When I was younger I would live in constant fear. The fear of never achieving what I wanted or the fear of feeling as if I was never going to be enough.
For years, this lead me to be constantly afraid of not working enough to get the results I wanted. Believing as if the more scared I was, the more I was going to excel at a task. As if every big project or goal would be fed by the fear I was feeling.
This, of course, wasn’t good for me or my health.
I would feel constantly tired and bored of everything. Not caring enough about how I would feel and focus only on the results I get. For years, I would force myself to do things I never wanted to do. And after some time, I would just break on my thoughts and give up.
One of the biggest changes from that time to now is that I am no longer motivated by fear. I no longer believe that I am not enough or that my work won’t be enough.
Because I’ve realized that fear has no long-lasting results.
What I mean by this is that, even if you work hard on something, the foundation might not be strong if you started that just because of fear. For example, if you started to write a book, if the main motivator for that task is fear, you won’t do it every day as the habit won’t be something you enjoy, and thus, avoid instead.
But I also believe that this applies to teams. If you make your collaborators feel afraid of how they will be punished, they will feel tired and stressed. There won’t be space for creativity or innovation because those are high-risk tasks. And fear leaves no place for failure.
Don’t get me wrong, I am not against fear in its nature.
Because fear is human. We cannot just avoid it at will always. And we have to sometimes overcome it even when we don’t feel like it.
So for me, fear is not something to avoid but also I don’t think it should be a tool for getting long-lasting results. I think it should be an emotion we feel that is not fed by artificially created conditions and remember that the danger we feel is real in the end.
Have a wonderful week,
John
Weekly realizations
Flights are great but they are not good for the environment - We have to be honest we ourselves and remember that not everything we love is good for others. I am really aware that there are many options that are better than flying, in terms of the environment, but I also love to spend some time moving around and getting quickly for other places. This is a reminder for myself to be more environment friendly and use a better option the next time.
Coding is fun - I had always underestimated the joy I get from coding. When you build something out of lines of code and see the results you get from it, is an amazing feeling.
Highlight of the week
This week, I’ve been working on some paperwork for later this year. I am writing this from the airport in Lima so I think that my first trip after two years, is worth of celebration.