Archive for fear
Face your Fears
Posted by: | CommentsAre you afraid to go from employee to contractor, especially in these ‘uncertain times’? If you’ve been freaking out about the economy you need to realize that there are many people who are stressed out in the least. Take yours truly for example. With money in the bank, I’ve even been ‘between contracts’ and enjoying it tremendously. It’s been hard for me to understand why employees are so resistant to taking the plunge. But lately I’ve been more understanding because I’ve had some fear myself.
I recently started to work on a new business and realized how afraid I was to start it. Fear of failure, not sure what to do next, etc. And recently I was offered an architect role which is a bit higher level than I’m used to. One thing you can do is to keep reminding yourself that everything will work out fine. It’s worked out fine in the past and it will work out fine in the future. You really can’t know exactly what will happen but you need to have faith that it will be okay. Another thing you can do is remind yourself that you will find the help you need to be successful. In other words, don’t think you have to do it alone. Also focus on the possible rewards rather than the possible problems.
Nothing makes me happier than seeing people like you take the plunge and go for it.
Are You Too Comfortable?
Posted by: | CommentsWhen I get calls nowadays requesting help with an integration project, it’s pretty much business as usual. I know what rate I want, how much it will cost for travel, whether I’m qualified to do the project and so on. There’s no fear or insecurity.
During my downtime, I recently started work on a new business idea. To tell you the truth it is really scary for me to think about going from an independent consultant to running a full-fledged business. Some of you who haven’t incorporated or gone on your own probably have similar fears. Can I leave my current job and start consulting? “Do I have enough experience, what if I can’t do the project, or what if the project fails?”, are some questions you may ask.
During this phase of ‘contemplating change’, you need to remind yourself of times when you were afraid of change, but you came out successful. Or maybe it didn’t work out okay, but you learned a lot and were better for it. I have also been telling myself that if I don’t know something or don’t have experience in a certain area I will get help. I will form a great team of people who can support me. At one point, I considered paying another consultant to help me with a certain challenge during a project. While that may seem strange, spending a bit of your money to ensure success is worth it and something you may not have considered doing.
It’s best to ask empowering questions such as ‘How can I be successful with this change?’, or ‘Who can I get to help me be successful?’ instead of ‘What if I fail?’
