Your Motivational Gen Z and Millennial Expert-Your host: Dr. Jason Wiggins
I focus on the motivational aspects with a high emphasize on motivating Gen Z and Millennials (GEN X will also find great value) and the employers who employ them for continuous improvement. This podcast focuses on motivating Gen Z and Millennials to empower to overcome obstacles within our everyday lived experiences. I have a passion for educating, speaking and guiding Gen Z and Millennials to achieve great things. Gen Z and Millennials have experienced so much in a short amount of time as the world continue to move faster. Self-Awareness and belief in our abilities provide a strong foundation for health, happiness and prosperity in a world that offers continuous challenges.
This is a motivational series for Gen Z and Millennials and those who aspire to do great things, while interested in understanding these two great generations and how we can aspire to be better because of the value of motivating through life experiences.
Life is hard, but when we challenge others or ourselves to be successful, then the world demonstrates the value of those who put in the effort. My hope is that each listener will find value and then share that value with others. I am a change leader that is passionate about life transformations and taking our passion and motivation to the next level. YOU CAN DO IT! Remembers Dreams without Goals are just Dreams.
Your Motivational Gen Z and Millennial Expert-Your host: Dr. Jason Wiggins
From Fear to Fuel A Journey of Growth (Episode 168)
Ever hesitated to take the leap because of fear? Join me, Dr. Jason Wiggins, as we confront the paralyzing grip of neophobia—the fear of trying new things. I aim to shine a light on the importance of acknowledging our emotions and capitalizing on our strengths. By tackling fears like rejection and failure head-on, we can break the chains that hold us back and unlock our true potential. This isn't just a message for Millennials and Gen Z, but for anyone ready to transform fear into fuel for growth.
As we journey through these challenges, the path to overcoming them becomes clearer when we seek support and adopt healthier habits. From the transformative power of community groups to the essential role of physical health, I share strategies that have personally helped me—and can help you too. Picture yourself setting and achieving your own goals. Whether it's becoming a better cook or embarking on a new career path, accountability and lifelong learning are your best allies. This episode is a call to embrace change, challenge unhelpful habits, and step confidently into the unknown to become the best version of yourself.
Hello friends, welcome to a new episode of your Motivational Gen Z and Millennial Expert Podcast. I am your host, my name is Dr Jason Wiggins and it is great to be here today. I hope everybody is having a wonderful weekend. If you're still at work or you're just starting your week, well, it's going to be a great week and I appreciate you taking the time to listen.
Speaker 1:Today. We are a motivational podcast that caters to millennials, gen Z, you know, baby boomers, alphas, but we focus on millennials and Gen Z. But the reality is is if you want to be motivated, if you want to be better, reality is is if you want to be motivated, if you want to be better, then this is a great podcast that will hopefully be able to help you get on the right track. Today's podcast, the episode, is about life, is about the unknown. Fear is part of the unknown is part of the unknown and, specifically, neophobia is specific to today's topic, because it is the concern and the unwillingness to try new things which, in a world where it is full of unknown, that could be a very scary thing to think about, especially if you suffer from the fear of the unknown and, as a motivated Gen Z, millennial or whatever you fall from within that spectrum. It is about the willingness to want to do better in life, but if you feel like you are fearful, that you're unknown and you don't know what to do and you're actually reducing your opportunities of bettering yourself in your life. So today's topic will really revolve around professionalism, personalism, regarding how to overcome fear and how to also be able to anticipate the part of the fear that you have. So we're going to suggest ways that will help you be able to, if not overcome the unwillingness to try new things. At least it puts you in a step in the right direction or helps you help others that you say, or you notice that maybe they have an unwillingness to want to try new things or they're very hesitant to try new things. And with that hesitancy and with the hesitancy it's about, if I try it, am I going to fail? If I try it, am I going to get rejected? We have all been in the dating scene or something where we're up for a big promotion and maybe we don't want to put our name in the hat because we're afraid of what's going to happen. Or, like I said, if you want to ask a girl or a guy to a dance or to a party or to go out to a coffee shop, but you're afraid to ask why Not? Because you are unwilling to do it. You're afraid of the rejection of what they will say when you ask them.
Speaker 1:Growing up, one of my biggest fears was to call a girl on the phone. I would go through it a hundred times in my head before I either did it or I didn't. I had a lot of fears growing up. You know, sometimes the fear probably would have been good. It would have helped me not do things I shouldn't have did. But there were certain things I had fear on is. I didn't like to not succeed and I would put my place in questionable times where maybe that fear would have been good.
Speaker 1:But the reality is is. We are all human and life, as I mentioned on the onset, is about the unknown. There are only a few guarantees in life. One we're all going to die. Two, we're all going to pay taxes, and so there are key points that, no matter what you do, you're still going to do those things. Life is about not having any guarantees except the effort or the willingness that you're going to put into getting where you want to be.
Speaker 1:We've talked in numerous podcasts about change, change management, the difficulty of change. There's even a phobia for change. Obviously, that is even different than neophobia, which is, again, the unwillingness to try new things. But you know, the important thing is to realize what your strengths are, what your weaknesses are, and if your weaknesses is, you are afraid or unwilling to try new things with the fear of rejection, the fear of failure. That is not uncommon. It's a form of anxiety that unfortunately, it does happen. Sometimes it's hereditary and sometimes you develop it over time or sometimes you even have it from the onset of birth. The important part is knowing that you're willing to accept it.
Speaker 1:For a long time growing up, I didn't know or understand or think that I had ADD. I always had the symptoms, I guess, but I didn't realize it. I would forget things, I would leave something here, something there. I would always start one task, start another task, start another task. I would always finish them, but I would finish them, you know, by working on the other one generally, and that was how I was able to work through the process. Not everybody can do that. A lot of people will start a new project or read it, start reading a book and then they'll stop and they'll jump to a new project, a new book, and I've been guilty of doing that. So now I'm willing, and more cognitive, to start reading a book and reading it all the way through, and that is important, because you want to be able to say you finished something. You want to start something and say you finished.
Speaker 1:So let's talk about us as individuals. If you're listening to this podcast, I can almost bet that you are highly motivated, intelligent and you have the desire to be a better person. Those are three big wins when you're starting out. But we all have our weaknesses, and our weaknesses are the things that we're willing, and hopefully willing, to work on. And so when we talk about the fear of rejection, the fear of failure, the unwillingness to try new things, we have to figure out how do we cope, how do we acknowledge that we have these fears? We have these concerns.
Speaker 1:Like I had to realize, I had ADD. I had to get checked by specialists and they ran me through a bunch of questions and they stated yeah, more than likely, you have a very mild case of ADD. You don't really need to do anything regarding it because you've learned how to function over the years and that is what we're going to talk about today is how do you function, how do you improve, when you have such a fear? Number one, the number one way of doing this is to first identify you have a problem. Very simple Again. My example earlier I had to identify. I had ADD, even though I probably knew it on the onset all in my mind. I just never really thought it was a problem. But first I had to identify it. And then, once you identify it, you say you know what. I acknowledge I have this. It's kind of holding me back from doing some of the things I want to do, but I'm willing to at least acknowledge it and move forward.
Speaker 1:And the second one would be once you identify, you have gradual exposure. So you start to realize if you have a fear of the unwillingness to do new things, then you have to realize that you know what. I'm always doing the same thing over and over and over, without challenging myself, without giving myself the opportunity to improve professionally and personally. So I slowly need to get into the sync of things and start trying to do some simple steps. So, for example, you want to find something that is that if you fail out, it's not a big deal. Maybe you want to start crocheting. You grab some yarn, you start crocheting and it's a very simple process you read, you learn about it and you do it. And it's a very simple process you read, you learn about it and you do it. Now I have never crocheted. I have no idea where that came from. I know my mom does it, so maybe I thought about that. But crocheting is just a simple type of activity that'll allow you to do something new without feeling rejection, without feeling failure.
Speaker 1:And then the third part of overcoming fear is mindful practice. Start doing some of the things that help you, you know, like meditation by breathing, by drinking a beverage of uh, you know ice tea, a coffee something that will help you relax. Maybe coffee is not the best relaxation for me. Coffee is my absolute go-to, so I get it, but again, it's something that's gonna kind of put you at peace. Maybe it's listening to some classical music, some love music. That will really help you get in the mood to get what you want done. And then, so keep in mind that you've got to practice, you've got to. They have a lot of literature out there. They have a lot of books out there about. You know overcoming anxiety. You know the behavioral therapy that you can have. These are mindful practices that just sometimes getting tips online, will help you get through these difficult times.
Speaker 1:Number four is visualization. Imagine navigating through your fears. Imagine yourself doing something that you just can't normally see yourself doing it. Maybe you've been at the same job for 10, 15, 20 years and you're afraid or unwilling to try something new. So visualize yourself. Are you happy in your current job? Maybe, if you go to a new job, you are super happy. You have promotional opportunities. You're making more monetary value. You're getting opportunities. You're making more monetary value. You're getting bonuses. You're being more appreciated, whatever it may be. You're visualizing the onset of that success that is right there waiting for you. That success is going to allow you the opportunity to do something you haven't already done. But being successful doing it, feeling like you, are a big part of the process of improving yourself. Therefore, if you start out by identifying your fears, then you get some gradual exposure and then you start using mindful practice and ultimately, if you start visualizing, you start visualizing the concept of being able to see yourself being successful, being in that promotional opportunity, having more money, doing the things that really make you happy, then maybe overcoming your fear is going to be the best thing that will help catapult you within your career, within your family life and whatever it may be. And that, right there, is the key focus of those first four.
Speaker 1:And then, if you still are having difficulty, you know, challenge, challenge yourself, challenge the, the unhelpful things that are going on in your life, remove those barriers. So if you see that these are challenges, these are barriers, these are not helping you get where you want to be, then it's a perfect opportunity to overcome those and be able to do things that you want to do. And if you're still having difficulties, seek support, seek support. There's nothing wrong with getting professional help. You know what? Sometimes it's just talking to somebody and talking to somebody that maybe has similar type of experiences that you do. Maybe they do something different. There's a lot of groups out there for people that struggle with certain things. There's aa, alcohol, anonymous. It's one of those things that if you are struggling with alcohol or addiction, then you have a support group that are like-minded individuals that have experienced those same things, so helping you overcome your problems, your issues, whatever it may be. You have to find and seek support sometimes.
Speaker 1:And then my absolute favorite, my absolute favorite, is physical activity. Physical activities helps get the endorphins going, helps you find a way to push through maybe some kind of woefulness that you may be having and maybe you're just not feeling great, but once you do something that makes you happy physically, that helps you be able to make an impact on yourself, your body. Eat right, get plenty of sleep you hear all of these things, but life about the unknown is not just the unwillingness to try new things. It's also the ability to do things right, to take care of your body. We only have one body. You might have heard the statement your body is your temple. Well, this is our temple. Our temple is to make it the very, very best we can be, and then that helps us professionally, personally and for us to ultimately be a better you.
Speaker 1:Today we have talked about the life of the unknown, that neophobia, the unwillingness to try new things. We talked about ways that will help you or people you know be able to overcome these type of phobias and fears and rejection and failure. And first it starts with, as we said, recognizing it. That's the number one thing. Once you recognize it, you can then make an impact, and making that impact will make you stronger, a more individual that's going to be able to do more, be more accountable for our actions. And when we talk about accountability for actions, we're talking about eating right vitamins, the correct amount of sleep, continuing educating ourselves. That is the difference between the individuals that are listening to this podcast and maybe others that are not interested in becoming a better version of themselves. Why Maybe they don't take care of their body, they don't eat right, they don't take the right vitamins, they don't get the right sleep, they don't continue to educate themselves? Well, these are the key things and the key factors that are going to improve our overall life. So I ask you this question today. I ask you this question today Tell me, if you wanted to do one thing right now that you've never tried before and you think there is a path to do it, what would that path?
Speaker 1:Or I should say, what would that be and what path would you want to take to get there? So I guess for me, if there is anything that I want to do, I would say, you know, maybe. Oh boy, you know, I I have to think of that same question myself. I mean, I think the one thing is, I'd want to be a better cook. I should. I would want to take the steps to being a better cook, visualizing being a better cook and doing the things that are going to get me there. And so what is your visualization? What do you think that you would want to do to improve yourself, to get to do that one thing that you've never done before? It would like to try?
Speaker 1:Remember, we cannot do something without trying. Sometimes it's trying a lot of different things to find out something that we like. It's like my eight year old son. We're not going to just give him one, two, three things and he's going to like them forever. He's going to eight-year-old son we're not going to just give him one, two, three things and he's going to like them forever. He's going to do one, maybe, like it, maybe not stop doing it, find something else. That's the same thing you have to find in life for the things you want to do. If you want to exercise, what's that type of exercise you like to do? How is it fun? How is it motivating you to be a better you, to be a physically better you? So today I hope you got some key points out of this and realize that we need to sometimes put our foot forward and find a way and find a willingness to try new things, Because if you're hesitant in doing new things, doing new challenges, then you're only reducing your ability to be successful and to be a better you.
Speaker 1:So I want to thank everybody today for listening to the podcast. Please feel free to subscribe or like or share this podcast if you like it. We want to be able to touch as many people out there that we can help, that get motivated, that feel good. If you don't feel good after a podcast, you don't feel motivated, then I haven't done my job and I need to do better. So I'm going to continue to work on my craft as a person that is providing podcast content, but in the meantime, meantime, I want to thank everybody again. My name is dr jason wiggins. I am your motivational and gen z and millennial expert and thank you. Take care, look forward to seeing you next time again. This is a weekly podcast. We will be here next weekend with a brand new, great, motivating topic for you. Take care, see you later. Bye-bye.
