What If?

Posted: Monday February 28, 2011 under Lead Myself

People are standing up. Most notably in the Middle East in recent weeks, but in other places too, people are looking at their world, their lives, their prospects, their children’s prospects, and they are changing their minds. They are asking for something different, something better, and they are asking: What if?

Not a new question at all—What if?—, but one that’s vital for us to ask … and to answer in the right way. The world would be a very different place indeed if countless courageous people throughout history had asked “What if?” and come up with slightly less courageous answers.

Our quite courageous friend, Regina Verow, has some thoughts on the topic we’d like to pass along. You can also read the original post, and many others, on her blog.

Regina …

Have you ever had a great idea, a flash of inspiration, a burst of energy so motivating that you suddenly head in an entirely new direction? You move along quite well for a few hours, a few days, maybe even a few weeks until the excitement of the new project wears off just a little. Suddenly, you get a little nudging thought in your head…what if this won’t work? Once you notice this little voice, suddenly more voices chime in: What if this is too hard? What if no one will be interested in this? What if I end up broke and homeless? What if I fail? And then suddenly the fear monkeys have taken over, jumping around in your head, creating so much chaos and destruction, all you can do is continually go over the worst-case scenarios:

What if? What if? What if?

We all have doubt at some point. We get stuck in a negative feedback loop, thinking the same things over and over again. But all these “what ifs” are just hypotheticals. There aren’t any answers to these questions in this moment- and they lure you into spending too much time thinking about the future when all of your control over what happens lies squarely in the present.

The easiest and fastest way to quiet the voices of doubt is to respond to the what-ifs with the opposite scenario:

What if I fail? What if I succeed?

What if it takes too long to accomplish this? What if it happens faster than I could ever imagine?

What if people hate my idea? What if people think this is the greatest thing they’ve ever seen?

What if everything goes exactly the way I want it to?

What if I make a career out of this?

What if I immediately see postive results?

What if everyone supports my decision?

What if I look brilliant?