A new mindset for a new job

Today I start a new job. Although it is not my own business and I am working for somebody else, I find myself thinking like an entrepreneur.

This could be due to this business being a relatively new business - a start-up. It could be because this business is about creating tech disruption within government departments for citizen oriented change.

It could be because after a year away from being employed I am able to see this job less as a career move and something I plan to do for the next five years, and more as an amazing challenge to engage in for this moment with unknown and exciting implications for whatever is next.

Cold showers

Each morning I have a cold shower for 30 seconds after my piping hot shower. While I never enjoy this experience, I get so much out of it, like the following:

1) It would be so easy to dread going into the shower each morning knowing that I am going to have an uncomfortable experience at the end of it. I remind myself to enjoy each part of the shower, making the most of the warmth and comfort while it is there.

-- Broader lesson for the day: live in each moment, even when knowing that there is discomfort ahead, there is no need to let that deprive me of what is happening in the current moment.

2) As soon as the cold hits me I am tempted to switch off from what I am feeling and ignore it, or to try and act as if I can handle it without overt expression or emotion. Both are not helpful. The truth is I can't help but move around; my breathing gets heavy; sometimes I even yell. But as I allow myself to feel the unpleasantness of the cold shower, the feelings somehow pass right through me and my body experiences a flow and release.

-- Broader lesson for the day: feelings and emotions are there to be felt. As the appear through the day, no matter what they are, I acknowledge them and let them do their thing as they pass through my body.

3) Just before I turn the shower from hot to cold, I start telling myself that I don't want to do this. That it will be too painful. That I can't handle it. And then I do it anyway. The truth is I can handle it. It is 30 seconds of discomfort, and I can stay with that discomfort for as long as I need to.

-- Broader lesson for the day: even when I know something is going to be uncomfortable, I have the power and agency to choose to enter into it, and the will to stay with the feeling until it ends.

4) Once I count to 30 and turn the shower off, the energy the is running through my body is joyful. Sometimes I start giggling. I always feel ready for the next thing, despite how lethargic I was feeling before getting into the shower.

-- Broader lesson: I have energy reserves available to me that I don't always access. When I am feeling down or lethargic, the positive energy I need is not actually that far away, and can be quickly unlocked.

I'm not sure I will every really enjoy the cold shower. However I am starting to value what I get from the exercise.

Doing the work in front of me

Sometimes my anxiety takes me to a place where I am thinking about the work I can't yet do.

Like right now I need to find some new guests for my podcast so I can continue to release an episode each week. I am starting to get worried that I am not going to have an interview to publish as I cannot seem to talk with the people I want to get on the show.

Then I sit down and think about it for a minute: I actually have people around me right now who would be great for the show, and are willing to be interviewed.

Therefore I will do the interview that is in front of me now, and not worry about the interview I cannot get for the future.