“๐ก๐ผ๐๐ต๐ถ๐ป๐ด ๐ถ๐ป ๐น๐ถ๐ณ๐ฒ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ๐ฒ๐ฑ, ๐ถ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐ผ๐ป๐น๐ ๐๐ผ ๐ฏ๐ฒ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ผ๐ผ๐ฑ. ๐ก๐ผ๐ ๐ถ๐ ๐๐ต๐ฒ ๐๐ถ๐บ๐ฒ ๐๐ผ ๐๐ป๐ฑ๐ฒ๐ฟ๐๐๐ฎ๐ป๐ฑ ๐บ๐ผ๐ฟ๐ฒ, ๐๐ผ ๐๐ต๐ฎ๐ ๐๐ฒ ๐บ๐ฎ๐ ๐ณ๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐น๐ฒ๐๐.”Interestingly, the topic of fear has come up in quite a few sessions with my clients since the start of the year. They talked about how they avoided things in their work because of fear – leading to procrastination, feeling stressed, missing out on opportunities, or simply not learning new things.
Part of the reason we avoid things, or fear things, is exactly because we don’t understand them. Or because we don’t know enough about them. This not-knowing creates a sense of uncertainty and our brain, wired to avoid uncertain situations to keep us safe, generally doesn’t like that very much.
But the avoiding also prevents us from doing something about that sense of uncertainty. A bit of a catch-22: we avoid something because we don’t know enough about it and we don’t learn more about it because we avoid it.
How about this as an experiment for the week:
โข Think of something (or someone!) you have been avoiding at work without really knowing much about it (or them)
โข What are your reasons for avoiding it?
โข If you have a sense of fear or uncomfortable uncertainty: how can you change your ๐๐ฒ๐ฎ๐ฟ ๐ถ๐ป๐๐ผ ๐๐ฎ๐๐ฐ๐ถ๐ป๐ฎ๐๐ถ๐ผ๐ป?
โข Be curious! What is putting you off? What will help you understand it better? What might happen if you did? What can you do as a first small step towards that?
