The concept of holding your nerve is not what normally comes to mind when thinking about decision making, but it’s occurred to me that this is a crucial part of decision making, not just in business but in everyday life, queues (lol) and in relationships.
Sometimes you can find yourself in a situation that you’re convinced is going to play out a certain. Your mind is racing and often you’re thinking the worst.
It’s a natural thing to consider what might happen, it helps to keep us safe but maybe that response isn’t always the most natural to us rather a learnt response based on previous experience – what I’ve come to truly appreciate is that in those moments when a decision, event or scenario is playing out in a way that you might fear, having the courage to hold your nerve and see whether all that you fear will happen, is a much wiser approach.
It’s like being on a boat that’s caught in a storm, the waves are crashing around you and the others on the boat.
There’s nothing you can do other than hold onto the sides and wait for the waves to tire, with the desire that you’ll make it through.
To jump overboard for fear that you’re not going to make it anyway, makes no sense when you think of like that.
There may be others on the boat that feel the same as you do. They may need you to hold on, they may be hoping you don’t give up, but aren’t able to say for fear of voicing the worst.
Commit to the choice, whenever you can, tighten your life jacket and hold your nerve.
