Mesandy
10-25-2008, 04:42 PM
All of us harbour some fear or the other, but the trick lies in knowing how to deal with it. Here are some who tell about their paranoia and how they got over it
When it comes to dormant fears, studies have claimed that fear of public speaking tops the list, followed by fear of death. so i 'm posting how some professionals dealt with their respective fear and all are indians.
Yogesh Shah, CEO, Backpker's Co
Fear: sleeping alone
Yogesh Shah grew up in a large household, which meant that he never slept alone, till the time he was 18 when he undertook his first trip by himself. Having slept in boarding school dorms, he never anticipated facing this fear. Yet here he was, discovering his passion for travelling, and afraid of sleeping alone.
"Every sound was amplified," he says, "I would imagine someone coming up the window and hear sounds that weren't there." It only became worse, so much so that he had to make a choice between passion and fear. He went with the former of course.
"Slowly, I learnt to conquer it," he says. "I avoided reading crime thrillers at night and chose autobiographies and positive books. I'd take warm baths to induce sleep. When nothing worked, I sipped on a glass of wine." Today he sleeps alone, albeit with the night light on.
Shamita Singha, model
Fear: Public speaking
Shamita Singha was always a child of few words. She never participated in school dramatics and the few times when she did, she remembers mucking up her lines, staring blankly at the audience. Even when walking the ramp for the Miss India contest, she tripped most of the time she was on stage.
"My legs would turn to jelly. I hated being on stage. It made me nervous," says the now model and VJ. "But the contest gave me my first taste of fame. I realised I loved it. That’s where I wanted to be." So, she started pushing herself into situations that would require her to be on stage. "I would practise my lines in front of the mirror. Since I couldn't mug up the lines, I would grasp their essence and put it in my own words."
Then, she started grooming herself for the stage. "Working as a VJ made me comfortable in front of the camera," she says. "When I moved to stage shows, I would pick a point above the audiences' head to stare at while speaking.
Since I avoid eye-contact with the audience, I don't get nervous." Another trick Shamita uses is to clench her fist when she's behind a podium, to force herself to concentrate. Her final vote of confidence came when hosting a live event in London. She was surprised to learn she wasn't nervous anymore.
Archana Kochhar, designer
Fear: Technophobia
Archana Kochhar overcame her technophobia the hard way. Until a few years ago, a simple task such as sending personal e-mails was also assigned to a staff member. With two workshops and two studios to manage, she ran her designing outfit on utter trust — until she was seriously short-changed.
"I would run the business solely on trust," says Archana, "and then one day the staffer ran away with 90 original designs." She realised that she had to learn technology to handle the reigns of her business. "The biggest support was my eight-year-old daughter," she says.
"I would see her playing games with ease and generally fooling around on the computer and think it can't be so difficult!"
Archana also had help from her staff. "They taught me all that they did and sat with me while I tackled technology again and again." It became all the more imperative for her to learn faster as her NRI clientele increased and she needed to correspond with them. Now, not only is Archana at the helm of all her affairs, she can also uses technology to design and work on her design pictures.
When it comes to dormant fears, studies have claimed that fear of public speaking tops the list, followed by fear of death. so i 'm posting how some professionals dealt with their respective fear and all are indians.
Yogesh Shah, CEO, Backpker's Co
Fear: sleeping alone
Yogesh Shah grew up in a large household, which meant that he never slept alone, till the time he was 18 when he undertook his first trip by himself. Having slept in boarding school dorms, he never anticipated facing this fear. Yet here he was, discovering his passion for travelling, and afraid of sleeping alone.
"Every sound was amplified," he says, "I would imagine someone coming up the window and hear sounds that weren't there." It only became worse, so much so that he had to make a choice between passion and fear. He went with the former of course.
"Slowly, I learnt to conquer it," he says. "I avoided reading crime thrillers at night and chose autobiographies and positive books. I'd take warm baths to induce sleep. When nothing worked, I sipped on a glass of wine." Today he sleeps alone, albeit with the night light on.
Shamita Singha, model
Fear: Public speaking
Shamita Singha was always a child of few words. She never participated in school dramatics and the few times when she did, she remembers mucking up her lines, staring blankly at the audience. Even when walking the ramp for the Miss India contest, she tripped most of the time she was on stage.
"My legs would turn to jelly. I hated being on stage. It made me nervous," says the now model and VJ. "But the contest gave me my first taste of fame. I realised I loved it. That’s where I wanted to be." So, she started pushing herself into situations that would require her to be on stage. "I would practise my lines in front of the mirror. Since I couldn't mug up the lines, I would grasp their essence and put it in my own words."
Then, she started grooming herself for the stage. "Working as a VJ made me comfortable in front of the camera," she says. "When I moved to stage shows, I would pick a point above the audiences' head to stare at while speaking.
Since I avoid eye-contact with the audience, I don't get nervous." Another trick Shamita uses is to clench her fist when she's behind a podium, to force herself to concentrate. Her final vote of confidence came when hosting a live event in London. She was surprised to learn she wasn't nervous anymore.
Archana Kochhar, designer
Fear: Technophobia
Archana Kochhar overcame her technophobia the hard way. Until a few years ago, a simple task such as sending personal e-mails was also assigned to a staff member. With two workshops and two studios to manage, she ran her designing outfit on utter trust — until she was seriously short-changed.
"I would run the business solely on trust," says Archana, "and then one day the staffer ran away with 90 original designs." She realised that she had to learn technology to handle the reigns of her business. "The biggest support was my eight-year-old daughter," she says.
"I would see her playing games with ease and generally fooling around on the computer and think it can't be so difficult!"
Archana also had help from her staff. "They taught me all that they did and sat with me while I tackled technology again and again." It became all the more imperative for her to learn faster as her NRI clientele increased and she needed to correspond with them. Now, not only is Archana at the helm of all her affairs, she can also uses technology to design and work on her design pictures.