The Self-Care Mindset

CHAPTER 15“Yes, And…Is There More?”

“We can ‘Yes, but' someone to burnout or we can ‘Yes, and' someone to growth.”

Do you believe in four‐leaf clovers? I do. Sometimes I set out to look for them and sometimes I stumble upon them when I'm out and about. When I ask people if they believe in them, it's not so much about the four‐leaf clovers as it is what they represent and the exercise of looking for something that might or might not be there. That sense of not‐knowing can spark curiosity, creativity, and constructive thinking.

When we are operating in a place of FUD though, it's much harder to access that uncomfortable space between knowing and not knowing. The problem for many people, including leaders and organizations, is to spark an environment where not knowing is a positive and encouraging space to work in, where learning is the foundation for innovation, change, and growth.

What does that have to do with four‐leaf clovers? We only look for what we believe is possible, and when we have an attitude of already knowing, we look for proof that we are right rather than looking for what can change.

I recently heard Michael Ciannilli, program manager for the Apollo Challenger Columbia Lessons Learned Program at the Kennedy Space Center, talk about lack of imagination as the problem that can cause mistakes when working under pressure. He pointed to the need to pause and listen more closely to avoid fatal mistakes, like the crash of the Challenger in 1986. Had they paused to ...