Fear Doesn’t Go Away  

February 28, 2024/

At every level of growth, business owners and professionals contend with fear. Fear doesn’t go away and may always be a moving target, but when you work with an executive business coach you can get a strategy in place to reduce anxiety because you will be prepared and informed. 

When we examine the neuroscience of fear, we are specifically looking at the amygdala and the prefrontal cortex in the brain. The amygdala responds to uncertainty and newness, and the prefrontal cortex responds by trying to create a strategy and assess the risk. 

When there’s uncertainty and no clear, proven strategy, which happens when you grow, the brain will respond with fear signal: sweating, anxiety, racing thoughts, self-doubt. 

Fear Doesn’t Go Away

Most people are afraid of feeling fear. This is because it IS uncomfortable to sit in these fear signal sensations. But this fear is an excellent sign you are doing something correctly.

To grow, both personally and professionally, we must become willing to tolerate this kind of discomfort. Here are examples of moments in your business growth cycle that may induce fear and cause you to doubt your forward progress. Moving outside of your comfort zone and growing is also a sign of growth and for an entrepreneur that is necessary!  

  • Raising your rates.
  • Shifting to new, upleveled software that will make your team more efficient but one that you don’t know yet.
  • Letting go of an employee that no longer aligns with the company core values. 

Here are other examples of situations that may provoke anxiety or fear in your business. 

Fear of:

  • Your P&L numbers dipping
  • Not hitting your quarterly / monthly sales projections 
  • Competition (seeing an upleveled marketing strategy from a competitor and feeling behind)
  • Rejection 
  • Losing market share 
  • Being unable to maintain the success you achieved last year 

In the moments when fear feels visceral, accompanied with internal thoughts that sound like warnings coming from within, what do you do? 

It can be EXTREMELY VALUABLE to lean into another perspective.

You might call someone in your support sphere- a coach, business peer, confidante- someone to guide you and remind you that this type of fear comes at every new level of growth.

It does for every business professional and business owner I have had the privilege to coach. Are you or is someone you know looking for an executive coaching plan? I’m just an email away at MaryJane@MaryJaneWalshThrive.com.