Overcoming the fear to lead

- Let's dismantle this notion that fear is bad, in fact, it's not at all. Feeling afraid is just a signal that perhaps you are embarking on something new and that is okay. Take that as a sign that you are actually growing. The problem arises, though, when we let that fear the self doubt, the negative voice in our head control us. So one of the best ways to counteract this negative mental chatter is through a technique I call labeling. When you label the negative voice in your head, you are essentially controlling it instead of it controlling you. I had a client recently who was promoted to a managerial role, and suddenly she had to lead her team, and these were peers who are formerly the same level as her. Needless to say, she felt very anxious and that negative self talk was completely overwhelming her. And on the worst days, it left her going around in circles, wasting a lot of time. So when she approached us for help, I shared the strategy of labeling. And for her, she labeled this negative self talk in her mind with the word celery, yes, the vegetable. She said she never liked eating celery and wanted to label that negative self talk after her most disliked food. The challenge now was when she noticed the next time that negative voice in her head was getting louder, she would explicitly say to herself, okay, this is the celery talking. I'm going to stop, put the celery aside onto its plate, and reframe my thinking so it's more positive. A few weeks later, my client said that this simple act of labeling and recognizing helped her tremendously in dismantling that negative self talk that crippled her. So for you, when you have that negative voice telling you that you cannot lead, or you cannot do something, what can you name that voice?