Tilt Tuesday #6 Three Strategies to Overcome the Four Fears that Interfere with Generativity

All of the four fears in last week’s Tilt Tuesday piece are understandable and universal–we all experience them to varying degrees.  None of us is safe from all threats, but some of us fear potential vulnerabilities more acutely than others, possibly due to aspects of our upbringing or early environments.  In addition to that, there are also different fear domains.  Worrying about crossing paths with a bear is different from worrying about what someone thinks of us.  The first is an example of a real fear while the second is an example of an ego-fear (also known as a “social fear”).  Our goal should be that we keep them from interfering with our lives and work.  

What can we do to keep the four fears discussed in last week’s Tilt Tuesday article in check to preserve generativity?  The following three fear-reducing strategies are useful to individuals on their development journeys, and they are also relevant to team leaders who are coaching team members toward the flow outcome of generativity:   

1. Mindset monitoring and development:  Assessing and evolving the mindset we maintain with regard to fear is a great first step to alleviating anxiety.  Being aware that most (if not all) of our fears are equally likely to happen to anyone around us can help reframe our anxieties and enable us to ascertain how realistic our particular fears may be.   

2. Naming and facing our fears:  As we increasingly forego risky situations, anxiety tends to intensify as opposed to dwindling.  Thus, a better strategy to overcome our fears and apprehension is to identify our fears and then face them boldly.  Pinpointing what it is we are worrying about allows us to better distinguish between fears from our old life script (i.e., fears that we have resolved or conquered) and fears that we have yet to overcome.         

3. Cultivating confidence and autonomy:  Our third strategy deals exclusively with the fear of vulnerability, as an example.  Reducing feelings of vulnerability can be achieved when we pursue a true state of autonomy and confidence.  Confidence can be cultivated if we focus on being diligent and bold (things we can control) instead of measuring our worth through the eyes of those around us (something we can generally do very little about).  Our sense of autonomy will then increase when we experience this state of heightened confidence.    

While it is not always easy to maintain a generative mindset, readers who seek to embody a generative mindset more regularly by reducing fear can benefit from the strategies in this article.  Perhaps in your development journey, you can think of at least two or three applications of the content in this article that you can execute in the coming weeks.    

Relevant Quotes

“Fear can steal anything if we let it.  The only way to live free from fear is to confront it and do it afraid.”

— Joyce Meyer

“Inaction breeds doubt and fear.  Action breeds confidence and courage.  If you want to conquer fear, do not sit home and think about it.  Go out and get busy.”

— Dale Carnegie

“I learned that courage was not the absence of fear, but the triumph over it. The brave man is not he who does not feel afraid, but he who conquers that fear.”

— Nelson Mandela

“One of the greatest discoveries a man makes, one of his great surprises, is to find he can do what he was afraid he couldn’t do.” 

— Henry Ford