Feeling the fear and doing it anyway

Picture by Katiew via Flickr

Everybody has something they hate doing – some part of their job, however important or trivial, that they really, really don’t want to do ever if they can possibly avoid it. For me, it’s making phone calls but other people hate giving presentations, meeting one-on-one with their boss, creating resources, e-mailing people, dealing with IT or any of 101 things that other people think is no big deal but that you lie awake at night fretting about. The hardest thing to do –especially at three a.m. Monday morning - is to admit to yourself that they’re right: it really is no big deal.

There often isn’t really a reason that you’ve grown to regard the task in question with a combination of fear and loathing – sometimes you’ve just had a really bad experience, sometimes you’ve had no experience with it prior to your current position and sometimes you’re just behaving irrationally. The important thing is that you need to get over it because letting it get the better of you and adversely affect your job performance is not something you want to happen.

Of course, I’m not going to bring up a problem like this without providing some solutions, so here are my top three strategies for curing yourself of work phobias.

Throw yourself in at the deep end

Rather like jumping into cold water rather than easing in, or ripping of a band aid, for some people the best solution to not wanting to do something is to just do it: do it now and do it as often as possible. If you’ve been putting off making a lot of calls, schedule a day when that’s all you do; if you hate presentations volunteer to give all the presentations on behalf of your team for the next couple of months, and so on. The idea is that once you do something, you lose the fear of the unknown that was previously holding you back and repeated exposure will reduce the anxiety you feel about the activity. This worked for me when I had to call a list of about 100 people. I had been putting it off for as long as possible but then one day I had to just give in, sit down and start making calls. After three days of continuous phoning I still didn’t like doing it, but I was able to put it on my to-do list without dreading the experience.

Dip your toe in the shallow end

For those of you that are less crazy about throwing it all at the wall, an alternative is to start small: if you hate presentations try doing some for people you work closely with and who make you feel comfortable, then gradually work your way up to the really scary stuff. By making your first experience of whatever it is you don’t want to do as pleasant and non-stressful as possible, you decrease your apprehension of repeating it and thus gain confidence gradually. This might be less feasible if you’ve really left it all to the last minute however – sometimes option one is more of a necessity than a choice.

Going to swimming lessons (I’m stretching the metaphor to the breaking point here)

The third way to get over your aversion to doing something is to put a lot of preparation into it: if it’s a presentation make sure its planned and scripted and practice it as much as possible; if you’ve got a lot of calls to make write a script so you don’t forget what to say and again, practice on friends and co-workers. Preparation can reduce your disinclination to do a task because it increases your feeling of control over the situation. If you’re as prepared as you can possibly be, it takes a lot of the uncertainty out of the equation and can make you feel calmer about the situation. The more confidence you gain, the less preparation you’ll find it necessary to do, but the first few times it can be quite time consuming, so this is possibly not the best method if you’re extremely busy.

So there you have it: three ways to beat your personal work demon. What do you hate to do at work? Let me know below! For more work advice check out my posts on regaining control and procrastination.

In the Beginning...

...was university. And it was awesome. Work, play, money it all came so easy. Then came graduation. We were fortunate enough to regard this as a minor hiccup and sailed happily into baby-grad land, taking our first steps in research *cough* but mainly focusing on the lack of exams.

That was a year ago. In four months we will be stripped from the familiar comforts of college and booted out into the cold cold world. A world where getting Phd funding is more like joining the circus (or jumping off a cliff not knowing if your parachute works). A world where jobs don't grow on trees or at least not in this climate. A world where we can no longer pretend David Cameron isn't running the country.

For many of you this will no doubt be a situation you are well familiar with, for others this is all to come and for you few, you happy few with some stability ahead to thank God for your avoidance of such a fate.
We are arts grads. We say this proudly, we're not ashamed. Say it loud and say it proud just don't say it to the funding bodies apparently or at least not without some serious public backing.

Well to be strictly accurate we're not arts students- well not the stay in bed till 12 with Doystoyevksy- we are the scientists of the art world, outcasts from both camps wandering in the wildernesses of academia. *Sob*
So what, you may be wondering (and congrats for making it this far blind) is this all about? Well, its a guide of sorts to what lies beyond. Do we have all the answers? Not even close, but we know some people who just might.
When starting this project we recognised that our limited experience would only get readers so far and would really only help those in our position. Luckily for you we are extremely popular and have some helpful friends on hand.

So this blog will have frequent 'guest' posts from other walks of grad life: tune into Moving On but Going Nowhere- a section that will deal with staying on as a graduate at the same university, with alll the challenges and perks that entails.

Up and Out will chronicle the excitements of those with the golden tickets- postgraduate positions both inside academia and out. Despite the initial boost these people still don't have it easy and its just possible we can learn what they did right and replicate it.

The Great Unknown is our no mans land of post-university life. For those who really don't have a clue what they want to do or, more pressingly, quite what they're going to do when september rolls around. If this is you then stick around- might be helpful, might just make you feel better about yourself; its win-win.

Finally there's The 'Art' of Getting a Phd, penned by us. We'll share our frustrations, our discoveries and our successes and failures as we attempt to make it into a funded Phd over the next year- either in the UK or abroad.

So keep reading- we might not have all the answers but we're getting better and after all, every little helps!