dr rebel: rebels dare to speak up without feeling uncomfortable. how do they manage?
for the majority of people, speaking up in a group while everyone else remains silent is too scary. thus, most people decide not to. however, rebels seem to be pretty confident in sharing a different, sometimes even unpopular, perspective.
appearances can be deceptive: going against the grain also scares most rebels. but their urge to speak up is much stronger than their willingness to belong to the group, so they can’t help themselves.
over the years, rebels have often dealt with uncomfortable situations and have gotten used to them. they learned to embrace the feeling of discomfort, and the more often they felt awkward, the less scarier it got.
if you look at the stages of discomfort, you’ll see it’s not black and white (comfortable versus uncomfortable), but there are some shades of grey:
everyone can train themselves to be more comfortable with being uncomfortable. the more you get into situations that make you uneasy, the easier it becomes. just start small, and each time you take one step further. with this approach, you expand your inner circles.
you can practice to embrace discomfort with this easy 3-step exercise:
- step 1: think of a situation that makes you uncomfortable, for example, addressing your boss, a colleague, or a friend or taking on a task you have never done before.
- step 2: now answer these three questions about that situation:
- what i easily dare to do is …
- what i panic about is doing …
- what i find scary but want to try is …
- step 3: find a colleague or friend you trust, share your challenge and answers from step 2 and agree that you will do number three. afterwards, evaluate together how it went, and define the next challenge.
download this rebel exercise right here, right now!
do you have a burning question for dr rebel?