What would you do if there was no fear...?

A question that might seem, on the face of it, facile or too wide in range but, please think about it for a minute in the context of your own situation.

What would you do if there was no fear..?

??Where would you live?

??How would you look?

??What would you do for work?

Perhaps you would make significant change or perhaps you wouldn’t change a thing.

I’m asking this question in coaching sessions more and more, and it unlocks fascinating conversation around what people would actually do if they could remove fear. ??And the most fascinating area of this is how I find many of us have found ourselves in situations we never thought we would be in.? Situations where (for example) paying the mortgage, perceptions of others, embarrassment etc, have directed an entire life in a direction that was never the original intention.? I find some have given into this and have resigned themselves to having to put ideas and possibilities on a high shelf, others wrestle with it every day.

What would you do if there was no fear?

“I would quit my job and follow my lifelong dream of opening that thing in that place that I know people want and would make me happy”.

What’s the fear?

"Running out of money, ‘it’ failing, people not liking it, what people will think of me…"

Then we set to work confronting the fears with logic and facts, each one of them worked out…when we are done, there is typically and understanding that these fears are generally unfounded.

A big part of my professional life is coaching, my particular branch of coaching is in helping professionals take control of their digital commercial worlds and becoming leading technical and commercial influencers in their sectors.? Some of this comes naturally to some people, others find it more difficult, for very different reasons.? ??

The coaching part of my life is about facilitating growth, guiding individuals and teams to unlock their potential, navigate challenges, and achieve sustainable success through personalised strategies and support but, as I said earlier, to some there are very real mental roadblocks.

Let’s look at one of the areas that is most common in my practise, a common theme I’ve seen time and time again over the years.

Creating content

When we start working with a new client on Digital B2B influence, we develop and strategy.? It’s the starting position:

??What are we here for?

??What do we need to be doing?

??Where do we need to do it?

...and we need need to be seeing in return.

?We then set out on a series of training sessions that put all of the building blocks in place to get what we need on digital channels…then we get to content.

We outline why content is important, how it works and what need to be done with it, some head of and easily slip into early practise, others seize up.

Its natural, people have different hopes, fears and desires.? People learn, move and act at different paces and different tones – therefore, coaching a team means dealing with people’s differences and working with them.

When we find people are struggling to create content, I find out what the blockages are.? Typically, the initial responses are smoke screens “ I just didn’t have time”, “I couldn’t think of anything”, “I want to put out high quality content and I’m building up to the that”…but it’s always deeper and is consistently rooted in fear.

When we get to the bottom of it, we find its nearly always related to one or more of these:

“What right do I have to write about what I do?”

“Who will care?”

“What if someone criticises me?”

“What if nobody reads it”.

What would you do if there was no fear of this...?

“Well, I guess I would be able to put out the kind of things I really want to…”.

So, let’s look at those fears.

“What right do I have to write about what I do?”

This platform is designed to allow all professionals to meet, connect, build relationships and create economic opportunity, it’s what it’s for.? The way that we solidify who we are and what we stand for is through our content.? You have a voice, you have expereince, history, knowledge, thoughts and perspectives and there is an expectation that you will share them.? When you do, people will take note.

“Who will care?”

Many will care, particularly if you start to create content that speaks to people – Your objective is to make people take notice and the care will come.

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“What if someone criticises me?”

That’s where training comes in.?? The people who make mistakes on digital channels don’t have a strategy and aren’t trained so they wander into the Badlands.? Even if it does happen, it’s the nature of life and its ok, roll with it, deal with it, learn and move on.? We can’t expect to go through life only meeting people who agree with us, some will, some wont…its natural.? Its highly likely the person who might criticise you will have no idea what you are doing and has no impact to offer on your goals.

I’ve seen people throw away all of the benefits of their new digital commercial lives because of one acidic comment from someone of no real consequence to their objectives…all of the gold and diamonds from this new commercial life lost.? ?

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“What if nobody reads it”.

People are here on these platforms to read or listen to good content, so give them it.? Practise, assess, refine, test, repeat.? Good content will always fly, and it will fly higher if it appeals to your network, if it strikes a chord, its it makes people think…

When we rationalise the fears, it puts it all in context and, we are there on your shoulder as you walk in, guiding you along the way.

To a person, everyone we have trained and coached has produced content that is well revised by their network, when people realise that the world didn't spin of its axis and keep practising and refining, it all comes together.

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A good friend of mine is an accomplished performance coach, you might know him, he is Dr Tim Wigham .? I one asked him on a podcast how he manages people who are struggling or rejecting in a group training environment.? Tim said something that stuck with me, he said “meet people where they are”.? When he said it at the time, I thought it was just a cool thing he said at the time, but I thought about later and deeper.?

“Meet people where they are…”

It’s perfect in a coaching scenario and in general life, its an anchor point for me as we progress with coaching or clients.

The only difference between you and that person you see who can happily put out regular content over and over, is that they started and have practised.?

They got going, learned and committed.

We all have fear of something, especially now with all that is going on in our world.

Fear creates uncertainty and that destabilises us, it distracts us and causes us to second guess ourselves and our plan.

You know that getting yourself out there is important, but you have worries, perhaps you don't know where to start.

Your lack of confidence is the only barrier to what you want to achieve and sometimes its good to have a shoulder to lean on.

You are not alone, we are here to help you.

Working together, sharing our ideas, our experience and our network creates success for all of us.

These days, many are looking for a magic wand to make everything just happen with no effort.

You are your magic wand...nothing else...just you.

Eric Doyle (F.ISP) Consult Crux

Eric is the founder and Managing Director of Crux, a business fully focussed on helping modern professional teams, take full advantage of their digital commercial worlds, and lead the way.

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