Friday, August 8, 2014

GOOD FEAR VS. BAD FEAR

My friend Don Yaeger's most recent blog post on fear is outstanding.  You can read it (and should!) in it's entirety here.  Part of Don's post was an interview with Tony La Russa.

“It’s okay to have anxiety,” La Russa said. “You’re going to face a lot of opportunities where there’s an uncertain outcome and you’ve been given the opportunity to try it. Bad fear means you call in sick. And you will never, ever have a strong personal feeling and a strong enough ego to be successful and take advantage of what you’ve gone through your whole life.”

His philosophy is so practical: Good fear propels you to facing a challenge with a stronger mindset and better preparation, while bad fear drives you to curl up on the couch. La Russa told me that responding to bad fear—dodging your challenges—will lead to a weak ego and a lack of confidence, and can create more anxiety as we obsess over the opportunities that we passed on.