Fear resides in every industry. For a sports agent, it can be as common as a business card.
John Boggs, a Major League Baseball agent whose client list includes Shane Victorino, Ichiro Suzuki, and Tony Gwynn, was once asked what motivates him.

He exclaimed, fear.

"Fear of failure, fear of losing my clients, fear of not producing enough,'' Boggs, an instructor for Sports Management Worldwide's Baseball Agent Course, said during a Zoom chat for Monday's course-opening session.
"It was the gas that made me go . . ."

I breathed after I heard this. I realized the fear and the jitters are okay when it comes to being an SMWW baseball Agent Advisor.
I remembered my hands trembling when I called the New York Yankees front office about two years ago to get information about whom I contact about one of my clients. I also froze, figuratively, earlier this year when Joe Katuska, Assistant Director of Amateur Scouting for the Cincinnati Reds, returned a call I made to his employer's headquarters.

I have learned that the people you talk to in baseball front offices, regardless of the leagues, are human. I learned, too, that their careers may have once — or many times — been fueled by fear.

For me, fear has been a rocket fuel.

Overcoming fear is a powerful and difficult thing to do, but incredibly rewarding. While fear is never completely conquered, it can be tamed and used as a motivational tool. 

With the rise of mental health in sports in the last 5 years and the conversation being more open and accepted, it's comforting to know that even the world's best athletes have these moments of fear, the world's best agents, and maybe even you. Sports psychology is a very popular topic of conversation and research, something that we should all take more seriously. 

How do you think you can use fear to motivate you? What's something you can do to overcome it? 

Center yourself, believe in yourself, and trust your gut.