Every obstacle you face at work represents a potential career-defining moment. Your character may be tested. You can choose to step up to the next rung on the ladder or, lacking sufficient courage, slip back down. By simply recognizing these workplace obstacles as defining moments (things like failing to get an overdue promotion, or enduring verbal intimidation) you begin to rely on your personal, courage-based assets.
Unfortunately, many people miss the opportunity of overcoming workplace obstacles by responding consciously or unconsciously with self-defeat. They may perceive these potentially defining moments as just “part of the job,” or they may feel that in some way they deserve unfair treatment. If they take on the role of martyr or victim to “keep the peace,” their true heart-and-spirit Self is further stifled, and the behavior pattern continues validating a “false truth.”
Frequently questioning your status quo moves you from the dominant “mind-will” that produces StuckThinking™ to the “heartfelt will” of everyday courage. Heartfelt will expresses itself by confronting uncomfortable truths where mind-will rationalizes in order to avoid confrontations.
If you have difficulty recognizing the defining moments in your own workday, ask yourself which events make you upset, angry, conflicted, uncomfortable, embarrassed or acquiescent. Identifying these events will point you to the obstacles upon which you will want to focus your emerging courage energy.
Edwards Deming said, “Nothing happens without personal transformation.” By realizing which specific obstacles challenge your effectiveness at work and then acknowledging the scripted pattern that keeps you stuck, you are well on your way to conquering StuckThinking™ and reclaiming your everyday courage.
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