Fear of the unknown

Most recently, a friend of mine and I decided to undertake a particular project. Truth be told, just the thought of the idea and prospective output from it was thrilling. Not many people had ventured into the project so it was hard to tell whether or not it was practically feasible, but theoretically it was a gold mine.

A highly rewarding gold mine but demanding an equally high investment. From our discussions it was a no-brainer, the project had to be explored. But then the reality of investing and undertaking started nurturing some negative thoughts, fear of the unknown.

I was asking myself:

Why most people are not doing if it is so rewarding?

What if we actually hit a bump?

What if the whole thing fails?

My investment…

All these questions were actually justified and had to be answered. After all, to start any business one has to calculate as precisely as possible the flaws, benefits and weaknesses.

Accordingly, I drafted my own pro vs con chart. The pros without doubt outweighed the cons but still I could feel that fear of the unknown still trying to nudge itself into the forefront.

 

Lets admit it, ‘straying’ into an area most people have not ventured into is always a challenge. Many times we do some things only because we see someone else doing it and actually succeeding at it. The more the people have done it successfully the better because we can draw more lessons from their experiences.

Even in the animal kingdom, the principle is the same: safety in numbers. 

The safety in numbers theory

As animals move in herds, it increases the number of eyes watching for predators, ears on the alert for any threatening sounds and greater numbers to fight off the enemy if it comes to the worst.

But for every herd of animals there is always that one animal which has to set its foot onto the grazing land first before others follow. There is always one which is always at the forefront of the herd.

This same one dips its mouth first into a waterhole for a drink before others follow suit.  A risky move if you consider that the water reserve from which these animals drink may be crocodile infested.

For animals, it’s thirst that overpowers the fear of the unknown that lies beneath the waters. Fortunately for humans it is not a live or die situation BUT still is a matter of thirst. The level of thirst varies per individual as well as per given objective and it determines:

• The distance to which each individual is willing to go before giving in.
• How much uncertainty one is willing to overlook. As one philosopher put it; ‘success is determined by the amount of uncertainty one can handle.’
• Persistence and resilience in pursuing that which one desires

A glance into Carnegie principles

The Carnergie principles accredit desire as being the key that can unlock any door in life. DESIRE, in capital letters if I am to literally quote the text.

But a deep desire or thirst is not just something that can be passed from one person to another like a cold. All individuals respond differently.

However, one thing that I have found useful in conquering fear of the unknown is awareness. Yes, Awareness.

It is very common to make a decision out of fear without even realizing that it is fear that led to the decision. 

Let us refer back to the questions above:

Why most people are not doing if it is so rewarding?

What if we actually hit a bump?

What if the whole thing fails?

My investment…

As rightfully mentioned, these questions are indeed justified but the problem is that they are not factual questions. Let us analyse each question

Why most people are not doing if it is so rewarding? – Firstly, the word 'most' implies that there are actually few examples of people who actually performed the task successfully. 

The fact that most people are not willing to commit to a high investment project which requires a lot of attention should not validate this question.

What if we actually hit a bump? – Always have facts to a question. A bump caused by what? Can it not be avoided? How can the situation be best resolved.

·         Spoiler- in my case turns out there was no bump after all

What if the whole thing fails? – What would be the cause? What are the weaknesses? Can they not be solved? Facts people, facts…

My investment… - Now this was just me being reluctant to part with a hefty amount.

Making a choice solely from these questions would be a choice made out of fear of the unknown and sadly I would not even know that I made a choice out of fear.

So back to what I was saying; Awareness.

Investigate the source of your questions and put facts to them. It is not wise to give in to baseless questions.

I am glad to announce that I decided to undertake the project (truthfully be told: because of my friend’s constant insistence).

To this day it has now been three months and everything this far has been quite smooth but it is still work in progress. I can confidently say that given such an opportunity again today I would bite your hand off for it without a doubt.

I hope you found this helpful. Remember; awareness.

Investigate what you are scared of and put facts to your fears. It is probably the easiest step to take first.

Till next time.