Fight or flight. Humans are programmed for fear.
Once this fact is understood we can begin to understand our actions (and the actions of others) better. Fear is a significant driver of human behavior. Through it we find motivation – often at a primal level.
- Fear of losing our job or our pay.
- Fear of disappointing others.
- Fear of failure.
- Fear of someone else being better.
- Fear of losing everything we’ve built.
Sales professions are most vulnerable to fear based actions because they have more at risk. Commissioned based professionals are even greater at risk of fear driving their decisions – again because of greater risk.
Internalized fear causes us to react to the people around us. Reactive behavior is often going to be both negative and poorly received. Reactions also don’t help us improve ourselves – they treat the world as it it should respond to us above all else.
Embracing fear allows us to be proactive. If we fear others being better than us, we seek to better ourselves. If we don’t want to disappoint, we actively do what we can to succeed by their definition.
Look to your left and right. More people internalize than embrace fear. Could that be why your company and business doesn’t grow as desired?