I won’t bury the lead. I’m fine. It was a false alarm. But I just spent last weekend at Beth Israel Hospital in Boston getting tested to make sure my coronary arteries were healthy. They are.
I bring this up because pessimism is one of the themes of my new book Think Like a Lawyer, Act Like an Entrepreneur. As lawyers, our skepticism, aversion to risk, and pessimism are part of why our clients pay us. We are hired to figure out what might go wrong.
The problem for lawyers is that we need to take off that hat when we are trying to build a practice, manage our careers, or inspire the people who work with us to do their best.
It is ironic that I ended up in the hospital because I often talk about my own pessimism and how I have learned to put it aside in order to run a successful coaching business, although it is still my default mode of thinking.
In fact one of my go to anecdotes that I share when I speak is that I can go from headache to brain tumor with no thoughts in between.
Somehow, after “failing” a stress test, I did not go “there”. Maybe it is because I have spent so much time challenging lawyers who express pessimism, that I was able to put my own worries aside and enjoy the nice view from the new cardiac unit in my private room (food was actually pretty good as well).
Of course I did worry a little. But I put faith in the world class medical care I was getting.
So what is the point of all of this? If you are worrying about what might go wrong with something you post on LinkedIn, a presentation you are giving to a trade association, or thinking the worst when you haven’t heard back from the prospect who seemed interested in hiring you when you did a consultation, that’s okay. But put those thoughts aside and act in a way that is consistent with your future success.
Not everything will turn out the way you want, but don’t let pessimism cripple your marketing efforts.
For me, it’s back to coaching, writing, networking, and happily, playing squash and participating in my choir.