Doubts & Fears
One of the more dangerous things a leader can do with doubt and fear is to eliminate them too quickly.
Unless harm is imminent, seeking to escape from difficult situations without first learning from them robs us of powerful opportunities.
Healthy leaders don’t run. They ask what might be behind the emotions they’re feeling and seek to learn from them.
Doubts and fears are a part of life and leadership. They pop up in the strangest of places.
Obviously, they lurk in moments of failure, disruption, or visible struggle. But quite often, they sneak up on us in the aftermath of success.
As the adrenaline fades and our relentless pull toward improvement returns, an unexpected cloud can form. Questions emerge. Confidence wavers. The inner noise grows louder.
This is familiar territory for seasoned leaders.
Psychologists, consultants, and gurus write about this extensively. Tools, frameworks, and methodologies abound. Many of them are useful. Some are even necessary.
But this message is not about coping strategies or shortcuts to relief.
It is about posture.
Specifically, the posture of a leader who chooses awareness and learning over avoidance.
We are not meant to wallow in doubt or fear. Indulgence is not the goal. But neither is escape.
To rush out of these moments too quickly is to dismiss their purpose. In the hurry to feel better, we often miss what is forming beneath the surface.
Consider the body’s fever response. A fever is uncomfortable, even alarming. Yet it is a built-in response to something that is off. To suppress it immediately interrupts the natural healing process.
There are moments when intervention is appropriate, but wisdom begins with seeking to understand what the fever is signaling. In some cases, it calls for allowing the natural process to do its work!
Doubt and fear function in much the same way for leaders.
They often point to something worth examining.
Misalignment between values and pace.
Fatigue that has gone unacknowledged.
An expansion of responsibility that requires deeper formation.
A subtle drift from calling toward performance or approval.
These moments are not indictments. They are invitations.
A healthy leader does not dramatize them, but neither do they dismiss them. They slow down long enough to listen. They separate signal from story. They resist the urge to self-medicate through busyness, noise, or affirmation.
Search me, God, and know my heart; test me and know my anxious thoughts. See if there is any offensive way in me, and lead me in the way everlasting. – Psalm 139:23 – 24 NIV
There is a reason Scripture repeatedly ties wisdom to self-examination rather than certainty.
The psalmist is not uttering a prayer of weakness. It is a prayer of maturity.
Notice he does not ask for immediate relief. He asks for insight.
This is where healthy leaders differ.
They do not allow doubt and fear to get the best of them.
They do not allow doubt and fear to pull them off mission, vision, or calling.
But they also do not pretend those emotions are meaningless.
They integrate them.
They move forward with clarity rather than certainty. With courage rather than bravado. With humility rather than defensiveness.
Doubt and fear become instruments of discernment, not obstacles to obedience.
Leadership is not proven by the absence of inner noise. It is revealed by who is in the driver’s seat when that noise shows up.
Leaders who learn to listen well in these moments emerge steadier, wiser, and more anchored than before. They do not just survive the season.
They are formed by it.
Blessings to you, my friends!
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This Week’s Resource Recommendation:
"The Obstacle is the Way Expanded 10th Anniversary Edition: The Timeless Art of Turning Trials into Triumph"
- Ryan Holiday
From Amazon: This brilliant and engaging book is an invaluable source of wisdom for anyone who wants to become more successful at what they do, whether you’re a student, a parent, a professional athlete, or a world leader. Now, Ryan Holiday has updated and expanded this modern classic with a new introduction and new content featuring a diverse set of inspiring characters.
Icons of history—from Epictetus and Demosthenes to Amelia Earhart and Richard Wright—followed a simple formula to achieve greatness. They were not exceptionally brilliant, lucky, or gifted. Their success in overcoming extreme obstacles was the result of a timeless set of philosophical principles that the greatest men and women have always pursued.
In The Obstacle Is the Way, Ryan Holiday unpacks those lessons and reframes them for today's world, giving us an indispensable formula for turning our toughest trials into triumphs. This new edition is a chance for old fans to revisit a classic and for a new generation to discover the power of Stoicism.
MMS 25-50
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