Skip to main content

FUD

FUD is a term used in my industry. It stands for Fear, Uncertainty, and Doubt. This is what the OEM (original equipment manufacturer) tells customers about TPMs (Third Party Maintainers) to make them think twice about moving to a less expensive support option. While I could talk all day about how much FUD is dorking up my work-world and our industry in general, I really want to talk about how FUD exists in our real lives and dorks us up in the head instead (ha ha...I rhymed!).

Fear. Uncertainty. Doubt. Those three things keep us chained to people and jobs and thoughts that are not good for us. It keeps us from chasing our dreams. It keeps us wondering if we'll ever be enough, do enough or achieve enough to be worth anything. It makes us think too much about why a person hasn't called, or has called. It makes us read into things and create emotions or intentions that don't really exist. It plays on our insecurities and makes us wonder what is right or wrong. It makes us second-guess our decisions and may lead to indecision because the right seems wrong and the wrong seems right...or something like that.

I was talking to one of the guys I work with--really, he was talking to me which is how it usually goes since I try not to say much so as to not prolong an already prolonged conversation--and he was talking about how his wife lets the FUD get into her head about certain things. It was funny listening to him say this because just a couple of months ago, I asked him to my office to discuss something. He got so worked up over my asking him to come to my office at a specified time because he was sure I was going to fire him. He created this thought in his head because there'd been an incident earlier in the week. In reality, I just needed to discuss some challenges we were having regarding the team overall since he's their lead. This is another example where our thoughts become our feelings. We let the fear of 'x', the uncertainty over 'y' and the doubt of ourselves, our situations, our 'z' dictate what something means without finding out what's on the other end...the REALITY.

In the end, FUD f*cks with our heads. Too bad that big foil thingy to keep the aliens from taking our brains doesn't work on FUD. If it did, the foil companies would rule the world!

Comments

  1. Excellent post! VERY good points and so true. I need to work on making my life a no FUD zone. Keep me accountable, would ya?

    ReplyDelete
  2. Accountability partners sounds like an excellent plan!

    ReplyDelete

Post a Comment

Popular posts from this blog

Join the Navy, See the World!

There are things we want in life and make happen, but they don't always happen as we'd planned or imagined. My dad had gone to Ohio University in Athens, OH on a wrestling scholarship. I, too, wanted to go to OU, but since he'd dropped out and it had a reputation as a huge party school, it was going to be a tough sell. So, I did my homework and sell I did. At the time (1990), OU was one of the top 10 colleges for Communications in the U.S. That was the degree I wanted and I wanted to go to OU to get my degree. I graduated early and during the time between my acceptance to OU and the College of Communications and pre-college, I had become further enamored with marine life and sharks specifically and wanted to change my major to Marine Biology which at OU was actually a Zoology degree. The girl tried to talk me out of changing my major because it was so hard to get into the College of Communication and if I left, I would have to reapply and hope for the best in my junior year

Sometimes, Reality is Worse

What if I told you that Joseph/SAM was created to hurt me? Made up to be everything I'd ever want and more? What if I told you everything I believed and knew him to be was an enormous hoax? All because someone wanted to give me what she felt I had given her. All that she felt I had taken from her. I have to admit that while people have hurt me before with their actions and decisions it has been for their own personal and selfish reasons. Usually not with malicious intent.  There has to be a lot of pain and hurt within a person to invest so much into the creation of a fictional character. Someone who would really take the time to know me. Someone who would enlist others to make the ruse real. To call me on the phone, to send me cards from the web, to pick out a card and leave it at a bar where the bartender who gave it to me told me how cute my guy was, to create a Facebook account with pictures and friends, to bring an ex-wife into the mix, pictures from the desert and your trave

Struggles

Struggles. We all have them. My (latest) favorite saying is, "We all have our things." And for me, my "thing" is wanting to eat to fill the emptiness inside. And not like carrots and apples and good for you stuff. Oh, No! The really bad for you stuff. I crave sugary treats. I have been doing so well with my eating lately and have been exercising for the last few weeks as well, but last night nearly took me down. I was struggling with wanting to run--not walk--into the kitchen and make myself a bowl of cereal with some Craisins or a fruit smoothie or a PB&J. I prayed instead. Almost to the point of tears, I begged God for this to pass. I ate some carrots. I drank some more water. I contemplated some tea. I got out my swiss ball and did some wall squats as I watched TV. I had already been out for a walk earlier with ML, too, but I felt like I was coming out of my skin. OBSESSING about eating something. It wasn't food that I wanted, though. I wanted to feed t