Fear can paralyze you. You fear a specific event or outcome, and it causes you to despair. I’ve seen this happen many times; someone gets a new job but immediately gets the sense that they aren’t going to succeed there. They’re terrified that they’re going to lose their job, but mostly what they do is hunker down and try their best to avoid notice. Then, a few months later, they lose their job regardless.
Try this instead: accept the premise. Take it as a given that your specific fear is going to come true and there’s nothing you can do about it.
Imagine that for a moment. You look around your job and think “This isn’t the right environment for me. I’m definitely going to get laid off.” And instead of being afraid, you just consider the ramifications:
“Okay, if I’m going to be laid off in two months, then those two months are important. I should start my job search process now in my spare time, and while I’m here I should use the time I have to learn as much as possible. While I do have a job I can network and make connections, pick up new skills, learn about the industry, and make a good impression on those around me so I maybe leave with a decent referral or two, and I’ll already have a head start on the next job hunt.”
Obviously, that’s a better set of actions than wallowing – sure, it sucks that you’ll lose your job, but if we take that as a given, this is a better way to respond to those facts than pretending they aren’t true. But did you notice something else about those actions? They’re also the ones most likely to lead to you not getting fired!
If you learn a bunch of stuff and impress people around you, maybe you’ll turn that ship around and save it. But even if you don’t, you’ll have done the best you could with the situation you had and used it as a springboard to a better circumstance. All because you just took your fear as a given and moved past it instead of spending all of your energy on the fear itself.
The Opportunity Machine 