Introduction
It was some years ago when I made the career transition from a musician in the British Army to an Executive Coach. It was an enormous step and one that had, among many, two very strong emotions attached to it — excitement and anxiety. It was a tough journey and I became a prisoner of my anxiety, and began to lose the excitement. I was losing sight of who I really was.
As Daniel Goleman puts it, our emotions provide us with intelligence from which we can make decisions. I wasn’t being very intelligent and my emotions were running away with me. In the grip of my anxiety I lost all belief in myself, and started lying to myself. On the one hand I had the sense that this was the right career for me, but much of the time I was a prisoner of my anxiety which was constantly saying to me, “You’re not good enough; forget this!”
I was lying to myself. I can’t remember if it was a seminal moment or a series of events which led me to feeling good about myself as a coach. For sure it helps to experience some external victories, get good feedback, produce positive results and win repeat business. But the real victory was when I really started to believe in myself; a private victory. As I found the real, authentic me, my belief grew, literally immediately. As I trusted myself more, my confidence improved and my performance transformed. Do I still have anxieties? Yes, of course I do. But I manage these emotions way more effectively.., not all of the time, but a lot more than not!
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