Fear is an emotion experienced in anticipation of a specific pain or danger. It can cause us to slow down, act with caution, and in some cases, to freeze up entirely. When we fear the worst, we stop taking action, and action is a key component to reaching our goals.

Dealing with your fear head on usually dilutes the stronghold that keeps fear alive. As scary as this may seem, facing your fear is the secret to getting past it.

See Part II continued below… 

Part II.

How Do You Move Past Fear So You Can Have A Successful, Rewarding, And Fulfilling Career? Here Are 4 Ways:

1. Identify Your Fear:

What are you afraid of? Are you afraid of making a mistake? Being rejected? Afraid of making a wrong choice again? Are your fears enough to stop you?

Write down your fear. Get it on paper. Be specific. Include what your fear is as well as why your fear it. Your goal is to stop your fear from circling around in your head and causing damage. Once identified, you may find that what you are afraid of is not as scary as you think. The sooner you can identify what your fear is, the quicker you can make it disappear.

2. Visualize Your Way Past Fear:.

Successful people who have overcome fear began with a determination to not let their fear stop them. They created a clear description of the end goal in their minds. They visualized this description several times before it became a reality. They spent a great deal of time nurturing this description before they acted on it to make it real.

Begin with a clear description of what you want to happen. New job? Promotion? More money? Your own business? Visualize the end goal several times a day. Put yourself mentally at the finish line. Then, working backwards, visualize the steps necessary to succeed. Visualize yourself overcoming the steps you fear as well as the fears that are holding you back. Picture yourself successfully completing each step, despite your fear, and then reaching your goal.

3. Conquer Your Fear: .

The way past fear is through it. You will not wake up one day and not be afraid anymore. In the beginning you have to do things afraid. Fear and change are always toughest in the beginning.

Yes, it’s scary to call people you do not know or haven’t spoke to in a while to ask for help. Or, going to a networking event or job fair to look for a job when you do not know if it will be worthwhile. Or, scheduling a meeting with your boss to ask for more money or a promotion even though you know there have been cutbacks around you. The outcome may not be favorable.

But, it may. Why rule out the possibility so quickly? Sometimes we try things in our career for ourselves; to see if we can do it. Even if you get a no, you’ll learn from that no, and turn it into a yes next time.

4. Take Action:

There will always be a reason to stay where you are. And, there is a better reason to move forward. You spend so much of your waking hours either in your career or thinking about it. This is valuable time that you do not want to waste.

Career goals are reached by taking small steps over time. You need to keep moving. No matter what. Even, if you do not feel like it. Even, if you do not believe what you want will happen. Make a plan and work on it everyday. Trust that the work you are doing now towards your plan will bring the rewards later. Because, it will. Slow and steady wins the race every time.

So what do you say? You only have one life to live so it might as well be a life you love!

THIS MONTH: TOP THINGS THAT PROVE A CLIENT IS COACHABLE.

Coaching works best when the client is coachable; that is, is open to being coached by a coach. Here’s how to tell if your client is open to coaching or not. 

1. The Client Consistently Takes Action In Order To Reach A Goal.

If the client is just going to talk and not take action consistently, then the client isn't ready for coaching.

Coaching works best when a gap is created between where the client is and where the client wants to get to. Evolutionary-type (large) goals are often easier to accomplish than incremental-type goals.

The client should bring several topics for discussion to the coaching call, and also clearly share their wins and challenges of the week. Also, facts, figures, measurables and trends are an important part of the coaching call.

The client is the one who leads the coaching call, but is also open to the input and questions posed by the coach. The Client doesn't expect the coach to "do it for them" or motivate them. If the client expects the coach to do most of the work on the coaching call, the coaching doesn't work very well.

Coaching isn't about just getting support to continue one's life pretty much as it has been. Rather, the client who makes key changes in his/her personal and professional life is probably getting a lot out of the coaching process. These key changes may be large or small, but they need to significantly improve the client's quality of life.

During the coaching process, it's common that a client will "hit a wall" or feel challenged to grow or do something differently. The successful client sticks with the process until they move through the temporary (and it's always temporary) block.

So few of us know what we really want, and coaching is a great place to discover what that is and how to get it. But the client needs to be able to want in order for coaching to work well.

In coaching, the client is expected to do what is right for them right now instead of pushing themselves to acquire a result at the cost of their integrity.

Much of the coaching process is that of letting go of what used to work in business and in life and to begin freely experimenting with new ideas and approaches. The successful client is willing to experiment vs. hold on to what used to work.

About the Author: This piece was written by Thomas J. Leonard, deceased, who was the founder of the coaching profession.