A few months ago one of my online newsletter subscribers requested that I write an article about fear and how it holds us back. My first thought regarding this request was, "I don't have expertise on the subject of fear. How could I write about that?"

Before I go any further, I have a confession to make. I am writing this article in the middle of National Procrastination Week! I had intended to publish this newsletter by the first day of this week. Because I procrastinated, it will barely reach you before the end of the week. When I sat down to think about what was holding me back from writing it, I realized that it was my perfectionism - fear of not doing it perfectly! So I guess I am an expert on the subject after all!

I remember some sage wisdom from my friend and colleague, Harold Taylor. Harold is a time management consultant and author of Making Time Work for You. He recently said, "You can do an adequate job in about ten percent of the time it takes to do a perfect job. Is the extra time really justified? Remember, most of us are paid to get results, not to be perfect." What I hear Harold saying is that it serves us well to pick and choose when we strive to do something perfectly, and then give ourselves permission to do a good enough job with everything else.

I also remember hearing Oprah suggest keeping a Worry Log -- a place to write down all of your worries and fears with a date next to each entry. Then you can check back monthly to see what percentage of your worries and fears actually came true. A Worry Log provides a great reality check for those consumed by fear. After doing this for a period of weeks or months, perhaps you will choose to spend less energy and thought on your worries and fears once you recognize that most of them will never come true.

By choosing to become fear-less (giving less emphasis to your fears), you'll have more time to focus on the activities and relationships that are most important to you. In other words, you can choose to stop the negative thinking patters and re-educate your mind to think more positively and focus on what you want.

I believe there are two main obstacles that hold people back from getting what they really want from their personal and professional lives - fear and lack of focus. In my February newsletter I offered suggestions about how to get more focused. This month I offer tips to help you get unstuck by overcoming fear. Use the acronym FEAR to help you remember these four steps:

	FOCUS: What is most important to you? What does the end result look like? What steps are required to get you there?
	EXPLORE: What are you resisting? What warning signals are present when you resist? What is the ultimate fear behind these warning signals? What's the worst thing that could happen? Even if the worst thing did happen, could you live with it?
	ASSESS: What are your options? What action do you choose to take? What's next for you? What support could you get to help you?
	RESPOND: This is where the rubber meets the road - where you choose to say "yes" to the action you have chosen for yourself. If you are not ready to act, repeat this process until you are ready to move forward.

Renowned psychotherapist Susan Jeffers has written a book, Feel the Fear and Do It Anyway, which shows readers how to get what they want in spite of their self-sabotaging fears, turning passivity into assertiveness. The book offers suggestions about how to risk a little every day, how to turn every decision into a "no-lose" situation, and how to stop negative thinking patterns that say "I can't" and begin thinking more positively. 

Although National Procrastination Week will probably be history by the time you read this, procrastination is a timeless issue for most of us. For me, procrastination is a result of my perfectionistic tendencies - I am reluctant to start or finish a task because I don't want anything to be less than perfect. What are your inner conflicts that produce the procrastination pattern? 

In Linda Sapadin's book, It's About Time: The Six Styles of Procrastination and How to Overcome Them, she tells us that chronic procrastinators are not lazy; they simply need to cultivate a more natural and fluid transition from mental activity to physical activity, while allowing an appropriate amount of time and energy to complete the task. My review of this book provides a brief description of each of the six styles of procrastination: (1) perfectionist; (2) dreamer; (3) worrier; (4) defier; (5) crisis-maker; (6) over-doer. Read the book if you want to gain some comprehensive insight and solutions for each of these styles.

And now, as I prepare to send this newsletter to publication on the Web, I say to myself: "It's not perfect, and it's good enough!"