Kay:

Hey, hey, Questers. Welcome back. It is Wednesday, December 1st, and this is episode 478. Now December 1st means the start of a brand-new month. The beginning of anything is always a good time. It may be the end of the year, but you have one final opportunity for one incredible month. So, let’s make it a great day. It also happens to be National Rosa Parks Day, the American civil rights hero. So, you know, we’ve got a Rosa Parks quote for you today.

Shi:

And that the quote is, “I have learned over the years that when one’s mind is made up this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

Kay:

I’m so glad that this quote builds so well off of the idea that we talked about on Monday of definiteness of purpose. Figuring out what you’re going to do, and then having your mind made up because the expansion here is that that can be maybe more beneficial than just in the outcome of getting what you want.

Shi:

And it can be more beneficial because it’s that character building piece and there are lots of adages out there that will tell us you’re better off making decisions and making mistakes and learning from them and continuing to take action than to sit and wonder and percolate and determine and weigh facts and stay in this moment of indecision. None of the great leaders or the great thinkers have told us that that is the key to fulfillment, to happiness, to success, to any of those things. Rosa Parks is certainly highlighting that here for us as well. To take that action and to make that decision is one of the most powerful things we can do.

Kay:

Well, the state of indecision is often one that’s rather fearful. If I said the words, “I just don’t know what to do,” doesn’t that just feel helpless? “I don’t know what to do. I don’t know what to do. What do I do? I don’t know.” Even just saying it now stirs something in my heart and in my soul, because it brings up that idea of the unknown. That’s okay. We’re humans. The unknown is allowed to scare us but when we can figure out that we have the power to know when it comes to making decisions, that it can really help with that fear part.

Shi:

It can and just that resolution. If we’re not feeling it, that might mean that we need to double down our commitment to the decision. Kay and I often talk about the fact that we will know what the right action is, but we don’t take it necessarily because we aren’t looking forward to enacting that decision. But if we take our perspective and push it through the decision onto the other side of what it means to make that decision and what outcomes will be because of that what the results will be, then it can make it easier to see like, okay, if it’s not about do I have to do the hard thing or say the hard thing or have the tough conversation, and is it about I want what’s on the other side of that, when you know that is what you want, it can make that easier to say, “Well, it’s going to be unpleasant to take the action.”

It’s not desirable, but what I want on the other side is more desirable than my fear of that and can help you bust through it. Not that I want to pick a bone with Rosa Parks, because I definitely do not. But I read this quote and I feel bolstered by it because I know sometimes for me that even making the decision does not get rid of the fear. So, I like that she says it diminishes the fear because knowing what to do and knowing you have to do it and deciding you have to do it does help. It might not get rid of your dread or your heartache around a decision, but it can help eliminate the fear, at least diminish it. Eliminating it completely, I guess I’m still working towards that.

Kay:

Well, I think fear is a present part of humanity and just part of life. I’m so glad that we’re embracing it here. Before we round out, I do just want to take this really quick from the micro up a little bit to the macro and into a leadership perspective. When a team does not have a way forward or people in your organization don’t know what to do or what is the direction of the company itself, it creates fear in an organization. If you have 100 sailors on a ship and no one knows where the ship is going and the captain is still making up his mind, the sailors are going to be afraid because they don’t know where they’re going to chart their course.

So, when we know what we are doing from a leadership perspective, even if you don’t know what you’re doing, but you make a decision and you start moving down that particular path, it can help to quiet some of the fear in your organization. Now flip that macro on its head back to that micro and apply it to yourself because it truly does help. Like Rosa Parks tells us that, “I have learned over the years, that when one’s mind is made up this diminishes fear; knowing what must be done does away with fear.”

Shi:

Alright, today’s quest is probably pretty obvious, and it’s certainly one we’ve assigned to you before, but our lives all continue to progress forward which means we all continue to have the same junctures where we need to make decisions. That’s precisely what your quest is today. We encourage you to make a decision you’ve been putting off for a while and take action. Once you’ve made that decision, watch the fear start to dissipate it and tell yourself what the first step is. You’re going to take it to move towards it so that you can start to eliminate that fear right now. Are you ready?

Kay:

Let’s quest!