Speaker 1: Welcome to How I Work, a show about the tactics
Speaker 1: used by the world's most successful people to get so
Speaker 1: much out of their day. I'm your host, Doctor Amantha Imba.
Speaker 1: I'm an organizational psychologist, the founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium,
Speaker 1: and I'm obsessed with finding ways to optimize my workday.
Speaker 1: This episode is another my favorite tip episode. The title's
Speaker 1: probably pretty self explanatory. It's about my favorite tip from
Speaker 1: each of the interviews I conduct so on today's show,
Speaker 1: my guest is Michelle Poehler. While doing her Masters in
Speaker 1: branding Back in twenty fifteen, Michelle started a project where
Speaker 1: she would conquer one hundred fears in one hundred days.
Speaker 1: This master's project turned into a global movement that has
Speaker 1: impacted millions of people and receive coverage on the NBC
Speaker 1: Today Show, Fox News, cbscnn's name a few Since that project,
Speaker 1: Michelle now travels the world speaking to people at companies
Speaker 1: such as Google, Facebook, LinkedIn, Netflix, Microsoft, Coca Cola, and
Speaker 1: many many more about getting out of their comfort zone.
Speaker 1: And Michelle's just released her first book, Hello Fears, which
Speaker 1: teaches readers about how to create their own one hundred
Speaker 1: days of fear project. So when I spoke to Michelle,
Speaker 1: my very favorite tip that she had was the key
Speaker 1: question she asks herself that helps her overcome her fears.
Speaker 1: So on that note, let's head to Michelle, how did
Speaker 1: you prepare for those fears? Like, did you have any
Speaker 1: kind of a you know, pre fear ritual that you
Speaker 1: do or was it just like, you know, just jumping
Speaker 1: in and going for it.
Speaker 2: Well, so now I think I have a better system,
Speaker 2: now that I understand a little bit better.
Speaker 3: Would it means to face a fear? Back then?
Speaker 2: It was just shock therapy because I didn't have much
Speaker 2: time to think about it. It was every single day
Speaker 2: fitting a different I couldn't say no because I was
Speaker 2: already committed in this project and I had the help
Speaker 2: of my husband, so he would tell me what fears
Speaker 2: I was facing next according to my list. But he
Speaker 2: was taking care of the planning. So he was like, Michelle,
Speaker 2: I already talked with this place. You're going to learn
Speaker 2: how to fly a plane tomorrow. Okay, so you have
Speaker 2: to grab a train.
Speaker 3: Go two hours away from New York to this place.
Speaker 3: A man will pick you up. He will teach you
Speaker 3: how to fly a plane and then you'll fly a plane. Okay,
Speaker 3: I'm like, what I'm doing?
Speaker 2: Well, So I had no time to think about It
Speaker 2: was just every day I would wake up and say,
Speaker 2: oh my god, I'm still in this project.
Speaker 3: What am I doing today? So it was very very
Speaker 3: scary time.
Speaker 2: But now I have one tool that really helps me
Speaker 2: before I'm about to face a fear, and it's a
Speaker 2: question that I asked myself. So you know the typical
Speaker 2: question that people ask you when you're about to face
Speaker 2: a fear, which is what's the worst that can happen?
Speaker 3: Right?
Speaker 2: Yeah, So I got that question a lot because I
Speaker 2: was facing my fears a lot, like every single day,
Speaker 2: and so people will tell me that, And every time
Speaker 2: they would tell me that question, I was like, for
Speaker 2: some reason, that.
Speaker 3: Doesn't help me.
Speaker 2: Like kids, you're asking me what's the worst that could happen?
Speaker 2: So I think, oh, right, I'm not going to die. Okay,
Speaker 2: maybe I don't die, but I will embarrass myself. I
Speaker 2: might fail, I might get rejected, I might hurt my
Speaker 2: ego and my self esteem.
Speaker 3: So there are many things.
Speaker 2: That can go wrong whenever we take a risk, and
Speaker 2: that question only brings up the worst gaate scenarios.
Speaker 3: So I realized that we have.
Speaker 2: To change that question around, and if we actually want
Speaker 2: to face a fear and do it with the best attitude,
Speaker 2: we have to ask ourselves what's the best that can
Speaker 2: happen instead of what's the worst. When you think about
Speaker 2: the best that could happen, only the best gay scenarios
Speaker 2: will come to your mind and will remind you the
Speaker 2: real reason why you in the first place thought that
Speaker 2: this was a good idea. And it also will give
Speaker 2: you the certainty no maybe certainty because you don't know
Speaker 2: the future, but it will give you the idea at
Speaker 2: least or the vision that good things may come out
Speaker 2: of this. Because whenever we're about to take a risk,
Speaker 2: all of these negative thoughts start to pop into our
Speaker 2: head and we tell ourselves things like you're not good enough,
Speaker 2: don't even try it, you will regret it. Who do
Speaker 2: you think you are? Right?
Speaker 3: Those are typical thoughts that like I don't know, pop
Speaker 3: into our heads. But when we.
Speaker 2: Ask ourselves what's the best that can happen, we start
Speaker 2: to see the other side of the coin, and we're like,
Speaker 2: what if I do a good job, What if this
Speaker 2: actually resonates with people?
Speaker 3: What if I make money out of this What if
Speaker 3: actually I don't you know, I don't know. I get
Speaker 3: a yes from the person I want to ask this question.
Speaker 2: So our best life is They say that that it's
Speaker 2: in the other side of fear, right, But we need
Speaker 2: to do it in a way that we feel confident
Speaker 2: and that we can see the best that can happen
Speaker 2: out of the situation.
Speaker 1: That is it for today's show. If you found this
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Speaker 1: that is it for today and I will see you
Speaker 1: next time.