Are you scared of losing your job? If so, you are going to suck at it.
Fear, while an important motivator in life, is a paralyzing factor when it comes to your daily work life (and other aspects, just talking work right now).
Fear is an unpleasant emotion induced by a threat perceived by living entities, which causes a change in brain and organ function and ultimately a change in behavior, such as running away, hiding or freezing. -wiki
Do you say statements such as “If I lose my job I don’t know what I would do”?
If so, you are backwards with your current mindset on what actually creates value for both yourself and your employer. In essence you have broken down your work to be:
work = Maslow’s 2nd Level
If/when operating at the 2nd level you will be both myopic and miserable because you will not be able to see beyond yourself. Sure you may have a mortgage, spouse, etc to account for…however this only enhances your fear. Fear will never produce a good work in you nor by you, rather only a selfish survival.
When you are selfish you are – > Unaware of others needs = Unable to proactively think on behalf of employer/customer/other = No Value
Sure you may keep your job because you are so skilled at survival you keep it….but you will still suck at it, and it sucks to suck.
Great insight! If you’re just getting started on your own and you don’t have a supportive situation to fall back on, the idea of losing your job is pretty scary.
Any tips for workers who want to overcome these fears?