How to deal with uncertainty for Career Success……

I was recently reminded of the great quote by Richard Branson ‘If somebody offers you an amazing opportunity but you are not sure how you do it, say YES — then learn how to do it later! I was offered an amazing piece of work, however when I was being given the scope of the contract, one part of my brain was saying, ‘tell her you can’t do this it is beyond your capability’ and the other side of my brain was saying ‘this is the great work you want to do, grab it’!

Over the following days I allowed my ‘negative internal voice’ take over and I convinced myself that I was right and I didn’t have the experience to do this work. I called the company and left a voice message that said just that — as I was leaving the voice message, I had a brain flash of what I needed to do.

So what happened — I call the negative voice in our heads ‘monkey chat’ and he is our inexhaustible friend. His whole purpose in life is to protect you from danger with a constant stream of observations predictions, criticism and judgement. When he is in full conversation you cannot see your other options, so you have to learn how to tame him.

Firstly, I talk to him, yes I call my monkey chat a him. When he is in full swing I find that by having a conversation with him, I can calm him down. I try to understand why he is upset and what is he trying to protect me from. Always mindful that all he wants to do is protect me, in relation to my new project he did not want me to fail. I then make lists and do some journaling, there are other methods as well but this is what works for me.

When at night time he is overwhelming me with all the things I need to do the following day, I write them down in an email on my phone and send it to myself. I can then tell him he can stop talking now, as I have a list of everything and it is now time to rest and relax.

If I have something going on that is occupying my mind more, I will establish a journaling practice every morning. I will take some time to write down everything I am feeling, thinking and anything else that I am worried about. I will then tell my monkey friend that I have heard everything he has said and I am not listening to him for the rest of the day, and I will tell him I will listen to him tomorrow morning at journaling time.

Whatever life has thrown your way over the last weeks and when there is uncertainty in your career and life, remember you are proving that you can do this!