Fear is an Amazing Emotion !

Some thoughts to share, came across this amazing picture on the social media and was wondering what happened here. The cheetah and the dog locked in the same bathroom through the night.

For all practical purposes the Cheetah should have devoured the poor dog, but it did not, infact as experts noted, both marked their area and waited…I can probably appreciate and sense the fear in the dogs mind, but what about the Cheetah, wasn’t he also scared to death from a bigger predator(man) that the thought of the meal in front of him did not reach his brain.

In the current landscape where so many IT organisations are optimising resources, one org stated that they will come out with a weekly list for next 12 weeks, What does it do to the morale of the remaining, what role does fear of the Friday Axe play on the minds of the people involved?

?As some authors have explained Fear is a very powerful emotion and is one of the biggest obstacles to progress “ It is not failure itself that holds you back, it is the fear of failure that paralyses you”- Brian Tracy.

In the famous battle of Kurukshetra, King Yudhishtir?after the first few days of the war, feared that the mighty attack of Bheeshma would snatch victory from the Pandavas unless the mighty warrior succumbs.?

Yudhisthir himself goes to Bheeshm and confides his fear with humility that the Pandavas were no match for Bheeshma’s skill in war and requests Bheeshma himself for a solution.?

Pleased with Yudhisthir’s approach, Bheeshma tells his secret to be defeated in war and blesses them with victory, in short fear is a good thing if you approach it with hope but a challenging thing if it paralyses you into inaction.

I was trying to review my professional life and mapping it to the various types of fear and the effect it had on me.

Those starting days :?

Fresh out of college, filled with confidence of a campus placement, that whole bravado of youth etc was grounded in the first meeting when you felt that everyone knew a lot more about things than you did.?

The fear was heightened when someone from the non-tech world spoke more intelligently about the technology than you, when a sales person could talk the speeds and feeds and features that you were still struggling to grasp from the thick manual that you were trying to devour.?

The first big meeting where you were presenting and the well-meaning senior told you the cost of the table in the board room and the sensitivity for scratches, when you were still busy memorising your pitch.

Those intelligent lunch table conversations on TRAI recommendations and how the landscape will change, when you were internally cursing yourself for not reading the economic times…

I call this the?“Beginners fear”.

Those middle days:

When you had a grasp of things, you knew what you were doing and how you were adding value, there was that periodic recognition in words/kind?or overseas training that you were sent on, this was grounded when you came across that smart peer that could reference OSPF RFC 2178, page 68 and even if you tried, you could not go past the first RFC that you read on how messaging was done in the “Kabutar ja ja ja” era,?you got stuck on RFC-1149: IP over Avian Carriers.?

When you are struggling to manage time and find it hard to believe, how the peer finds time to be so current and full of information, you find that time management is a skill that you should have invested in.

I call this the?“Peer Fear”.

Those advanced Days:

When you start managing teams and are a step away from the customers and projects, when you are called in to manage the situation and believe you are not as close to the issue as your team is and your value add may not be significant in managing the situation.

When you get pulled in different directions and need to rein in the need to roll up your sleeves and start working the issue, when the question of if I was doing it, how would I be performing starts haunting you.

When you are trying to show that you are controlling the Tiger and are aware of all the details, but are aware that the boss has multiple sources of information and is probably triangulating the same to arrive at a more accurate position.

When your objections are termed as defensive positions and you are in the subjective area of “X-Factor”, ability to strategise, growth mindset..etc?

You have a new fear of what am I adding to the business.

I call this the?“Relevance Fear”.

As we move from one fear to another, I would think it is essential that the learnings of one are not lost in the other, time management is a skill that you need even in your advanced days, so does the sharpening of the axe for the relevance.

Don’t lose the lessons and don’t let?fear turn into insecurity.

Have a lovely April ahead.