What If You Were Not Afraid At Work?

No matter what profession we are in, fear comes up all the time. It is a matter of how you handle it. As physicians, fear may be related to patient care – fear of not providing the best care possible, fear of not pleasing the patient or upsetting the patient. Fear may be related to doubting your own ability, questioning if you are fit enough to do the job, if your ability is comparable to your colleagues, or if you are making the RVU threshold. Fear may be related to the institution’s administration – fear of the assigned workload may be more than you can handle, fear of the lack of support in the institution or fear of any potential penalties.

When you are afraid, you are being held back. You are more likely to stay where you are instead of trying new things, because that is your comfort zone, despite it not being where you want to be. You are afraid of trying new ways to do things because you are thinking of potentially doing something worse. The fear of venturing out and having potential unknown “dangers” is enough to stop you from trying. You may become complacent with where you are, even though this is not where you want to be.

You tend to apologize more when you are afraid. You may apologize for things which are not your fault. For example, when you are forty-five minutes late to see your patient, you apologize when you go into the room because you are afraid that the patient may be upset. It is not your fault to be late to see that patient because you did not let that patient wait on purpose.

When you are afraid at work, you are more likely to stay quiet rather than to speak up. When you see something of question, you may be afraid of being wrong about it or that someone will reprimand you. Your decision then is not to bring it up.

Being afraid at work holds you back from being more efficient and doing your best job because you are afraid to try new things. You are afraid people will judge you or criticize you negatively. You apologize to people even when it is not your fault because you are afraid of upsetting them. You refrain from questioning things at work because you are afraid of being viewed as ignorant or being seen as the troublemaker.

It is helpful to be curious at work and explore different possibilities. What if you were not afraid at work? Would you do things differently? Maybe you will be speaking up more often. Maybe you will be more willing to seek feedback from other people. You may be more willing to take on challenges and try new things. You may be more willing to say no to things which are outside of your responsibilities. You may be setting clearer boundaries because you are not afraid of upsetting others. You may be more intentional to doing things because you have a goal in mind. Without being afraid, you are most likely to have more joy at work.

How do you get rid of the fear and not feel afraid? The answer is that fear always comes up. Fear is part of life. Fear is designed to protect you from danger, or what your brain sees as danger, such as public speaking for the first time or doing a task in a different way. Your brain associate unfamiliarity with danger. Awareness is the first step to realize that you are afraid of something or someone. What are you thinking that is causing you to feel afraid? Then you get to decide what to do with your fear. You can let it stop you from what you want to do, or you can coexist with your fear and do it scared.

Ask yourself to be open to different possibilities. Are there other ways to look at the situation? Is your belief or your perspective helpful and encouraging? Is your view bringing you more productivity and efficiency?

When you find yourself unable to change your belief and you are still feeling afraid, talk to someone about it. Ask for help and guidance. Sometimes, you can look at things differently after someone points it out to you.