Routine #1 – The daily fear facing:
– Working on the Presentation
Okay, so this isn’t a new fear. But a recurrent one. As I’ve mentioned earlier, our company is having a big conference in Croatia in 2,5 weeks. And I’ve been asked to do a presentation. It’s been a while since I did any public speaking like this. I Guess in the university like 2,5 years ago was the last time.
Last week I wrote about the fear of sitting down and working with this. But after pushing through and really throwing myself into it intensively for two days, I started feeling good about it. Then I let it go as I had other more urgent work to focus on . That was until today when I got reminded of it.
Having a second look at your work after having distancing yourself from it is really good. But it’s also awful. My new pair of eyes checked me in with reality. I have so much work left. So yet again I had to really force myself to work on it. It’s just so tough on you when you are overthrown by the feeling of overwhelmingness. So much to do. Where to start… Then you just want to – try to – flee instead.
I mean there’s literally nothing new here in comparison to what I wrote last week. The far is the same, and it’s big. And I will come to the same solution and conclusion as I did then. Break it down, focus on one thing at the time and ground yourself with your why. Stay aware and present so you know that you’re doing the right thing. Reason and talk to yourself, either out loud or in writing. Look at the positive outcome of what you’re trying to accomplish and remind yourself of why.
Non-juicy extracts from the inside of Alex Mind in an anxiety-filled moment:
App app, Alex – don’t you dare answer that text message now or check that email. Nothing critical is going to happen within the 25 minutes of working time you’ve got left before the break. Take a deep breath, put down the phone, and go back to work.
The Seminar really intimidates and scare me so much right now. The pressure of doing a really good one. Having the moment to impact… Argh! Be sound Alex. Make it basic without trying to complicate things. That’s when you’ll do it well. Talk about your experiences. You have a ton of it. Make it memorable and focus on the main message. Face Your Fears. Instead of trying to come up with this one holy framework that will solve everybody’s problems. That has been done, and it hasn’t worked. Inspire to action – it’s as simple as that. Story tell and connect. And I know this won’t come without a struggle, but that’s the thing – I’m willing to take on this struggle.
One big key factor to growth is repetition. Having the patience to work with one thing over and over without giving up on it. Find what works for you, and then keep doing and perfecting that.
After years of personal development, I’ve realised that even if you find something that is quite suboptimal – that will more likely give better results then trying new things all the time. Because then you don’t give it the required time to evaluate how good it actually was for you. And you’ll most likely even give up on the stuff that really is the shit. Meditation is a perfect example of when this easily happens. Trust the process.
Identified fears:
As I walked home today I realised I hadn’t been saying high or talking to strangers the way I used to. Been so much with my new work role that I’ve just been using it as a empty my mind walk home. BUT, it just went up on the fear list. So tomorrow I’ve decided to interact with at least one person.
Routine #2 – Doing a New thing:
Nothing exciting today, on the contrary – relaxing! Listened to an hour of Pan flute music.
To be truthful, when I started writing I hadn’t done anything. Realizing this made me ask myself what new thing I could do. “what new thing can you do today alex?” And listening to a new kind of music is always an easy way out. However, easy doesn’t necessary mean bad. As I’ve almost been listening for an hour know it was super nice – relaxing in a refreshing way. Made it one of the top moments of the day. S
See you tomorrow, Fear facer,
/Alex
