Excelsior Learning

 

 

 

…is certainly a sly, secretive and slippery Resistor!  Most always present and frequently not talked about (cannot talk about fear, that would be too real).  Many relationships and team collaboration problems have their origins rooted in the need for power, control and status hierarchy – with fear close by and looming in the shadows.

His Emotional Resistive Powers are:

• Fear of Failure, Fear of Ambiguity and Fear of Rejection

Take these actions this week to Get Creativity Fit, strengthen your creative thinking muscle, anchor the creative habit to be repeatable…and conquer the Emotional Resistive Powers of The 3 Headed Gremlin!

1. To overcome the fear of failure and the need to be right, set a weekly experiment quota.  If I have the need to always be right, then I fear failure.  However, it is simply not possible to be right and avoid failure when we are in unfamiliar territory and looking to blaze new trails and approaches.  The faster we accelerate our experiments when in unfamiliar territory, the sooner we get to being right more often and thus minimizing failure.  It may feel somewhat counterintuitive, yet with experiments there is a natural built-in test/failure mechanism.  When we learn from our experiments, we can adapt, adjust and move forward.  The more planned experiments the better.  Thomas Edison soundly underscored this point.   

 

2. To overcome the fear of ambiguity and the need to be in control make the mental leap that you are in full control of your reaction to events, situations and/or ideas.  How you choose to react – whether positive, neutral and/or negative is 100% in your control.  To that end, when in the white water of ambiguity, implement the thinking tool Stop, Challenge and Choose:  1) Stop the action, describe the situation at hand and take at least three deep breathes to center and calm yourself.  2) Challenge how you are interpreting the situation, thinking about it and feeling.  Ask, what is my interpretation, and why am I thinking/feeling this way?  3) Choose your response – Ask, am I interpreting it accurately?  What would a proactive, optimal response be to this situation?              

 

3. To overcome the fear of rejection and the need to fit in, go on an excursion or two and take a walk down history’s memory lane.  The overwhelming majority of explorers, inventors, dare devils and entrepreneurs did not care much about fitting in – they were comfortable in their own skin.  They were fine being a minority of one, did not need much extrinsic praise and did not really try to be well-rounded.  A few key personality traits of creative people include independent, original, risk taking, need alone time, curious, focused, persevering work style and intrinsic focus on excellence.  Evel Knievel, the high-flying dare devil and stunt performer said:  ‘If you fall during your life, it doesn’t matter.  You’re never a failure if you try to get up.’