Overcome your fears and take your career to the NEXT LEVEL.
If you’ve ever had to deliver a presentation, sit an exam or attend an important job interview, you will have most likely experienced the palpitating heart and sweaty palms that accompany any of us in a high stress situation. It’s perfectly normal. Most of the time you’ll work through it and those negative feelings will be replaced by relief and a sense of achievement.
But what if your fear of failure, embarrassment or public ridicule is crippling enough to prevent you from achieving your long-term goals? Sadly, poor self-esteem and a lack of self-belief can sabotage a career before it even gets started. This is particularly true when it comes to making decisions about study. Enthusiasm and excitement can quickly turn to doubt when we look inside ourselves and question our own potential.
But think about this. What’s worse—fear or regret?
Fears can be managed with a few simple techniques and exercises. Regret can stay with you for a lifetime.
A Fearless Life
In his book Five Keys to a Fearless Life, author and Oxford University graduate Mehdi Toozhy shows readers how to face their fears and tackle them head on.
Through his proven techniques, Mr. Toozhy helps individuals worldwide face their fears to reach new levels of success. By helping them to define their fears and improve their self-confidence, many people have overcome the mental blocks that stopped them from achieving their dreams. The guided exercises in each chapter are suitable for anybody who is willing to acknowledge their fears, learn what caused them, and be determined to work through them.
Students embarking on a course of study are not only facing a career change, but also a lifestyle change that could have implications for family members or other interests outside of work. There’s no doubt that such a decision takes courage, but ultimately it’s about staying focused on the end game. Your vision for the future will become a reality if you have the right mindset and techniques to help you push on through to the other side and realise your career dreams.
The Five Keys
“By visualising the end and all possible results of your activities, you will eliminate the uncertainty that breeds fear of failing.”
~ Mehdi Toozhy
What are the five keys to a fearless life?
1. Discover Your Fear
Nerves are not necessarily a bad thing. It’s a perfectly natural ‘fight or flight’ response when you’re under intense scrutiny. Your body releases adrenaline, which can cause rapid breathing, sweaty palms, and a rise in blood pressure.
It’s important to recognise and understand the fears that prevent you from committing to—and completing—a training course, calling a prospective client or applying for a job.
Mehdi Toozhy suggests writing your fears down so that you can examine them more objectively. You’ll be surprised how some of your worries seem to shrink and become almost illogical when you look at them in black and white. Some of your fears may be well-founded, but it doesn’t do any good to have them whirling around in your mind where they become magnified, distorted and even more intimidating.
Think about your personal experiences:
- What’s stopping you from following through with your career goals?
- If you had a ‘do over’ what would you do differently?
- What’s the worst thing that can happen by trying again?
- Is the payoff worth the risk?
Here are some typical fears faced by students and the negative internal dialogue that perpetuates them:
- Fear of failure
Why even bother starting? I’m not smart enough. - Fear of exams
I don’t work well under pressure. - Fear of academic expectations
I don’t have time to study.
I’m not disciplined enough. - Fear of public speaking
I’ll get tongue-tied and forget what to say.
I’ll look stupid and people will laugh at me. - Fear of social interaction
I don’t have anything interesting to say.
I can’t remember people’s names.
I’ll say the wrong thing and offend somebody. - Fear of rejection
I’m too old.
I’m not good enough.
Sound familiar?
2. Overcoming Negative Thoughts
How do you go about creating and maintaining a positive mindset when you are doubtful about your own abilities or feeling anxious about your future?
As you work through each exercise in the book, make a ‘to-do’ list of the actions you will take to improve your mindset. By making a commitment to positivity and proactively taking steps to change your negative thinking habits, you will begin to feel more optimistic about the future and your ability to complete the course successfully.
Top Tips:
- Accept that nobody is perfect.
- Listen to your internal dialogue. Does it sound negative or positive?
- Imagine you’ve already completed the course. How do you feel?
- Practice positive thinking on a daily basis and correct yourself when you catch yourself using negative language.
Make a commitment to try. You’ll be surprised how far it takes you.
3. Build Your Self-Confidence
When you lack self-confidence, it shows in your spoken and written words, your body language, and your demeanour. These tips will help you to feel strong on the inside and shine on the outside.
- Choose your attitude. Show up, be polite and courteous, and treat people with respect.
- Know your worth. Take a moment to list your qualities, skills, and accomplishments, and reflect on how far you have come.
- Dress for success. Present yourself professionally and you will feel the part.
- Speak clearly, concisely and confidently. This enhances your credibility and makes it easier for people to understand you.
- Overcome smaller fears at first to build confidence, then take bigger steps. For example, if you lack confidence in social settings you might start by setting yourself a goal to introduce yourself to someone new at an event.
- Grow your emotional intelligence through empathy and understanding. Put yourself in the other person’s shoes and try to look at a situation from their perspective.
- Learn how to interpret body language and other non-verbal cues (eye contact, handshakes, smiling, active listening techniques). This also applies online when making Zoom calls. Factors such as camera position, background, audio and video quality, clothing colours and patterns can all help to project confidence and professionalism.
- Revisit your past successes and celebrate the victories!
- Don’t give up at the first hurdle. See failure for what it is and learn from it.
- Keep your eye on the main prize. There will be wins and losses along the way but as long as you stay on track towards your goal, everything will be fine.
4. Overcoming Bullying
In Mr. Toozhy’s book, he states that “the first step to overcoming bullying is understanding the problem that you face.”
- Take time to know your bully. There’s a good chance they too were bullied at some point in their lives. Understanding where their hostility comes from can put your own fears into perspective. Their fear, insecurity or anger at someone/something else is fuelling their behaviour. Even if that someone is you, you are not responsible for their behaviour or how their response to certain situations.
- Report it. If you are silent then the problem is unlikely to stop, and there may be other victims too.
- You can’t change the bully’s behaviour, only your own. Take the high road, walk away and don’t look back. Your path to success is your escape route and that’s where your energy should be directed.
5. Build Your Happiness
Happiness is both the foundation and the outcome of success. When you are at peace with the world your confidence is high and even the highest mountains seem scalable.
- Maintain your enthusiasm. Tap into your passion and keep reminding yourself why you set out on this journey.
- Get involved. Participate in projects with like-minded people, volunteer for your favourite cause or join a club.
- Establish healthy habits. Eat healthy foods and get regular exercise.
- Connect with nature. A change of scenery can be the perfect way to clear your mind and open yourself up to new ideas.
- Build your support group. Family, friends, mentors, colleagues—or even just people with an objective opinion—can all help to keep you focused when you begin to doubt yourself.
Get the Keys to Success
Study Success and Life Goals training, including full access to Mehdi Toozhy’s book Five Keys to a Fearless Life is included in our Bookkeeping PLUS, PRO and Ultimate Training Course packages.
Study and Goal Setting skills are transferable so once you learn them and put them into practice they’ll help you become more employable and more successful in every aspect of your life.
- Learn more about yourself
- Challenge yourself
- Discovering your passions
- Improve your self-confidence
Watch all the supporting video lessons and the printed and downloadable text and review document will become available to you. There are some great exercises which you can perform to learn more about yourself, issues you might have and how to resolve them.
Find out more here.
Soft Skills Training
Knowledge of software and workplace procedures are a good base to have when applying for jobs. There are other “soft skills” you need to know to perform well when working with other employees, contractors, clients and suppliers, including:
- Creativity skills
- Critical thinking skills
- Flexibility skills
- How to be organised
- Problem solving skills
- Social skills
- Teamwork skills
Learn more: https://workface.com.au/career-academy/soft-skills-training/
MYOB & Xero Bookkeeping Course Packages
MYOB & XERO Training Course packages that give you a choice of Bookkeeping Courses packaged together to suit your budget as well as your knowledge requirements.
https://computertrainingonline.com.au/training-packages/bookkeeping-course-packages/
