Recently I saw a powerful TED talk on the risks of procrastination. It brought me back to my early 30’s when I was frustrated at work and didn’t know what to do. I remember thinking that life is not like in the movies, where the lead is struck with a powerful clarity and the courage to overcome the fear that is blocking them. (For me that scene was always Cinema Paradiso when the rain starts at the outdoor theater.) Too often life is like the scene that didn’t happen. No rain, movie ends, back to the coffee machine conversations about weekend plans, politics, the weather or the classic, “How ‘bout them Yankees?”
After too many days slipping by, I finally forced my own movie moment. But it didn’t look like you’d imagine.The hardest part was the fear that the career counselor I hired would lead me down a path to nowhere and I would have lost time and still not know what to do with my life. He didn’t help with everything. I had job hunted before, so I knew that part. He did help me understand what I was good at and what kind of job would make me happy. Most important, he helped me realize how my talents were valuable to an organization.
I think we ask the wrong questions. As a first step, try asking yourself, “Do I really know what my talents contribute to the organization?” Then, “If I have an idea of what I want, how can I try it out without risking it all?” Maybe take on a project in your current organization that is outside your regular job. Or if event planning interests you, help a friend plan an event around an important life celebration. There are tons of ways to try things out. And then, because “failure” is the universal fear I hear from people, take time to describe what that failure really looks like. Have you recovered before? What would you learn from it? Is it really that bad?
Here’s to having courage in 2018