**Fear of a thing that _may_ happen.** There is a common pattern of occurrences: 1. You anticipate a bad thing or symptom may happen 2. Your anticipation creates fear and [[Anxiety]] 3. The [[anxiety]] causes the bad thing to happen 4. Your fears are reinforced This [[Snowball Effects]] shows up in all sorts of places. - Fear of failing a test causes your study to be unfocused which causes you to perform poorly. - Fear of missing a shot causes your brain to forget how to make your arms move right and you miss. - Fear of misspeaking in front of someone causes you to misspeak. Three techniques I've come across to break this chain: - **lean in to failing** - use [[Paradoxical Intentions]] and try to anticipate how _bad_ the thing could go. This alleviates pressure and can cause it to go better. - **reframe** fear as excitement. The body signals for both are essentially the same, and you can often trick yourself into being excited to (give a big presentation/make the phone call/whatever) - **go first** - minimize the amount of time spent agonizing. Jump directly into the pool without dipping in a toe. Volunteer to be the first one on the group presentation. Get it over with. => [[Action Relieves Anxiety]] **** # More ## Source - [[Man's Search for Meaning]] ## Related - [[Paradoxical Intentions]]