Fear Itself
By Ryan McCrary

KALAMA, Wash. – As I continue to prepare for the next chapter in my professional life I am taking a Career Capital course with Kim Kaupe. Our first assignment: to describe our biggest professional fears, consequences if these fears come true, how to prevent these fears from happening and how this fear can help me.

Before I dive into the exercise, a tangent. Earlier this week, former NFL All-Pro running back Marshawn Lynch became a minority owner in the NHL’s Seattle Kraken. As soon as I saw the news I thought to myself, the only reason he did that was to drive the Zamboni – which, honestly is all the motivation I would ever need. After 10 seconds of additional scrolling, sure enough, I discovered video of “Beast Mode” doing cookies on the Zamboni at the team’s practice facility.  

Doing Zamboni cookies on the ice is the opposite of fear. It is joy. It is happiness and exuberance.

Now… onto the exercise

BIGGEST FEARS EXERCISE

What are my biggest professional life fears?

• Producing yawns, boredom, crickets
• Being misunderstood
• The reaction of “Is he talking in Swahili”?

Consequences if it comes true

• I would be professionally compromised because I am supposed to communicate
• I am supposed to be interesting
• I am supposed to be able to connect to audiences where they are not where I am

How to prevent this from happening

• Be prepared
• Be curious, not judgmental (tip of the visor to Ted Lasso)
• Practice my pitch

How can this fear help me?

• Use it to be aware of my preparedness
• Reflect on the importance of social cues – especially after the last two years

Every time I feel consumed by fear I am reminded of Nike’s “Just Do It” campaign. Sometimes just proactively doing something can be the first step towards winning the battle. Take a risk. If you can’t do Zamboni cookies just yet, eat a cookie as a reward for taking the first step. Marshawn would approve, but would suggest eating Skittles instead.

QUOTABLE: “The only thing we have to fear is fear itself.”
 – Franklin Delano Roosevelt