With the intensity of everything happening right now - the coronavirus outbreak, the U.S. presidential primary election, a volatile stock market, and many other events going on in the world and our lives today, there is a lot of understandable fear going around. This makes sense and can be hard for us to deal with personally, with our teams at work, and collectively. On this episode I share some of my own experiences with fear and powerlessness in my life, and some specific techniques we can use to embrace our fear and emotions, and tap into the power of them in a positive way. Our emotions are very powerful, but feeling emotion doesn’t mean that we are that emotion. When we’re mindful of the stories we tell ourselves, it can help us manage and harness our emotions most effectively.

 

Key Takeaways:

[1:19] There’s a lot of fear in the world right now, around the elections, the coronavirus outbreak, the volatile stock market, and other events. How are we dealing with the fear in our lives?

[4:35] How much of our reaction to events like outbreaks of diseases or the elections or any other major negative event is based on fear and paranoia?

[9:19] Mike learned something important from his coach back in the day: There are only two things you can control — your attitude and your effort.

[13:06] Media is everywhere, and we are constantly being inundated with information. It is hard to disengage from what’s happening in the world.

[15:18] Mike shares an anecdote of a difficult time in his life and family life a few years ago and what he learned about giving in to the feeling of powerlessness, without being powerless. How does this translate to our feelings around fear?

[21:51] We need to learn to embrace our emotions, including fear, and manage them.

[26:26] Fear is a very powerful emotion if we’re willing to acknowledge it and utilize the power of it. That’s where we need to be mindful of the stories we tell ourselves.

 

Resources:

Purchase Bring Your Whole Self to Work: How Vulnerability Unlocks Creativity, Connection, and Performance and gain access to bonus material

Mike Robbins Website

Mike Robbins Podcast

Mike Robbins on Facebook

Mike Robbins on Twitter

Mike Robbins on Instagram

We're All in This Together: Creating a Team Culture of High Performance, Trust, and Belonging, by Mike Robbins (Pre-order)

We’re All In This Together Podcast Episode: “Transforming Our Fear”

We’re All In This Together Podcast Episode “It’s The Relationships That Make a Team Great with Dean Stotz”

Brené Brown

Embracing Powerlessness Meditation

We’re All In This Together Podcast Episode: “What Great Sports Teams Can Teach Us with Rich Hollenberg”

We’re All In This Together Podcast Episode: “Let’s Get Real About Cheating”

 

Shareables:

 

“There are really only two things we can control - our attitude and our effort.  This is extremely important to remember when we’re feeling scared or overwhelmed.” — @mikerobbins

 

“Embracing fear means that you allow yourself to feel it without choosing to be it.” — @mikerobbins

 

“Excitement and fear show up in similar ways in our bodies. What’s different is the story in our head.” — @mikerobbins