Insights

Comfort is not the path to progress in life....

12.12.2023

The FEAR OF WORSE-FIRST is absolutely spot-on.

This fear is what traps us in the comfort of our status quo and stops us reaching our potential.

This fear is what holds us back from doing the things we know are going to make our lives better in the long run.

This fear is the reason that the average person joining our programmes already recognizes they are significantly far from optimal in 3-4 areas of how they live but they haven’t done anything about it.

This fear is irrational and big.

But done right, WORSE-FIRST IS OFTEN SMALL, PREDICTABLE AND MANAGEABLE, it’s just our fear of change that was big.

Rule #1 is 'Do Hard Things'

These 3 simple strategies will help you conquer fear and embrace change as a continual process:

1️⃣ Start small – by starting small you get to feel what you were fearing and are able to recognize that the reality of change is much less than the fear itself

2️⃣ Rationalise the downside – whether it be changing career or cutting back on caffeine, fear can lead us to catastrophise and overweight the likelihood of multiple very unlikely outcomes combining. In these examples, we can project forward that a career change could leave us without a job and means to support our family, or that simply giving up coffee is going to render is completely unable to function

3️⃣ Plan the positives – the period of worse-first is often very short-lived and the benefits of growth and positive change accrue over a lifetime. To keep yourself motivated, whatever the change, take note of the positives as soon as they start accruing. Often the things we need to take note of are the ABSENCE OF THINGS WE HAD TO DEAL WITH BEFORE WE CHANGED – in a career perspective it could be that we are no longer miserable and grumpy at the end of each day. From giving up caffeine it could be that we feel less anxious or irritable, or that we don’t feel as tired in the afternoons.

Credit: Graham Weaver for the excellent lecture

#growthmindset #ownlife #change

The Science of Success

Fulfilling your potential is not an art, it's a science - proven with leaders across industries in the FTSE 100.

Shape Shape left image Shape right image Shape bottom image Shape middle

Cognitive
Analytics

Behavioural
Science

Sustainable
Performance

Understanding our cognitive
performance throughout the day

Combining psychology with bioscience
to permanently shift mindsets

A practical solution to
personally-owned-performance
at scale

Cognitive Analytics

Understanding our cognitive performance throughout the day

Behavioural Science

Combining psychology with bioscience to permanently shift mindsets

Sustainable Performance

A practical solution to personally-owned-performance at scale

We would love to hear how we can help

Get in
touch