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Wide Minds, Bright Ideas: Book Summary of ‘Range: Why Generalists Triumph’ by David Epstein

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'Range' by David Epstein (ISBN 0735214506) Range: Why Generalists Triumph in a Specialized World (2019) by science journalist David Epstein challenges the notion that specializing in a narrow field from a young age is the best way to achieve success.

Epstein argues that groundbreaking ideas don’t typically originate from a single individual or function but rather at the point where different skills (or people) intersect. He suggests that individuals with a broad range of interests and skills, or what he refers to as “generalists,” are better suited to tackle complex, poorly defined problems than those who specialize early and narrowly. These generalists not only possess the skills to solve complex problems but are also more comfortable with volatility and unpredictability and can construct compelling narratives of the future.

Epstein presents subjective evidence from various fields, including sports, music, and science, to illustrate how people with diverse interests and experiences tend to have more creativity, flexibility, and adaptability in problem-solving.

Generalists vs. Specialists: The Battle for Expertise Recommendation: Quick read Range. Epstein’s anecdotes often present a universal view in favor of generalists. Without adequate empirical evidence to support his claims, his hypothesis favors, at a minimum, sampling a variety of interesting fields before committing to a particular specialization.

The most coveted jobs today are in complex and unpredictable fields, requiring employees to have broad and flexible knowledge. Moreover, in a world where people are inundated with information but crave wisdom, there’s a pressing need for synthesizers who can gather the right information, think critically, and make informed decisions.

Numbers Games: Summary of The Tyranny of Metrics by Jerry Muller

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'The Tyranny of Metrics' by Jerry Z. Muller (ISBN 0691174954) The Tyranny of Metrics (2018) by Jerry Muller, a historian at The Catholic University of America, is a poignant reflection on our society’s obsession with measurement. Muller’s eloquent arguments shed light on the dual nature of metrics—they can be valuable diagnostic tools, yet their misuse as the sole measure of success and tied to rewards poses significant problems. Drawing upon many empirical examples across various fields, Muller skillfully reveals the inherent pitfalls of our reliance on metrics.

Consider the initial allure of measuring and publicly disclosing the success rates of surgeons performing specific procedures. At first glance, this transparency appears beneficial, empowering patients to make informed decisions. However, a disheartening trend emerged once these performance scorecards entered the public domain. Surgeons, fearing a decline in their reported success rates, started avoiding the most complex cases. Shockingly, even cardiac surgeons refused to operate on critically ill patients, jeopardizing lives to protect their perceived success.

Muller further elucidates the case of hospital emergency rooms, where the pursuit of improving the metric for timely patient admission became paramount. In a tragic turn of events, the desire for statistical accolades overshadowed the urgent needs of the suffering. Ambulances formed a distressing queue outside the facility as the metric was manipulated, leaving genuine care and compassion languishing in the background.

In 2009, when Medicare implemented public reporting and penalties for hospitals with higher-than-average 30-day readmission rates, hospitals resorted to manipulating the metric. They cleverly distorted the numbers by categorizing many readmitted patients as outpatient services, concealing them and evading penalties.

Education, too, falls victim to the obsession with metrics. The relentless focus on using metrics to influence teacher retention or determine school closures has given rise to a phenomenon known as “teaching to the test.” Educators find themselves trapped, compelled to prioritize teaching subjects aligned with standardized exams, such as math and English while neglecting crucial skills like critical reading or crafting extended essays. Pursuing metric-driven success inadvertently sacrifices holistic education on the altar of narrow measurement.

During the Vietnam War, the US Defense Secretary introduced the “body count” metric. This idea, advocated by US Defense Secretary Robert McNamara, suggested that a higher number of enemy casualties indicated greater success and brought the US closer to victory. However, an unintended consequence emerged when the body count became an informal measure for ranking military units and determining promotions. In this dangerous pursuit of numbers, the metric lost touch with reality, often inflated to fulfill the desire for perceived success. Counting bodies became a precarious military objective in and of itself, overshadowing the true essence of the conflict.

Muller’s perspective does not advocate completely disregarding metrics as a management tool. Instead, he emphasizes the importance of utilizing meaningful and comprehensive metrics that contribute to informed decision-making. He distinguishes between measurable aspects and measurements that hold true significance.

To achieve this, Muller discourages starting with the metric itself. Instead of asking, “What metrics should we use?” he suggests a more practical approach: “What are we trying to accomplish?” This approach involves establishing goals and metrics that evaluate achieving desired outcomes and customer satisfaction (effectiveness) while efficiently utilizing available resources.

In a compelling concluding chapter, Muller encapsulates his central thesis with a resounding declaration: “Measurement is not an alternative to judgment; measurement demands judgment.” This statement emphasizes the need to make informed decisions regarding whether to measure, what to measure, how to interpret the significance of measurements, whether to assign rewards or penalties based on results and who should have access to the measurements.

Recommendation: Skim Tyranny of Metrics. This tome serves as an authoritative guide for comprehending the profound influence of numerical indicators on the very foundation of modern society. It should be considered essential reading for anyone seeking to understand why organizations often operate below their full potential.

Potluck Perfect: The Dos and Don’ts of Etiquette

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Potluck parties are a great way to bring together friends and family on a budget, but just because they’re casual doesn’t mean etiquette should be forgotten. Here’s what both hosts and guests need to know:

For hosts, it’s essential to be clear about what guests should bring, pre-plan the menu, and ensure expectations are within guests’ abilities and budgets. Ensure there’s something for everyone to enjoy. Non-cooks and visitors-to-town should be allowed to bring a charcuterie tray or bakery dessert.

  • Give guests small, simple jobs, but make sure they’re easy and convenient.
  • Encourage socializing. Introduce guests to each other and plan some group activities to get everyone interacting. Plan fun activities, such as lawn games, music, or a bonfire (if weather permits.)

For attendees, let the host know in advance what you’re bringing and check what others are bringing. Let the host know if you want to prepare or bring something else.

  • Bring enough food for everyone to try some and put some effort into it; don’t show up empty-handed or with something as simple as a bag of chips. Put some effort in. Don’t be disrespectful to those who’ve slaved over the stove.
  • Don’t bring a dish or dessert with a serving missing. If your family demands a taste test, divide your preparation into individual servings and transfer them onto a decorative plate.
  • Don’t bring something only you can eat or something super exotic. Stick with what you know and opt for creative dishes from your family or tradition.
  • Don’t bring a dish that needs to be finished or heated in the oven; bring everything you need to serve your dish.
  • Put your dish’s ingredients on an index card and place it next to your pot, so guests with food allergies or dietary restrictions will know what they can eat.
  • If you have dietary restrictions, don’t make a big fuss; bring something you can eat.
  • Arrive on time, offer to help wash up, and try to taste a little bit of everything. Don’t double-dip when eating appetizers or touch all the rolls in the basket.
  • Complement other dishes, ask for a recipe if you’re interested, and don’t expect to leave early with your dish or leftovers unless the host suggests it.

Idea for Impact: A successful potluck gathering is akin to a warm embrace that envelops all in attendance, making them feel right at home and where there is plenty of delicious food and drink to go around.

How to … Change Your Life When Nothing Seems to be Going Your Way

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Recollect what it means to be human: we go through ups, downs, shortcomings, triumphs, losses, confidence, and apprehensions are all just a part of life. While unpleasant, failure is also a common and essential element of life. Bearing failure with equanimity is more likely to help you find success and get what you want.

Next, think about something that’s challenged you in the past and consider how you’re better off for having been through that experience. When you acknowledge you’ve overcome setbacks before, you can recognize that you can—and will—weather this one, too.

Ponder about whatever challenges you presently and see if you can reframe it. Try to perceive it as an opportunity for growth and consider what gifts could come from this experience. Visualizing successful outcomes is the best way to reset or repurpose your goals.

Idea for Impact: Developing resiliency isn’t easy, but excessive rumination and dwelling on past failures for longer than necessary will keep you stuck. When things aren’t going your way, challenge yourself to find any upsides, no matter how small. Find the good in the less-than-ideal. You’re more likely to get unstuck by trying a low-risk baby step forward.

It Takes Luck as Much as Talent

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In The Frontiers of Management (1986,) Peter Drucker writes about how Thomas J. Watson, Sr. emerged as a pioneer in the development of accounting and computing equipment:

Twice in the 1930s [Thomas J. Watson, Sr.] personally was on the verge of bankruptcy. What saved him and spurred IBM sales during the Depression were two New Deal laws: the Social Security Act in 1935 and the Wage-Hours Act of 1937–38. They mandated records of wages paid, hours worked, and overtime earned by employees, in a form in which the employer could not tamper with the records. Overnight they created markets for the tabulating machines and time clocks that Thomas Watson, Sr., had been trying for long years to sell with only moderate success.

Idea for Impact: It’s hard for people who pride themselves on their extraordinary skills to accept that they’re just as lucky as they’re smart.

Luck is primarily the result of identifying opportunities and taking appropriate action. Watson could capitalize on the newly created need for business machines because he had worked in the field for decades. And he gave this kind of luck much credit without feeling that doing so devalued his talent and hard work.

When Implementing Change, You’ll Encounter These Three Types Of People

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'Change is like a Slinky' by Hans Finzel (ISBN 1881273687) To successfully make changes in your workplace, you’ll need to have everyone on board. But don’t try to get them all to accept change at once. Not everyone responds to change similarly; some employees will not react well to it initially.

According to Hans Finzel’s Change is Like a Slinky Paperback (2004,) you must anticipate your allies and adversaries. Determine which of these three groups each of your employees belongs to and adapt.

  1. The Innovators and Early Adopters. Some people love the challenge of change for its excitement and the opportunity to spearhead change. These employees can research the topic, develop prototypes, and act as “change ambassadors” to motivate people further down the hierarchy.
  2. The Careful Majority. Most employees will support change once they’re reasonably confident it’ll succeed. Demonstrate to skeptics what the change will represent and how it will benefit them and the company. Acknowledge concerns—both the spoken and unspoken—and the discomfort of being in unfamiliar territory while focusing on what’s within their control. Eventually, the majority will follow the early adopters’ lead.
  3. The Holdouts. A few employees may resist—and even sabotage—change because they feel uncomfortable about it, don’t believe in it, or can’t see any benefits in it for themselves. If their contentions are worth the time and energy to debate and discuss, make a fair effort to gain alignment on perspective and resolution on position, but be firm with your strategic direction. Get key organizational leaders to give these dissenters reasons and opportunities to get on board, but let them know the price if they don’t accept change.

Idea for Impact: The best managers understand that each employee has different skills, sentiments, wants and needs—and work to put each employee in a position to feel valued and contribute.

How to … Overcome the Tyranny of Your To-Do List

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Long before management consultants made the humble 2×2 matrix their stock-in-trade, President Dwight D. Eisenhower used the format to create one of the most powerful productivity tools of the 20th century: take your itemized to-do list, and dichotomize all the items on their importance and urgency. Then, classify these on a 2×2 with urgency on the x-axis and importance on the y-axis. The items in each bucket warrant a different kind of response.

  • The urgent-and-important tasks in the ‘Do’ quadrant need doing now (e.g., call the fire brigade if your house is burning down.)
  • The urgent-but-not-important tasks in the ‘Delegate or Automate’ quadrant are best delegated where possible (think booking a hotel or clearing low-priority emails.)
  • The important-but-not-urgent tasks (strategic planning, training) in the ‘Schedule’ quadrant should take up most of your time. Eisenhower noted that truly vital yet immediate tasks are few and far between: “I have two kinds of problems, the urgent and the important. The urgent are not important, and the important are never urgent.” That means committing to doing the tasks you schedule. Being effective can’t happen if you keep kicking the can down the road.
  • The neither-important nor-urgent tasks in the ‘Eliminate’ quadrant are usually time-wasting activities and must be eliminated forthwith. They don’t move you towards achieving your goals.

De-prioritize Stuff You Shouldn’t Be Doing in the First Place

The Eisenhower Priority Matrix isn’t entirely ground-breaking. Still, it can help you recognize you can deliver yourself by knowing it’s okay not to complete them all, so long as you get the most vital ones done. The challenge lies in being able to determine what’s essential and what isn’t, as expounded tediously in Steven Covey’s First Things First (1994):

Urgent matters are those that require immediate action. These are the visible issues that pop up and demand your attention now. Often, urgent matters come with clear consequences for not completing these tasks. Urgent tasks are unavoidadable, but spending too much time putting out fires can produce a great deal of stress and could result in burnout.

Important matters, on the other hand, are those that contribute to long-term goals and life values. These items require planning and thoughtful action. When you focus on important matters you manage your time, energy, and attention rather than mindlessly expending these resources. What is important is subjective and depends on your own values and personal goals. No one else can define what is important for you.

The key to productivity is to be very selective in what you pick and execute your most important priorities. Be ready to delegate and be quick and not-to-perfection on as many things as possible. You really don’t need to give 110% on everything.

Idea for Impact: Use the Eisenhower Priority Matrix to Triage Your To-Do List

The Eisenhower method can be an indispensable weapon in your efficiency arsenal. Your life will never be the same when you internalize clarity of habits. Once you’ve been using the matrix for a while, you can realize a pattern of your own behavior. With some discipline, you can change your behaviors to ensure you’re spending more time on the ‘Schedule’ and ‘Do’ quadrants, improving your ability to plan your work.

Try taking a few minutes each day and analyze your task list. Are there things on there that you can delegate or eliminate? Are you genuinely focusing on the right tasks? It’s incredible how much more productive you can be with a bit of planning and forethought.

Don’t Get Stuck in Middle Management

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This survey by the Association of Asian Americans in Investment Management reports (via The New York Times DealBook column) the nature of discrimination and bias faced by Asian Americans:

Asian Americans and Pacific Islanders are often stereotyped as lacking leadership skills. At investment firms, they “fill middle management ranks, but their percentages plummet in senior management and C-suites.” Respondents said they were often tapped as technical experts and benefited from the perception that they are good workers. But their advancement stalled as they sought more senior roles that emphasize networking and communication skills.

Most professionals fail to realize that the competencies that made them successful in their early corporate roles are not necessarily the attributes that will allow them to outshine in roles higher up on the ladder. These desirable qualities would include forming coalitions, managing relationships and alliances, determining where and when to shift one’s focus, and learning to appreciate different perspectives.

Work out what you need to get to the top and fight the perceptions

  • Evaluate where your development priorities should be. Find out how you can acquire the necessary skills and competencies. Go get them. Become more visible to management and situate yourself for a promotion.
  • Network wisely. Understanding who must be won over to your point of view is vital for training for your promotion. Spend time cultivating meaningful relationships.
  • Ask for honest feedback—not just from your boss but also from well-respected peers, customers, mentors, and others. Confront problems quickly lest they metastasize.

Idea for Impact: In today’s world, your skills and promotability are your responsibility.

Life Coaching: What You Need To Know And If It Is The Career For You

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Most successful people in the world share something in common. They had a mentor or a life coach that helped them along the way, guiding them as they grew as a person in their career.

Being a coach, you can mentor others in your area of expertise. With your years of experience and expertise, which you have fine-tuned, you can share them with others as you help to train them to succeed.

One of the best aspects of coaching is coaching others in almost all areas of life. There are endless, valuable reasons to become a life coach. The value is not just for others, they are also for you.

The Role Of A Life Coach

Being a life coach is like being a mentor. You coach and help others by encouraging them and showing them areas of their life where they could improve or view things from a different perspective. A life coach helps others do more of what is the most important to them but do them better.

Becoming a life coach will be a rewarding experience. You can help someone improve their lives. Along the way, you will also help yourself. You can guide someone as they work towards achieving their set goals, especially the targets that they believed were impossible. As a life coach, you will help people discover their limiting beliefs and support them as they remove the strains holding them back throughout the years.

Type Of Life Coaching

Similar to the different types of sports coaches, there are various types of life coaches. To decide what type you could be, ask yourself what you are good at doing? What would you like to help others succeed at in their life? After answering those questions, you can help yourself choose the kind of life coach you want to be.

  • Personal Life Coach – Those who seek the guidance of a personal life coach want them to help with their life. Additionally, they want the support to be successful in their career. All of which is what a personal life coach aims to achieve. A personal life coach aims to help others achieve their targets as they work to overcome the setbacks and obstacles that fall on their path. Being able to help people move on from the things that have held them back for so long can be extremely rewarding. There is great satisfaction in being able to help some who might be struggling. They help them to realize things about themselves. In turn, this will help you to learn qualities about yourself. As a personal life coach, you will also be helping yourself to succeed – doubling the reward!
  • Business Life Coach – Businesses coaches will show others how to bring in more income for the business. They will teach others how to improve their ability to make good decisions that will help in the growth of the business. Additionally, business coaches can create owner accountability and build actionable plans. They can help others to succeed in areas of business where they had previously struggled.
  • Career Life Coach – Not to be confused with a business life coach, career life coaches focus on a particular industry. Often it is one where coaching is needed. Since they have experience in a specific industry, career life coaches will have a deep understanding of the language used, the mentality and other factors to help someone succeed in the sector. With their in-depth knowledge and understanding, combined with the experience, career life coaches can identify areas where people have struggled with and help them to breakthrough and succeed.

How To Become A Life Coach

After deciding to pursue a career as a life coach, next comes understanding how to become one. Whilst becoming a life coach does sound like a daunting career path, it does not have to be. There are various choices available that you can make, all of which will push you forward towards a career as a life coach. During your time as a life coach, you will have an impact on the lives of so many individuals. You will support them in improving their own life.

Before you set out on your journey, have a clear understanding of what you are aiming to achieve. Know exactly what it is you want to do to help others accomplish their own goals. Take time to decide what it is that you want to accomplish in your career. Understand what you have to offer others and why you are the best qualified to offer it.

With this clear understanding of what it is you want to and the goals you want to achieve, you can begin to look at ways to become a life coach. Here are some of the steps that you can take to help you begin your career.

Online Courses Available

Participating in an online training program is one of the best, most flexible options for those looking to become a life coach. You can coordinate your learning schedule around your current timetable. Due to the course being online only, it sometimes will be cheaper than attending a course in person.

You can undergo an NLP training course, which will provide you with valuable skills that will help you in your pursuit of becoming a life coach. It allows you to harness the power of language, which can help to break down the mental barriers many of us create for ourselves without realizing it. Being a life coach, means harnessing the power of language. The power of language is crucial to succeeding and helping others to also succeed.

Create Memorable Experiences

When giving a lecture, ensure that you create one that is memorable and can help in transforming a person’s mindset. Most lectures often go unforgotten. If nothing is engaging or disciplines offered that are memorable, they will likely be forgotten in the days following the lecture. Those that do not apply any of the lessons that they learned immediately, then they are most likely to forget about them.

The Qualities Of A Great Life Coach

Knowing what type of life coach, you want to become, as well as the ways to become one, is only part of the journey. To be a successful life coach, one that can have a positive impact on the lives of their clients, they need to possess certain qualities. These qualities can make the difference between a good life coach and a great one. Here are a few of the qualities that great life coaches possess.

  • Help To Identify Emotional Blocks – A great life coach can help their audiences to identify their emotional blocks. The obstacles in their life have inhibited them from moving forward to become the best possible version of themselves or achieve their career goals. Having the ability to help your audience identify their emotional blocks, you can support them as they look to move past them. In turn, it will enable them to achieve real and lasting results.
  • Challenges Their Clients – Some of the best coaches in the industry will challenge their clients to gain a deeper understanding of their issues. A great coach will challenge their clients in a manner that will cause them to have to face the reality surrounding them with focus, honesty, and clarity.
  • Hold No Judgments – Everyone has their opinions. There are people in this world who have an opinion you do not agree with. However, in their view of the world, these opinions might be accurate. With every client, a great coach will create a safe space where their client can feel comfortable to speak about their thoughts without feeling judged. In doing so, they can both be transparent and find ways to achieve the targets set.
  • Maintains A Positive Attitude – Life coaches are some of the biggest supporters of their clients. They want to see them succeed. Life coaches have a desire to watch them free themselves of their past limitations and reach their goals. There will be times where both parties will experience setbacks. Moments where you are struggling with finding ways to succeed. In these challenging times, it is crucial to maintain a positive attitude. Having a positive attitude will help to inspire your clients, motivating them to believe in themselves.

The Benefits Of Becoming A Life Coach

You know how to become a life coach. Know about each type of coach you can become, and the qualities needed to be a great coach. The last thing is the benefits of becoming a life coach. Most of the benefits are some of the main reasons why people become life coaches. Some of the reasons you might already know, others might be new. Regardless, here are a few of the benefits you can reap should you choose to move forward and become a life coach.

Develop A New Sense Of Listening

As a life coach, you will tap into a newfound sense of listening. Throughout your career, you will interact with a diverse range of people. You will begin to listen to each of your clients in profounds ways, which over time will grow your ability to listen in an innovative way tremendously. Aside from hearing what they are saying, you will also notice exterior clues. For instance, as your client is speaking, you may see a change in their body language when discussing particular topics.

In addition to this, you will be more attuned to their passions and hear their wants and desires in life. By listening to all of these hidden factors, you can provide them with more personalized support. The tailored support is what you know could work well for them.

Impact Your Own Life

The purpose of a life coach is to help others. You will listen to their desires and wants. Then you will work in collaboration to support them as they work towards achieving these targets. Alongside their growth, you will also be part of this journey. You will be a co-writer in their life story, watching their adventures unfold before your eyes. Additionally, you will provide a safe space where they can identify their challenges. When they reach their goals, you will be on the side-line cheering on them.

As you support people in their journey, you will become an expert in your own life. You will share stories and experiences that you have had, which could be beneficial in helping your client reaching their next set goal.

Be Your Boss

By being a life coach, you can become your boss. A boss that you have always wanted to work for and once dreamed of becoming. Transitioning into a role of a life coach, you will become an entrepreneur. You will start to promote yourself, share your passions and strengths with your clients.

The additional perk of being your boss is that you can set your schedule. You can schedule more time to spend with loved ones. If you have the travel bug, you may consider offering your services regionally or nationally, compared to just staying local. It will provide you with the chance of exploring new avenues whilst widening your client base.

The Bottom Line

Undoubtedly, becoming a life coach will be a transformative experience. There will be an abundance of opportunities to interact with a diverse range of people. Your skills will become more refined. Your experiences and knowledge will expand tremendously in a short period.

A career as a life coach is a rewarding role. If you are someone who possesses the willingness and courage to take on a unique position and move in this direction, you can anticipate that your life will change forever. Throughout your career, you will have opportunities to help clients navigate their way through their optimal levels of functioning. You will accelerate holding their vision for the future. In addition to this, you will work collaboratively to develop new strategies for achievement. Ultimately, you will be changing the lives of others and also your own.

How to Turn Your Fears into Fuel

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Self-doubt is an Important Motivator

It doesn’t matter how successful creative people actually achieve. Feeling inadequate is a common malady in showbiz.

Barbra Streisand avoided live performance for 27 years.

Adele has said, “I’m scared of audiences. My nerves don’t really settle until I’m off stage.” Her concerts mean so much that she fears letting her audience down.

Kate Winslet has admitted, “Sometimes I wake up in the morning before going off to a shoot, and I think, I can’t do this; I’m a fraud. They’re going to fire me—all these things. I’m fat; I’m ugly.”

Otis Skinner, one of the great 19th-century matinee idols, once told his daughter Cornelia “Any actor who claims he is immune to stage fright is either lying or else he’s no actor.”

These superstars are not alone. Michael Gambon, Meryl Streep, Kenneth Branagh, Richard Burton, Fredric March, Andrea Bocelli, Ewan McGregor, Steven Osborne, Derek Jacobi, Stephen Fry, Eileen Atkins, Maureen Stapleton, Ian Holm, Renee Fleming, Carly Simon, Marilyn Monroe, Ellen Terry, Rod Stewart, and Peter Eyre—even actor-trainers such as Lee Strasberg and Konstantin Stanislavsky—have suffered from varying degrees of stage fear.

Fear is a universal problem.

Give voice to your fear self-doubt & take action

Many icons suffer from stage fear, often from the weight of expectation that their reputations place upon them. They throw up, feel paralyzed, or break into cold sweats. Adele once got so unnerved that she escaped from the fire exit at an Amsterdam concert venue.

Consider actor Laurence Olivier, who suffered stage fright even in his sixties when he was the world’s most revered stage performer. Even at the pinnacle of his fame, the National Theatre’s stage manager had to prod Olivier onstage every night.

Laurence Olivier suffered five years of agonizing dread following a press night in 1964, when he found his voice diminishing and the audience “beginning to go giddily round.” He developed strategies. When delivering his Othello soliloquies, he asked his Iago to stay in sight, fearing, “I might not be able to stay there in front of the audience by myself.” He asked actors not to look him in the eye: “For some reason, this made me feel that there was not quite so much loaded against me.” The venerable Sybil Thorndike gave him trenchant counsel: “Take drugs, darling, we do.”

As a sidebar, when Olivier made his stage debut playing Brutus at a choir school in London, Thorndike was in the audience. After seeing Olivier on stage for just five minutes, she turned to her husband. She declared, “But this is an actor—absolutely an actor. Born to it.”

Focus on what needs to be done & break the shell of fear and self-doubt

Some of our most admired icons experienced self-doubt—even Abraham Lincoln and Mahatma Gandhi. What distinguishes most successful people is that they engage their fear. They accept that diffidence and adrenalin rush are something that they must deal with.

Interestingly enough, it’s often the mature performer, not the novice, who’s most likely to succumb to a seizure of nerves. However, superstars know in their heart of hearts that fear of inadequacy isn’t shameful. It’s normal. It’s part of the profession. It’s human.

Successful people know how to turn anxiety into energy. They take steps to minimize adverse effects. Through action, they transform their fear into vitality. Fear becomes fuel. They refuse to let their fears get in the way of their goals and success. They overcome fear through the love of the work and channel the sense of the audience’s or constituency’s expectation and goodwill into their best performance.

Idea for Impact: Don’t Fear it, Embrace it.

It’s natural to feel apprehensive when embarking on any venture. Don’t drown in a sea of self-doubt.

Overconfidence can take the edge off the feeling that you need to work hard. It’s ironic that high self-confidence, so often advised as the cure for low achievement, can cause it.

Fear invites you to work harder on your methods, strategies, and skills. It’s undoubtedly more preferable than the alternative. High self-esteem and overconfidence can lead to complacency and no growth. As Nobel laureate Kazuo Ishiguro reminds in The Remains of the Day (1989,) “If you are under the impression you have already perfected yourself, you will never rise to the heights you are no doubt capable of.”

Focus on turning your fears into positive motivators to improve your work. Action transforms anxiety into energy. The “angels” want you to succeed.