidence boost. I also use somatics -- what is your body language telling you? When you shift your physicality, what shift do you notice in your mindset?

To help your client overcome their fear of failure in new career paths, normalize setbacks as part of growth. Encourage them to articulate specific fears and challenge negative thoughts with positive perspectives. Emphasize learning from setbacks, set realistic expectations, celebrate small wins, and use visualization and affirmations to boost confidence. Cultivating a support network and considering backup plans can also alleviate anxieties about change, fostering a more resilient approach to exploring new opportunities.

I work with creative, curious dot-connectors who often think and move non-linearly and in more of an emergent fashion. For us, the typical goal-setting process doesn't work. Instead, I work with my clients to create a "possibility space" that provides the boundaries for experimentation. The possibility space gives clear definition on what's a hard NO (which you should take off the table) and what options are fully aligned with who you are and what drives you. From here, we can identify what to pursue and then break things down into manageable chunks to execute. Lastly, we identify what tasks should be delegated, if possible, to avoid burnout and overwhelm.

Encouraging skill development is a pivotal strategy to help you overcome hesitation in choosing a new career path. By focusing on acquiring new skills or honing existing ones that are directly relevant to your desired career, you're not only enhancing your marketability but also boosting your confidence significantly. Engaging in courses, workshops, or seeking mentorship opportunities demonstrates your commitment to growth and preparation. This proactive approach not only equips you with the necessary tools but also diminishes fear by emphasizing your readiness and capability to thrive in your chosen field.

For the curious connectors I coach, the problem is the desire to learn too much... which leads to overwhelm. It's critical to start with WHO -- who are you? what can only you do? What's fully aligned with your intrinsic motivations? What personal limitations can you embrace as "design constraints" (ie, instead of assuming you need fixing, assume that intentional curation of your environment and relationships will transform those so-called limitations into strengths, or at minimum render them irrelevant.) That takes most of the learning options off the table and clearly reveals the handful of growth opportunities necessary to bring the best version of you to life.

Encouraging clients to keep a journal helps them document their thoughts, feelings, and progress, providing a private space to express fears, challenges, and triumphs. This reflective practice offers insights into behaviors and emotions, allowing clients to track their growth over time. Using specific prompts can guide clients' reflections, ensuring they cover various aspects of their journey. Prompts help clients focus on achievements and areas for improvement, making journaling more effective and meaningful. Clients can use their journals to set and track goals, maintaining a clear sense of direction and motivation. Regular updates and reflections help reassess and adjust goals, ensuring alignment with their overall vision.

I think it’s important for a coach to also know their limits of knowledge and support. Some clients who are still stuck even with all of these strategies may benefit from a therapist. Fear can be a normal part of being a human but when it interferes with your own growth you may need more.