The journey from cautious to fearless is fraught with peril.
Since July 1st, I have been in a new job. Technically, my new job started June 1st, but I spent the first month doing things to wrap up my old job so I didn’t have time to really dive into the new one until after the July 4th weekend. That first week, I dove into the deep end and have been swimming hard ever since.
Swimming hard, not treading water.
Treading water is not an option. My new job is one that didn’t exist before, so there is no model I can hold up and say “that’s what I’m supposed to do.” It is a new job and involves skills I haven’t used in several years. Once I got through refreshing some of those old skills, I realized that the key to success in this job will likely be the ability to jump in with some fearlessness and just do things. We are tasked with starting with a fresh perspective to replace old processes that weren’t working, but we are doing it for a 600+ person organization and in a very short time span, so we have to just figure out a direction and go, hoping for the best and relying on our ability to talk our way through things with all those different stakeholders.
I have to be fearless. That’s something I haven’t done in a very long time. My bosses for the last decade have encouraged caution. Most have actively discouraged fearlessness. After that many years of that message, it does sink in. I have to re-learn fearlessness. This is unexpected, but not unwanted.
At times I am afraid of being fearless. At other times, I’m exhilarated by the prospect. While I am still learning how to be fearless after so many years of caution, I am excited because learning to be fearless at work is having an interesting impact on how I approach the rest of my life.
Part of being fearless is taking that leap with the hope you will succeed, but acknowledging all the while that you might fail and you have to be ready to accept that possibility. This aspect of my new work situation is exactly what my writing needs right now.
