'Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway' by Susan Jeffers

I thought to share some of the excerpts from my all-time favorite book ' Feel the Fear and Do it Anyway' by Susan Jeffers. This is a great book about 'goal setting' It is all about turning 'indecision into action'. I thought the insights are more relevant to the corporate world because there are so many fears in corporate life. "What about my target this month?" " What if I lose my job?"," I am not sure I get the promotion", " Ayyo, this year my hike will be no more than 5%"," I can not complete the task within the stipulated time, I do not what is going to happen in the monthly meeting'. I know that every one of you is fearing something. If yes, then it makes sense to read this book. I am making an effort here to cull out some of the insights of the book.

1) 'Mantra' is " I will handle it". Whenever I faced the fear of job loss or fear of failure in my work, I always remembered my humble background. I always remembered much more difficult situations and how I overcome those situations in the journey of life. It is true that job loss was a blessing in disguise. " I will handle it" is a great 'mantra' that can help you reduce your fear level.

2) Truth is that "fear will never go away as long as you continue to grow". Fear is going to be your companion as long as you stretch your capabilities, as long as you continue to expand your dream, as long as you take risks, the fear will be with you. We all need to accept that truth.

3) Action is the only answer to reduce fear. We all know this and experienced this. Remember your first interview. I hope you also remember your knees trembling, a roller coaster in your stomach and feel of moisture in your palms. After a few interviews, the fear was less. I still remember my initial presentations.

4) Everyone is afraid of unfamiliar territory. Do not think you are the only one who is fearing. Everyone is sailing in the same boat. So your boss with an angry face ??who breathes target also fears to his boss.??

What behind us and what lies ahead us are tiny matters compared to what lies within us - Ralph Waldo Emerson ( American Philosopher)

5) Pushing through the fear, do not live with it. Living with the fear and living with the feeling of helplessness will increase fatigue. Go and take some risk and act on it. Pushing through the fear is far more easy as compared to anticipating "what if....".

6) Do not always look for the approval of others.

7) Take responsibilities. Do not blame others for the causes. If something is not working in your life it is better to ask yourself "How can change it". If we start blaming others for your situation, then you will end up only in fear and pain. All of us blame our boss, colleague, and company for so many things. I have seen many employees always expressing pain of something or the other issues ( example- salary delay) and blaming the company for that. Whether we ever thought about how we can increase the cash flows? how we are responsible for more business? Can we strategize something new? If there is no business and no orders, how can we change that?

Try not to complain about anything or not criticizing anyone for a week to start with.

Of all the liars in the world, sometimes worsst are our own fears." - Rudyard Kipling.

8) Do not blame yourself- You have done your best at that given point of time. No meaning in blaming yourself

" I am not afarid of tomorrow, for I have seen yesterday and I love today." - Willium Allen White.

Happy Sunday and enjoy life.