Faith Your Fears

This week’s post is a play on the words ‘faith’ and ‘fear’.

Two decades ago, at the start of my banking career, I was working in the local branch but felt I had more to offer than the level I was at. I spotted a job advert that was two to three levels above my current role.

My initial thoughts were that I would love to do the role, I was qualified for the role and I had faith in my ability to do the job but fear soon set in.

There was fear that I was over-reaching, fear of not being ready despite being qualified, fear of being knocked back before I could get a chance to prove myself, fear of getting the role and not being able to perform it.

My saving grace was my mentor. I spoke to him about the job and told him about my fears. He asked a simple question, ‘can you do the job?’ I responded, ‘yes’.

He told me that I had to go and show them that I could do the job. He helped me to see that it wasn’t simply about what level I was at versus the level of the job. It was more about my perception of those realities holding me back.

I applied for the job and the first thing the interviewer checked was my awareness that this job was at least two levels higher than my current role. I said yes and proceeded to tell him why that was a non-issue.

I got the job on a seconded basis and it was made permanent six months later, adding a whopping 40% to my salary. I joined the best team I ever worked with and this move would change the rest of my career launching me into my passion for project management and continuous improvement.

The truth is that my fears would have stopped me from even applying for a role that was meant to have such a great impact on my life.

Faith is defined as a belief that is not based on proof and it is confidence in a person or thing. We all practice faith every day. We go to bed in faith because we trust that we will wake up in the morning.

Each time we attempt to take a seat, we have faith that the chair will carry our weight otherwise we would have conducted tests before we sat down. We drive our cars in faith because we trust in the technology’s ability to get us safely to our destination.

In the Bible, Faith is defined as the assurance of things hoped for and the evidence of things not seen. This means it’s a belief without physical or tangible evidence.

On the other hand, fear is defined as a distressing emotion aroused by impending danger, evil, pain etc, whether the threat is real or imagined. It is the anticipation of the possibility that something unpleasant will occur.

When we think about fear, we see the same lack of evidence as many things we fear are imagined, anticipated and a merely a possibility that could go either way.

So we often hear about facing your fears but today, I want to encourage you to do more than facing them. How about ‘faith-ing’ your fears instead? For me this is about being deliberate in how you react to your fears.

Since both faith and fear deal with intangible things, then the only real control we have is the choice we make about where we lean towards.

You need to find ways to put stumbling blocks in the ways of your fears and remove them in the ways of your faith. Sometimes you need some help with that – divine and human.

Faith and fear. One spurs you on, the other holds you back and both have no evidence to help you with your decision. One energises you and the other sucks life out debilitating you in the process.

One makes you experience the rush of a winner and the other makes you feel like a loser before you even start.

One lets you loose and the other ties you down. One thrusts you out into the realm of possibilities and the other hides you in the realm of impossibilities.

You get to make the choice and now that you know, it’s time to ‘faith’ your fears.

Thank you for reading my posts. Please share it with others and let’s get this message around the world. Have a faith-filled and fearless week.