The conversation

Wednesday, April 1

“I can’t take time to rest.”
“Why"?”
“I’ll fall behind, then our department will fall behind. The industry is moving too fast right now.”
“What does fall behind mean? What happens?”
“Too many changes are happening every day. If we don’t keep up, I’m failing our team and I’ll be out of a job.”
“How many changes did you all make yesterday? What decisions moved you in a different direction?”
:: 60 or so seconds of pause ::
“I don’t think we made any changes.”
“And you still have a job today"?”
“Yes.”
“So your belief is that taking a day or two off will make you fall behind from daily changes even though daily changes aren’t being made, and you’ll lose your job even though you made no changes yesterday and still have the job?”
:: 20 second pause ::
“I get how ridiculous that sounds.”

This was the conversation with a leader recently. A leader who was burning out based on a fear that wasn’t true. In fact, had he kept going down this path, the outcome he feared - getting fired - would’ve come true.

And yet we do this all the time. We let fear convince us that it knows what is best. That its ways are logical or wise or reasonable. And when we actually play them out, we realize how absurd it is. That the thing we KNOW we should be doing is what we should actually do.

What’s the thing you’ve been avoiding? Why? What fear is driving your avoidance? Play out the two scenarios, one where you do the thing and one where you keep avoiding it. Which path gets you closer to who and where you want to be? hint: it’s not the path run by fear.

Feel fear, choose action.

Keep chopping wood. 🪵🪓

-Kevin