There’s Nothing To Fear

Have you ever thought about fear?  I’ve always been someone who listens closely to people (although my wife may sometimes argue this isn’t accurate) and lately I have been listening very closely to people as they discuss the economy, the job market, the difficulty of current selling and a number of other topics.

I’ve believed for many years that most people communicate from a position of fear most the time and don’t even know that they’re doing it.  It’s the whole “the fish doesn’t know that it’s wet” thing.  If you could go underwater and ask a fish what’s water like, the fish would look at you and say “what’s water?”  They’re born in it, they live in it and they die in it.  They don’t know any different.  Probably the only time that a fish even knows that water exists is when you take it out of the water.  I bet the fish knows something has dramatically changed at that moment.

We live in such a negative, fear-motivated society that most people have no clue that they are making most of their decisions from the perspective of fear.  Even bringing this up with them will get you the “what are you…a psychologist?” look.

Here’s my suggestion: for the next week notice your speech.  Closely watch yours and everyone else’s words.  And then take it a step further and really hear the message behind yours and everyone else’s words.  It may be difficult at first, but I’ll bet you start to notice that there’s a lot of hesitancy and fear going on out there.

Now here’s my next suggestion: just observe this and then choose not to participate in the fear.  It is a choice.  We have never lived in a more amazing time than this.  With all these modern communication channels available to us and our already existent people skills and concern for others, we are mosquitos in a nudist colony.  There’s a visual.

We are surrounded by a never-ending array of opportunities to pay-it-forward and to help others.  I’m not saying that you should become Mother Teresa or Gandhi, but I am suggesting that you remember that in a more and more interconnected world it serves us well to help others.  What goes around comes around.  Only much faster in our high-speed, wifi world.  Both the good and the bad.

Sometimes I call the internet “karma”.  What you put out, comes back.  And what you focus on, you see more of.  Notice the fear and choose not to participate.  There’s never been an easier time to be positive because so few people are doing it.  You’ve never had a more opportune time to rise up above the crowd.  It takes so little to be above average.  This is your time to shine.