Honestly, the biggest barrier anyone faces when hunting for a new job is this: fear. Fear of failure. Fear of not finding a job. Fear of bombing an interview. If you want to knock fear out of the way, step 1 is to actually write down what you are afraid of. Then ask yourself "So what?" A wise man said to me when he saw me paralyzed with fear "What is the worst thing that could happen?" "Failure," I said. "Define failure." On and on we went, and once I had defined my own personal measure of failure, he then asked "Now what would you do if that happened to you?" "Well," I said, I'd get back up and try something different." It was incredibly powerful for me to first name my fears, and then walk through what I would do if my biggestg fear became a reality. I learned that things were not actually so scary, and also that I would handle it. Going through this exercise freed me up to stop worrying (quite so much) and to put that energy into controlling what I can control.

So, I put that same message out to you right now. What is the worst thing that could happen to you? You might bomb an interview? Not get the job you want? If you bomb an interview, or do NOT get the job you want, guess what? #1 You will go find something else. And #2 – That was probably not the right job for you.

Lastly, what good does it do for you to sit in fear? Not a drop of good. So stop being afraid. Make a plan. Face those fears head-on and get out there networking for your next job. Take all that energy you've been spending being scarfed of the "what if" and out it toward getting a new job. Scared of networking? Why? What is the worst that could happen? Someone might not like you? So what! Move on. If they don't like you, chances are good you won't like them, either.

Now go tell the world what makes you great, and stop living in fear of the “what if.”