Let’s say, for example, that we walk down a street. And suddenly a big truck is coming towards us with no intention of stopping. Would you stand there and think, well, let’s see, maybe the driver didn’t see me yet? Do we calculate the distance between you and the truck so that you can safely move away from danger? Of course not, we don’t do that…
We experience an automatic reaction or alert emotion that causes our body to automatically move to prevent danger, without our having to do anything about it. We do not think about such situations. We just act to avoid bad things, based on impulse.
How does that relate to time management?
Well, we have 4 or 5 main obstacles associated with fear. They are preventing us from the success we want, leading to poor time management and, as a result, not getting the job done.
Why would you do something like that to yourself?
Fear is designed to protect us from dangerous things. It is simply an emotion that keeps us alive. However, many times, it is triggered at very inappropriate times that prevent us from obtaining the results we want for ourselves. Poor time management leads to disaster down the road, having the inability to complete projects and tasks. If we don’t complete the tasks that are important to us to move things forward, there is no progress.
Here are the five obstacles associated with fear that are causing us to not manage our time management:
1) Fear of failure (make things perfect forever) – we can’t stand the idea of failing, and we make things perfect at the beginning, before launching a task, a project or an activity. It takes an enormous amount of time to do something simple. However, because we are afraid of failing, we put in countless hours of research, tweaks that aren’t even necessary in the first place. This is a huge waste of time.
2) Fear of success (seeking approval) – this is often an internal conflict that we face. We want to be successful, but somehow we are afraid of the new way of life or lifestyle. It’s not fair that we succeed while others suffer, so we seek approval and validation in order to succeed. This wastes a lot of time, not finishing your project and putting off important activities.
3) Fear of rejection (don’t start, because others may not like it) – this is related to the fear of success. However, we proactively find reasons why we shouldn’t start yet. Many times it involves other people we like and trust, and we are faced with the dilemma between losing a couple of friends or having a successful business. No one is going to love us, if we succeed.
Example: “If you want enemies, outdo others; if you want friends, let others outdo you” – Charles Caleb Colton
4) Fear of power (I’m not good enough): This is the opposite of empowerment and self-confidence. We don’t feel well enough to take the journey and be more successful. We often feel like we need more training or more time to handle this. This causes us to procrastinate from a time management standpoint, causing us countless hours of learning new things, but really avoiding taking any action at all. Learning without action is the cause of all failure.
5) Fear of responsibility (too much responsibility, too much work) – we like to be lazy and not get our hands too dirty, taking the fast road to success. We want to have systems in place or have someone else do the work for us, without taking responsibility for our own actions and mistakes. We often blame others for our own mistakes, pointing fingers, instead of finding the problems within ourselves. This alone is going to waste a lot of time going through countless conflicts and dramas. Time-wasting conflicts between you and your subordinates can completely destroy your business.