Fear shows up at work more often than we admit. It hides behind procrastination, perfectionism, and those moments when we avoid speaking up in a meeting. This blog explores why fear shows up in the workplace and offers five simple strategies to face it with clarity, confidence, and a bit of courage. Spoiler alert: you are more capable than your fears want you to believe.
Since Halloween falls in October, it makes sense that National Face Your Fears Day does, too. What better time to explore what scares us than spooky season? Some thrills and chills are fun: a scary movie, a haunted house, a good ghost story. That’s why we love Halloween! Well, that and candy. But the fears we struggle to face, the ones we don’t seek out, are not fun at all.
Some Facts About Fear
Fear is designed to keep us safe, to help us escape physical dangers. When triggered by fear, our nervous system snaps into action by:
- Releasing the stress hormones cortisol and adrenaline
- Causing us to breathe faster
- Changing blood flow from the heart to our limbs to prepare us to run or defend ourselves
- Increasing muscle tension
- Making us sweat
These physical changes are designed to help us fight or escape real danger. They are necessary, but if they are constantly engaged, they cause wear and tear on our bodies and decrease our overall sense of well being.
Unfortunately, the human nervous system can’t tell the difference between mortal danger and emotional distress. Meaning we may feel like a tiger is ready to pounce when all we’re actually dealing with is the pressure of a deadline or the expectation of a tense meeting.
If fear wears us down, why face it?
Obviously, it’s important to avoid actual physical danger whenever possible. But when fear is triggered by everyday situations encountered at home or at work, always avoiding it can make our worlds smaller and smaller, and leave us trapped.
By practicing facing our fears, we keep them from overwhelming us and taking over.
It also:
Boosts self-confidence: Successfully overcoming a fear provides proof of your inner strength. Each challenge you overcome builds confidence in your ability to handle difficult situations. Which leads to…
Increases resilience: Learning to cope with fear builds resilience, which is essential for navigating future adversity.
Improves mental and physical health: According to research reported by MIT, facing fear and discovering no physical danger can lead the release of dopamine. Since dopamine is a “feel good” hormone, its release helps extinguish the fear of the current situation and of similar ones in the future. It can also lead to better emotional regulation, less stress, and improved cardiovascular health.
Facing Fear at Work
For many, work is a frequent source of fear. After all, to support ourselves and our families, we need a source of income, and we need to maintain it. Worry about getting and holding onto a job ties an element of actual danger to our career-based fears. If we get fired, how will we pay for essential needs?
However, things are often not as dire (or not as immediately dire) as our fears would have us believe. One misstep or wrong choice is not generally going to end our careers. But sometimes, we need to convince ourselves of that. And we do that by turning toward what is frightening, instead of away.
Here are 5 simple, approachable steps to do just that.
1. Practice Self-awareness
The first step to facing your fears is acknowledging them. Be mindful of what you are avoiding. We humans are excellent at explaining away our actions. “I would have made that phone call, but I was SO busy.” Pay attention to tasks that you let pile up or ones you are ignoring altogether. More than we like to admit, fear is the real reason behind procrastination or forgetfulness.
Knowing your own behavioral characteristics can help you key into fears more easily. The Omnia Behavioral Assessment identifies 8 specific traits on a spectrum of Proactive to Reactive. With Reactive traits, common fears are a bit easier to identify.
- Cautiousness/Supportiveness: Fear of risk or conflict
- Social reserve: Fear of being in the spotlight or being called out
- Routine orientation: Fear of change
- Preference for Structure: Fear of doing the wrong thing and being criticized
But though Proactive traits seem to have courage baked in, even confident, outgoing people have fears when it comes to their careers.
- Assertiveness: Fear of being held back or having to defer to others
- Gregariousness: Fear of isolation
- Time sensitivity: Fear of stagnation
- Independence: Fear of being controlled or micromanaged
By examining what you’re avoiding with curiosity and honesty, you can begin to form a plan for overcoming the fear around it.
2. Explore the worst-case scenario.
Once you have identified what you fear, it’s time to shine a light on it. Remember, biologically, the fear response is meant to protect us from being eaten by a large animal (or suffering some other painful fate). Without taking time to define what you think is going to happen, your biological response gets to decide, and what it decides is “death or physical pain.”
Give your logical mind a chance to intervene by asking, “What is the worst that can happen?” Unless you work at a high-risk job, it’s probably less awful than your nervous system believes!
3. Make a plan.
For most fears, exploring contingencies, being prepared, and having information helps reduce overall fear and helps deal with scary situations when they arise. Plan for:
- How you will approach the challenging situation
- What you need to know going in
- What you will do if the worst happens
- How to rebound and do it all again (if necessary)
4. Start small.
You don’t have to tackle it all at once. If you fear public speaking, for example, and you have a big presentation coming up, start by practicing in the mirror. Then move onto giving the speech to two or three trusted colleagues or friends. Every small step you take towards the fear reduces its power. There may always be a bit of anxiety around the task, but it should become easier the more you expose yourself to it.
5. Move toward what scares you (as long as it’s safe!)
Maintain the momentum you’ve gained by continuing to move toward what scares you. This keeps fears from growing and becoming overwhelming. Also, it lets you build the skill of facing your fears, so when something gives you that creepy-crawly feeling, it doesn’t get a chance to take over.
Bonus Step: Celebrate!
Don’t forget to celebrate your successes. First, enjoy that dopamine hit. Then, tell others what you’ve done, and let them applaud you. Give yourself a little treat and feel proud! You’ve earned it.
A special note on The Sunday Scaries
The Sunday Scaries, the creeping sense of anxiety many of us experience at the end of the weekend, can ruin our downtime. To ease that feeling, try shifting your focus from dread to preparation. Set aside a little time on Sunday to plan your week but keep it gentle and manageable. Choose an outfit, pack your bag, or make a simple to-do list so Monday feels less overwhelming. Balance that with something enjoyable: take a walk, read, cook a favorite meal, or spend time with someone who relaxes you.
Avoid letting work worries spill too far into Sunday by setting a clear boundary. Decide when you’ll stop thinking about or planning the week ahead.
Anxiety about Monday is normal and usually temporary. If it feels worse than that, take some time to explore what’s going on. Sometimes one issue that can be addressed or changed (extra upskilling, team reassignment, or just a shift in attitude) can reduce that sense of dread and give you your weekends back.
But if everything about your job feels wrong, it might be time to investigate more deeply. Are you in a role that doesn’t align with your values, traits, or beliefs? Is it time to consider a bigger change? For help identifying how you can bring your career into better alignment with your behavioral needs, consider trying Omnia’s Professional Development Profile. Reach out to us for more information.
Now for a confession
Blog writing is a fear I have that I need to face regularly. I found myself procrastinating this one more than usual, so I have some exploration of my own to do. But now that it’s just about done, I’ll enjoy my dopamine hit from not being devoured by a tiger, like I apparently thought I would be.
