I'm not afraid to admit that I have technophobia. I have computer fear, technology phobia, computer panic, technology anxiety... call it what you like. My husband has been making fun of me this week because I still haven't set up my new blackberry. He's like, "Just insert the disk in your computer- it's easy!"
I think it wouldn't be as bad if I were a few years younger because I would have had more experience with computers in school and developed a comfort level. And I'm not naturally a techy-type at all.
My sister is a scientist and she's always been great at setting up new equipment and with technology in general. She's also a bit younger and those few years seem to make a big difference. AND I have no patience to read manuals.
SO, I have a tendency to avoid dealing with technology because of my natural strengths (or should I say weaknesses?), personality, and life experience (or lack thereof). The problem? There are two.
First, to succeed in my line of work, I need to be up on technology. How could I recommend social media and online marketing strategies to others if I'm not doing them myself?
Second, I actually really enjoy the results of using new technology. I don't necessarily enjoy the process, but I love to have a blog, be on Facebook and Twitter, and so on... I guess you could say that I have a love-hate relationship with technology.
I can honestly say that when I master (or at least achieve a moderate level of proficiency) in one of my feared technology areas, I feel incredible. This is one of the reasons I wrote The Confident Leader-- to give a process for how to confront difficult changes and things we fear to make ourselves more successful. I lay out a 6-step GROWTH process in the book, and one of the steps has to do with using support.
Using support has been invaluable to me in developing my technological confidence. I am so grateful to people who generously helped me, such as Myrna Weinreich with my blog and Krishna De with Twitter. I find that having the right support enables you to take risks and try things out on your own. For example, I was able to figure out how to syndicate my blog onto Amazon on my own. (This may not sound like a big deal, but trust me, for me it is!)
Your fear may not be technology, but we all have something (or several things) that we aren't naturally as comfortable with, but if we were to achieve a level of comfort and confidence, there's no better feeling in the world.
What is this for you? What's the first step in going for it?
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