Picture this. You are heading to a job interview, presenting a project to stakeholders, or starting a new job in an area you have never experienced before. It feels daunting, stressful, and sometimes even depressing to face these challenges. This was the feeling I had in the past. I was troubled by these negative feelings, and the side effects were damaging.
But it doesn’t have to be that way.
The shift happened when I started switching my mindset. Instead of focusing on how to act like the best version of myself, how to present the best work, or even how not to embarrass myself, I shifted to being always ready to learn. I am a learner. And there is always something I can learn from every situation.
Try This
When facing an overwhelming situation, we can choose to be trapped by negative emotion, or we can adopt this internal dialogue: This is a learning experience.
Pause the Performance. Actively seek something to learn.
Take a note. Just a line. What did you learn, a mistake you made, or what went well.
Review your notes at the end of the day or week. Change one small thing for your next session. See how much you’ve learned and grown.
Turning my everyday experiences into lessons opens my mind. I see opportunities to grow, even when it seems impossible.
Spark
I was reading The Power of Flexing by Susan J. Ashford. It reminds me:
"Personal growth is not a grand event, but the compounding result of turning your daily routine into a series of intentional, small-scale experiments."
Just another coffee thought,
Gav
