I had a meaningful discussion with one of my key executives about fear. It was insightful enough that I have been thinking about it and mulling it around in my mind for the last few days. What he said was this: “It’s not that I’m afraid of being wrong, I’m worried about being stuck there.”
Now this guy is a big picture thinker. I can tell him an issue and almost before I get the words out, he’s already found an answer. Recently, he has had a revelation about his big thinking: he has a tendency to project a future reality, and it’s so real to him that he used to get stuck right there, feeling like that was the only answer, rather than a possible one. Over time, he’d gotten so accustomed to his ability to project this reality that it became a warm blanket and he stopped questioning whether or not it was right or wrong. And then he would get stuck.
Being stuck is the worst. Think of your car, stuck in the mud. Think of a deer, mesmerized by headlights, frozen by fear. Wrong is wrong in some direction. Even if you are wrong, you are moving. Being stuck has no direction. There is no compass that can help you, no map, no sun to guide you. So how do we get unstuck?
MOVE. It doesn’t matter if it’s the wrong direction. Being wrong is better than being stuck.
CHANGE YOUR VIEW. If you’re sitting down, stand up. If you’re inside, go outside. Work in a coffee shop, look out the window. Take a shower, take a drive. There is countless evidence that by changing your environment, you can change yourself.
ASK FOR HELP. I know, I know. But do it anyway. Find a few colleagues you trust and make the following deal: if you see me stuck, say something. If I don’t move, say it louder. And when you counter with fear, ask them to remind you: any direction is better than no direction.
Get out there, my hunters and get unstuck from whatever is holding you back from hitting your targets. There are worse things than being wrong about a future that doesn’t exist.
