Fear
I’m sure you have heard the old adjudge that fear is simply ‘False Evidence Appearing Real’, I think there is much truth in that. Fear is vital to us as it protects us from harm however if it is allowed to control us rather than ‘advise’ us then we are in trouble. The first thing to do is separate speculation from fact. Fear lives in the realm of our emotion and not in the realm of reason. We need to be aware of our emotions but again not dictated by it. When we are looking at taking the plunge into something new we need to take time to separate the emotion from the facts and take advisement from both.
Pay attention to your instinct! In the book Blink by Malcolm Gladwell, he describes the powerful role that our instincts can play when making a decision. We often get a feeling about something almost immediately, both positive or negative. This instinct should not be ignored but should be introduced into the decision making process along with and equal to the carefully put together risk assessment. Many opportunities have been missed because we didn’t put enough emphasis on our initial instinct, conversely many bad choices were made for the same reason.
Limiting beliefs
What do you believe about yourself?
“Limiting beliefs are those things you believe about yourself that ultimately place limitations on your abilities. They are subconscious thoughts creeping in and telling you something that is ultimately not true”
There’s an old allegory about a baby elephant that is tied to a fence post. As the baby elephant tugs and pulls, it fails to break the fence or break the rope. Eventually, it gives up and makes peace with its fate. The baby elephant is stuck. But eventually, the elephant grows up and becomes a big, adult elephant with gargantuan legs and a huge tusk and swirly trunk and it could easily walk away from the fence if it wanted to. But believing the fence to be some immovable thing, the adult elephant remains tied to it, falsely believing it can never get away.
Our experiences if used correctly can protect us and inform us to make better decisions in the future, however if we do not ‘vet’ these and place context around them they also can limit us. We often only remember the outcome or the decision but not the context.
If you feel yourself doubting or holding back from something, take notice and reflect. Ask yourself WHY? Take time to remember the context of the negative emotions, ask WHERE are they coming from? Think about our elephant, the context has changed, the elephant is no longer a baby. What is different about this situation? Maybe this time you do have the right team around you, that you didn’t have last time? List the things that make this situation different from before.