18th June 2024
Google’s famous Project Aristotle, which studied hundreds of teams to try to determine why some excelled and some bombed, revealed an astonishing fact: the number one correlated attribute of high-performance teams is psychological safety.
The opposite of safety is fear. Yet so many teams and workplaces fuel our innate sense of fear rather than quell it and that gets in the way of success.
When people start to feel fear, they slow down, hesitate, or even stop.
Rich Sheridan, the author of Joy, Inc., shared a wonderful thought, “My role as a leader is to pump fear out of the room,” to foster a culture of experimentation and innovation. That often comes down to helping people feel heard and taking action based on such input.”
So what do we do about all this fear?
I remember a story I watched in a Mickey Mouse show when I was a kid. Mickey had this dream every single night that he was being chased by three evil creatures. Over time, he became completely exhausted in real life.
After a talk with Goofy, he tried a different approach. Once the figures started chasing him, he turned to them and said – “Listen, guys, I’m not feeling up to it tonight. Want to do something else instead?”
They ended up playing cards and Mickey finally had a good night’s sleep.
Mickey learned not to idolize and mysticize fear, but to overcome it by seeing it in its face.
You can do the same too. So, if you have been avoiding a decision or a certain course of action (but deep down you know it’s the best solution), maybe today is the day.
Everybody is fearful at some point, but then, you need to be courageous and apply that uncomfortable but the most effective solution to your problem which you have been avoiding all these years.
Some amount of fear keeps us out of harm’s way. All we need to have is the courage to manage it.
Nobody can give you courage, because it is all about believing in yourself.
The only way to deal with fear is to accept its presence, and then confront it in the most direct possible way.
As Shakespeare said, “Take arms against a sea of troubles, and in so doing, end them.”
When you force yourself to face any fear-inducing situation in your life, your self-esteem goes up, your self-respect increases, and your sense of personal pride grows. You eventually reach the point in life where you are not afraid of anything.
Face your fears today and Stay Blessed Forever.