I wish I was told this when I began my
career approx 2 decades ago –
Have you ever felt the urge to go ahead and
do something that is hugely uncomfortable to you? Or is the natural path to
avoid any task that causes you discomfort eg addressing a gathering, taking a
stand as opposed to the general group sentiment, making a decision and the list
goes on.
Typically, the questions that arise in our
minds are – What will people think? How will I be perceived? What if I fail?
What if I am rejected?
In the coaching world, we call these as
saboteurs/gremlins – anything that sabotages our natural instinct and inhibits
our actions and twists the person we inherently are. So who are you inherently?
Instead of acknowledging the saboteurs, we
justify our inaction to ourselves by saying things like ‘I am uncomfortable
with this, let’s not create more discomfort’, ‘I will speak when the time is
right’ and this goes on….
As leaders, taming your saboteurs and those
of your team members are paramount. A simple mantra ‘Be comfortable with what
you are most uncomfortable’ can change your career.
If you are trying to avoid
a task, ask yourself what is your comfort level with that task? Make a list of
tasks that are highly uncomfortable to you and make it a point to practice doing
them every week. Get the uncomfortable tasks out of your To Do list as early as
possible every day, so it does not hang upon you like a Damocles sword.
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