That scary WHAT-IFs: Are You Afraid of Your Job?

Posted on August 31, 2007 
Filed Under Coaching

Ever asked yourself one of the questions below?

1. What if I fail to meet a commitment?

2. What if I say something stupid when asked for my opinion?

3. What if my speech won’t be appealing?

4. What if my boss is thinking of firing me?

5. What if I have to work with Bob/Sally/etc.?

6. What if I’m asked to do the work I don’t have enough skills to do?

7. What if I’m asked to supervise Jane and she fails to do her job?

WHAT-IFs
Did you ever answer yourself one of that questions?
Here is a simple advice (allocate a bit of your time).Take a piece of paper and write down your list of scary WHAT-IF questions. The questions should start from “What if”.

Then for each of the questions

1. Imagine the situation related to the question — how it could be just before the dread event happened. Imagine what you would see, hear and feel.

2. Now imagine that the thing described by the question — the part after “What if” — happens. How does this look like? What would do you hear (like what people around you would be saying)? What is your overall impression?

3. Repeat steps 1 and 2 until you can vividly picture the situation in your mind.

4. Now take a deep breath and relax for 10 seconds.

5. Imagine one of the happiest moments in your life. Imagine yourself there. What were your feelings? How did all look around your? Do you remember sounds? What was that made you feel happy?

6. Now re-read the question.

7. If you have immediate ideas of solutions for the situation described in the question (even generic or silly ideas) — write them down just below the question.

Once you have gone through the list, take a quick look at the entire paper sheet.

The questions should look challenging at most. And you already have initial solution ideas. This is a shift to a constructive way of thinking.

You may find it helpful to store this paper and review the list once a month. Write down all your new ideas and strike out obsolete questions.

Good luck!

Comments

3 Responses to “That scary WHAT-IFs: Are You Afraid of Your Job?”

  1. eurica on September 5th, 2007 6:15 pm

    I am going to try your “what-if” solutions. I am a “what-if” person and if this works my life will be so much easier.
    thank you

  2. eurica on September 5th, 2007 6:18 pm

    I gave the wrong website address. I must go through your site and see if you also have something for writing/talking without thinking.
    that would be nice.
    bye for now

  3. adviser on September 5th, 2007 6:58 pm

    Hi, Eurica! Great to hear from you. I’ll be extremely interested to get your follow-up comments on the what-if exercise. And thank you for the idea for a new post. Bye :-)
    BTW nice site about gardens and aloe.

Leave a Reply