Strategies to help you overcome fears about the computer

Analyze the fear. Can it harm you in any way? If it can't, then there is nothing to fear. Yes. Simple in theory but yet its still difficult to overcome that fear.

Look at your peers. For example, I'm sure there is some friend around your same age that had the same trepidation you had but now they are very well equipped to perform most tasks using the computer. Learn from them.

Confront the fear of using the computer directly. Sit in front of a computer and turn it on, open any application and just start typing or moving your mouse around. Microsoft has several games that you can play which will help you learn how to use a mouse. I recommend Hearts.

Change the way you think and you change the way you act. You can control your thoughts. Since you're only able to consciously think about one thing at a time, only allow positive thoughts to go through your mind. Whenever a negative thought or fear enters, simply choose to stop it right in its tracks and immediately change that thought to something positive.

Deliberately try to program the right thoughts into your head every single day. This is where you begin to think about winning. Constantly, visualize you sitting in front a computer and becoming an expert at using one of the applications on the computer. Start with something like Microsoft Word or mastering Windows XP. We have several tutorials that will help you learn how to use XP or the Microsoft office applications.