Two speeches at a TEDxCMU event addressed the issue of fear. While these talks were not directly related to career, in my experience fear is quite common for folks as they go about making career decisions, particularly when they’re thinking about making a career change, so I think they have a lot of relevance.
Chris Guillebeau’s talk, “Fear and Permission”, asks us if we are waiting for permission to go after our dreams. Another sub point of his speech that resonated with me was the idea of how easy it is to judge people in leadership positions and how hard it is to actually be in those positions.
Jonathan Fields’ talk “Turning Fear Into Fuel” contains a great set of questions to ask yourself in the face of fear.
-What if I fail? AND How will I recover?
-What if I do nothing?
-What if I succeed?
As a speaking geek I also can’t help but note that each of these speeches is superbly constructed and very entertaining. I recommend both of them.
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