Well, it’s been a fast summer around here, lots have been happening and I’m trying my best to stay very motivated and very busy. There is a lot of lost ground I need to cover since my health issues last spring, but it’s all working nicely and falling in place as my goal plan intends.

 

 I’ve been having a lot of discussion lately and some questions about ‘what if’s…’   “What if I make a cold call and they start yelling at me?”; “Did I remember to bring that brochure?”; ‘What if I mess up my presentation tomorrow?’ – These are some anxieties we all experience at some time or the other. Anxiety manifests as an unpleasant state with a combination of emotions like F.E.A.R. (false evidence appearing real), apprehension, and worry. For different people there can different physical sensations ranging from sweaty palms, chest pain, nausea, headaches, heart palpitations, or shortness of breath. These are in fact very real. The cause is generally very unreal however.Anxiety, however, is a common enough reaction in response to stress in our everyday life.

 

Anxiety can be a useful state – in that it makes us more alert, careful and capable of coping with the situation at hand. Normally, the state of anxiety ends as soon as one is out of the situation that has caused it. Sometimes though, our anxious thoughts can spiral out of control, stimulating a sense of dread and fear for no apparent reason. It is when anxiety turns into an irrational, all encompassing dread of normal, everyday situations, that it is time to sit up and take stock of what could potentially be a disorder. This kind of anxiety can certainly disrupt ones life and business. This type of anxiety disorders can cause severe distress and can disrupt the lives of a person suffering from them in the future.

 

Generally in the case of say prospecting, either in person or by phone this anxiety can kick you so hard that you’ll make up any excuse to not do it, everything from just not wanting to make the calls to physically getting sick over it The accompanying physical symptoms may include fast heartbeat, chest pain, dizziness, difficulty in breathing, racing pulse, hot flashes or chills, sense of unreality, fear of losing control – to name a few.

 

F.E.A.R. at the time is very real, although in reality false and as such does not reduce the severity of the anxiety ‘real’ fear and the stress that it produces. Fight or flight starts and in most cases we take flight and flee the cause of the anxiety, in this case the act of  cold calling prospects.

 

Several things can help reduce the anxiety and stress produced by this F.E.A.R.

 

First off if you can overcome the small hurdle of actually making a few cold calls, you will generally find that the F.E.A.R. is indeed not real. That no one will assault you physically or verbally and that no blood is shed, 

 

Being well prepared (although, don’t let analysis become a paralysis) well be a huge step to eliminating F.E.A.R. Doing a little relaxation breathing exercise before you pick up the phone or before exiting your car for a face to face meeting.

 

The biggest factor is that of rejection. It can easily trigger a cycle that leads to anxiety. If you’re offering a service the rejection becomes personal. Too many rejections and thoughts of survival surface; “If I don’t make the sale I’ll not make any money, no money I can’t pay my bills. If I can’t pay my bills I’ll become homeless, if I’m homeless I’ll not have food, if I don’t have food I stave and die! F.E.A.R, False Evidence Appearing Real, rational thinking will allow you to realize that none of these things will happen. Problem is anxiety blocks rational thinking.

 

Being prepared for prospecting, making sure you have any needed documents, brochures, samples will eliminate stress that has developed out of fear of being unprepared and not having a document when asked.

 

Set reasonable goals for any activity, it’s a simple way of keeping score.

 

Finally, do mental rehearsals of the goals. Actually visualize yourself prospecting and the positive outcome of the call or meeting. Mental rehearsal goes a long way towards eliminating the F.E.A.R.

 

On a personal note, these are all things I have gone trough myself and how I have overcome many of them.

 

I would really like to hear your responses and questions about your F.E.A.R. and if these suggestions have helped and what I can do to help you further to succeed.

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If you want to use this article in a company or association newsletter or for your own purposes, just contact me at RickAllen@RickAllenInfo.com . I’m always happy to let you use material as long as I get credit and a link to: www.StressManagementConsulting.com  Please pass this article on to someone. If you think the content is good, please share it with someone else. They’ll appreciate it and so will I! Also, please feel free to share the following link with people to get a no cost Stress Management Kit www.StressManagementConsulting.com International Copyright 2007, Rick Allen, CH,CI, CSMC