How to feel less anxious about mistakes 😳

I would say 90% of the conversations I have with lawyers around stress (or lack of confidence), can be boiled down to some version of:

➡️ “I’m afraid of getting it wrong”.

Fear of mistakes is real, at EVERY level. From first years to partners.

And it makes sense that we’re worried about mistakes.

We’ve been programmed that way.

I was coaching a lady last week who was frustrated with herself for feeling anxious about mistakes. Then half-way through the session, she casually mentioned that her boss had recently called her out in the front of the entire team for an “unacceptable” mistake in a client doc.

Could there be a better demonstration of how to make a hard-working and clearly consciousness lawyer feel even MORE anxious? 🤦‍♀️

A little emotional intelligence here wouldn’t go amiss…

Anyway… my point is, if you fear mistakes, it’s because you’ve been taught to.

And because we’re so bought into the idea that mistakes are “in fact” bad, the only solution we can come up with for feeling better, is never to make them.

And… good luck with that. 😀

In reality, the way to feel less fear about mistakes, is to stop believing that they are “dangerous”. Because that’s what stress IS. A belief that something is (or could be) dangerous. Reduce the (perceived) danger, reduce the fear.

By the way, opting out of the commonly held belief that mistakes are BAD 😱… doesn’t mean we have to stop caring about the quality of our work.

Fear is not the only motivator that’s available. There are a HUNDRED different thoughts available in between 1️⃣ fear and 2️⃣ not giving a s**t. 😀

Come and work with me if you want to find them.