Fear and What to Do About it

There is a huge tsunami wave of fear sweeping over this country and in many parts of the world. Those of us with money are afraid of losing it while others are afraid of the woman from Alaska with the hundred thousand dollar wardrobe will become the VP of the US and yet others are losing sleep as to whether the guy with the funny name prays facing Mecca or not.

And these are all the wrong things to be spending our energy on. They are not the real issues. They are distractors and divertors from the real stuff. The real issue at hand is this:

It is what it is. Now what are we going to do about it.

Being afraid, talking about being afraid and what you are afraid of and what might possibly could happen in the future are not the stuff leaders are made of. At least not the leaders I want to be following.

The Maverick at Work blog wrote on October 9, “A crisis is a terrible thing to waste”. Bill at Maverick wrote:

“One of my worries is that many of us will learn the wrong lessons—specifically, that we will become too conservative and risk-averse, that we will learn to fear creativity rather than embrace it.”

The right lesson is not to sink into the fear and help spread it around. The right response here is to stand up, take stock of your situation and that of the world around you. Take a good breath and ask yourself, Now, what are we going to do about it?

And the next time you catch yourself in a conversation about how terrible things are, stop. The only way forward from there is down. Not up and up is where you want to go and to bring others with you.