PART ICourage
Vulnerability is not weakness; it's our greatest measure of courage.
—Brené Brown
Resistance.
Courage is always preceded by resistance. Often subtle in the beginning, the resistance occurs over time. It manifests itself in different ways in our careers, but some of the most common occurrences are:
- Taking two to three times longer to do common, easy tasks for work
- Letting emails pile up and ignoring them
- Dodging phone calls and Slack messages
- Declining nonessential meetings that you would otherwise attend
- A significant increase in eye‐rolling during meetings you do attend
- Allowing yourself to be easily distracted
- Daydreaming
- Procrastination
- Avoiding work tasks altogether for as long as possible
- ________________________________ (fill in the blank)
Resistance occurs when something is no longer working. That something is out of alignment. The passion is gone. Can't seem to find the meaning in the work. You're doubting the purpose. There's conflict, an incongruence with your values.
You start to question yourself. Wondering if it's you. But you realize it is in fact the job, the culture, the work, the manager – or all four. Maybe life in general just feels off too. You keep finding yourself resisting at every turn, every day. You're realizing that something needs to change. You refuse to accept or comply with work and life “as is” any more. You've had enough ...