Tag: move

Feeling Overwhelmed and Taking Small Steps Forward (2-26-26)

Bonus blog about feeling overwhelmed and focusing on moving forward, no matter how small the step is.  The Universe says someone needs this message today, so if it was you give the Universe a thank you.

I had some physical health related goals for myself related to working out, training for races, etc.  I’m nowhere close to where I wanted to be in relation to those goals.  The more I realized how far off I am the more I thought about how much I needed to do to catch up, which made me feel overwhelmed and paralyzed to the point that I stopped taking action toward my goals.  Eventually I snapped out of it, when I asked, “What’s the smallest step forward I can take?”  I took my initial lifting routine and significantly cut it down.  I took my running program and significantly cut it down.  Then, something interesting happened.  I wasn’t paralyzed anymore.  I allowed myself to focus on just moving forward, so I started to take action.  It may not be perfect, but taking steps forward is better than not moving.  I’m now taking more consistent action in the right direction.

Let’s connect this to work.  In our story, I described how the looming physical goals ended up leaving me overwhelmed and paralyzed.  Have you ever felt that way at work?  I had this exact experience at work this week. It is my job to enable and drive adoption of AI for our incredible market research community.  I’ve been reading and listening to leaders talk about AI and the ideal state, and it just hit me hard for some reason.  I saw the ideal state, and I saw how big and complicated the gap is to get there.  The gap is a tech gap, a culture gap, a workflow gap, a new habit gap, and more.  The questions of, “How do we close this gap fast enough?  How do we find a way to catch something moving so fast?” began swirling and I started to notice that overwhelm and paralysis was trying to set in.  Then I remembered, it’s not my job to be perfect.  It’s not my job to solve all problems in one day and miraculously get ahead of a massive shift that no one really knows where it is going.  It’s my job to find a way to help us all move forward in the right direction, even if those steps feel small.  It is my job to consistently keep us moving forward, because sooner or later those steps will add up.  Once I embraced that I need to keep taking steps forward, I could get more focused on identifying what those steps are and get moving again.

The challenge: If you are feeling paralyzed, will you remember you just need to move forward, even if the steps are small?

Bonus: Part of what helped me snap out of it on the work side was a friend who said something nice like, “You’re doing a pretty god job of keeping us moving.”  Sometimes an affirming word is all you need.

Peace,

Andrew Embry

Discomfort, Paralysis, and the Glacier Leap (2-7-24)

Last week was about discomfort and psychological safety.  This week is about discomfort, paralysis, and the Glacier Leap.

The Glacier Leap is one of the obstacles at the Abominable Snow Race.  You start by climbing up an incline wall (covered in snow/ice/slush) until you are on top of the first structure and about 7 or 8 feet off the ground.  This is where things get interesting.  You have to jump to the next structure making sure you position your body correctly and grab the bar tightly or you will fall.

When I got to the top of the structure, I watched as people would stand at the edge and peer down.  You could feel them becoming more and more uncomfortable until they ultimately became paralyzed at the thought of falling.  At that point, they wouldn’t jump.  Instead, they’d turn around and climb down without ever giving it a try.  I knew that the same thing would happen to me if I didn’t move quickly.  I made a decision.  I would step up to the edge, count out loud, and jump on three.  Any more hesitation and the discomfort would turn to fear would turn to paralysis.  So, I stepped up, counted to three and jumped!  My hands grasped the bar, my feet hit a patch of ice on the wood, and I instantly slid down and fell.  It wasn’t exactly pleasant. 😉  At this point, I was determined (or dumb), and refused to let this obstacle beat me.  I climbed back up.  This time I had an advantage, because I knew exactly what the discomfort felt like. I knew exactly what falling felt like.  I had survived, and now those things weren’t so scary.  I stepped up, counted to three, and jumped!  This time I made it!  With my heart beating out of my chest, I stepped up and jumped to the next platform!  Success!

What does this have to do with anything?  Whether you’re doing an obstacle course race or performing your role at work, sooner or later we all run into a patch of discomfort.  When that happens it is easy for the discomfort to turn into fear which turns into paralysis.  Have you ever experienced this at work?  I know I have.  I’ve walked out of situations and said, “I wish I would have asked this.  I wish I would have said that.  I wish I would have done something different, but I just froze.”

I wish I had a magic way to avoid this, but I haven’t uncovered one yet.  All I’ve found is that once the discomfort starts setting in, I need to move.  I need to take some kind of action before the discomfort becomes fear and before the fear becomes paralysis.  During the obstacle course race I counted to three and then jumped.  Counting was the trigger to move.  What could your trigger to move be at work?  Maybe you write down the statement or question you think you’ll want to make, so when you start to freeze you can just read off the paper.  Maybe your action isn’t dealing with something that day, but scheduling time on calendars to handle it in the future.  Maybe it’s recognizing that the paralysis is taking over and just stepping out of the situation to catch your breath.

The challenge: How will you ensure discomfort doesn’t paralyze you?

#yetination #abominablesnowrace

Have a jolly good day,

Andrew Embry