As a leader with your team, as a parent with your kids, or in any close personal relationship, you will experience periods where you feel drained, anxious, or exhausted when it comes to managing the relationship.
Our culture even prizes the notion of being able to handle highly-stressful work settings, treating it like a desirable work skill.
Whenever we make changes, either personally or professionally, we are going to run into tasks that are uncomfortable. They may seem simple on the surface, but because they are new, they take more time and energy. The good news is that once you get yourself moving and actually do the tasks a few times, they slowly get easier, more comfortable, less fraught with conflict, and they start taking less time and less energy.
Before you even open your mouth, they already have an idea of who you are, what you think of them, what your agenda is, and what you want from them. Whatever words come out of your mouth will be automatically “fit” into their existing paradigm.
What will my parents think? What will my boss think? What will my friends think? These are the worries that influence our decisions and cause us the most anxiety. The good news is, most of those judgmental thoughts we fear are illusions. They don’t actually exist, except in our heads. Don’t believe me? Consider this.