What is fear? What are you afraid of and why are you afraid at all? In this presentation prepared for the Advertising students at the University of Western Sydney, I explain the concept of fear and how to change your perspective of fear or any major challenge in your life. I support the stance with some personal examples and advise the students what they should be thinking about and learning as they finish Uni and start a career. This was presented on Tuesday the 2nd of September 2014.

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Fear. Not.
How to overcome your fears and challenges

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3. What did you learn?
1. Once you knew what to expect it wasn’t as scary
2. Being prepared for the scare made it easier to experience
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Key words: expectations preparation

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Change your perspective

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Definition of fear
Key words: emotion threat

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What are you afraid of?
● Failing at Uni
● Applying for a job
● Failing in an interview
● Not finding a job
● Asking for a raise
● Presenting without notes
● Marriage proposal

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Why are you afraid?
“Nothing in this life is to be feared, it is
only to be understood. Now is the time
to understand more, so that we may
fear less.” - Marie Curie
Instead of resisting and fighting fear,
acknowledge its presence.

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Personal Challenges
● Moving to Sydney
● Buying an investment property
● Backflips and a trampoline
● Starting Surfers In A Dress

9. My Career
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Moving to Sydney
My fear:
● Emotion = scared of moving to a new place on my own
● Threat = losing my job and having to move back to
Badelaide
Overcoming the challenge:
● Expectation = avoid the thought of failure and take a
deep breath every now and then
● Preparation =
1. Book the flight
2. Find a place to live
3. Start a new chapter
4. Be patient
UniSA
Marketing & Commerce
Thomson Street
Event Manager
M&C Saatchi
Digital & Direct Suit
Vodafone
Online Marketing Manager
Datarati
Senior Marketing Consultant

10. Buying an investment property
My fear:
● Emotion = scared of having a huge debt
● Threat = making the wrong investment decision
Overcoming the challenge:
● Expectation = if I did my research, speak to people who have done it
already, I’ll be well equipped to make up my own investment decision
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● Preparation =
1. Created and committed to a savings plan
2. Researched the market and understood different investment strategies
3. Attended seminars and read books
4. Met with a property advisor
5. Did the maths and committed

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Doing a backflip on a trampoline
My fear:
● Emotion = scared of arching backwards in the air
● Threat = landing on my neck and hurting myself
Overcoming the challenge:
● Expectation = I knew it couldn’t be as hard as I thought
● Preparation =
1. Called Sydney Trapeze school & booked a lesson
with an instructor
2. Practiced trampoline fundamentals
3. Practiced backflips in a harness
4. Did it

12. surfersinadress.com
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Surfers In A Dress
➔ Supports the charity,
One Girl who help
provide girls in Sierra
Leone with access to
education
➔ Helped over 60 girls
➔ Raised over $18,000
➔ Appeared on Channel
7’s Sunrise
Save the date:
Sunday 12 October, 10:30am - 12:30pm
Bondi Beach (wear a school dress)

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Surfers In A Dress
My fear:
● Emotion = fear of failure
● Threat = worried I wouldn’t achieve my target of $10K
Overcoming my fear:
● Expectation = stay positive and focused
● Preparation =
1. Organised Council Permits, Insurances etc.
2. Sent personal messages to 90% of my FB friends
3. Built a team of friends to collect donations
4. Generated awareness via memes, maintaining
communication on social and meeting new people

14. 5 Key Takeaways
1. Acknowledge your fears
2. Break the challenge down into bite-sized chunks
3. Tackle one at a time and gain momentum
4. Don’t lose sight of the end goal, but be flexible with the
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outcome
5. Congratulate yourself when you achieve something

15. What does it take to be a good suit?
1. People skills
2. Project management skills
3. Taking initiative
4. Being proactive
5. Asking the important questions, like Why?
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So what are you going to do?
1. Find a job that interests you
2. Research elements of the job description
3. Ask yourself:
a. What do I know how to do?
b. What don’t I know how to do?
c. How can I take initiative, be proactive and learn?
d. How can I prepare for the interview?

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Tips and useful resources
1. Create a vision board
2. Create a profile on LinkedIn
3. Follow these blogs:
a. mashable.com - News, trends, technology, social media
b. kaushik.net/avinash - Digital Marketing Evangelist for Google
c. jamesclear.com/blog - Entrepreneur and life coach
d. blog.startwithwhy.com - (Simon Sinek) big thinker and public speaker
e. simuddell.com - Digital Strategist and life coach
f. gregbeazley.com - (Me) Digital Strategy, Philanthropy, Inspiration
4. Watch more TED and less TV

18. Assessment questions
1. What are the two key words in the definition of fear?
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2. Finish this sentence:
“Nothing in this life is to be feared, it is only to be...”
1. 1) Emotion, 2) Threat 2. Understood

19. THE ONLY THING
WE HAVE TO FEAR IS
FEAR
ITSELF...
and Comic Sans
- Franklin Delano Roosevelt -

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Connect.
/in/gregbeazley
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@gregbeazley
gregbeazley@gmail.com
facebook.com/surfersinadress