Is Fear Blocking you?

FEAR

As an author of suspense/thrillers I love to work with fear in my stories. People enjoy being scared to a certain extent. But Fear can also cause you to miss out on incredible opportunities.

Last Monday I discussed the book Failing Forward and this blog ties in to that quite a bit. Fear of Failure will prevent you from trying a new marketing technique, or sometimes submitting a proposal in the first place.

I've never been one who was afraid to send my work off. There was nervous anticipation, even a bit of excitement at the new adventure, but never fear. What keeps me awake at night and makes me become a shivering ball of nerves...the phone.

Yep, I have phone fear.

I knew that from previous sales positions I've held but not until I started working for an Executive Recruiter did I realize how terrified I was of a complete stranger on the other side of the country. I have literally dialed the phone wiping tears from my eyes and hand trembling.

But I learned Fear is good.

It pushes you to become more than you could be. It gives you an enemy to conquer. I've learned a great deal of empathy for people who are afraid of rejection [in their writing] and as I've continued to learn from my boss [who btw is a wonderful example of integrity in business and a great mentor] I've applied it to my writer's life.

I've learned that I can do more than I thought I could. As I push past my fear I'm learning to overcome. As I make phone calls all day I'm becoming more comfortable with it [though my heart is still beating like a hummingbird's wings thinking of the list of calls I have to make after lunch]. The skills I'm using now also help me market my work and my writing career course. You have to be willing to meet people and face rejection as an author. I'm blessed to do it dozens of times a week.

Fear is bad when it causes you to miss the mark and give up on your dreams. There are many times where I've wanted to throw in the towel on writing projects when they got too hard. There are times when I wanted to give up on my full-time job because I've felt like a failure. [Notice: I said FELT LIKE a failure, that doesn't mean I WAS a failure]. But by pushing through that, getting up and doing it one more time, I'm determining my level of success...not fear or its cousin frustration.

So think about it, are you allowing fear to push you forward or hold you back?

Share with us when you've conquered something that scared you. How did it help you grow?

And if you'd like to learn more about how to build your writing Business sign up for my Writing Career Mentorship Course. Details are at my website www.WritingCareerCoach.com