My first “real job” occurred the summer after I graduated from my Masters in Statistics. It wasn’t exactly a “dream job”… although it produced great fodder for learning and success.
My Dad prevailed upon his VP of Manufacturing to accept me at one of their plants as a summer student. His desire was for me to help the team improve the quality of the product produced by a newly commissioned plant that was still producing almost 12% off-grade (unusable product), about a year into its life.
After Dad shared his plan with me, I asked him if he appreciated that both of us could look really stupid at the other end of this experience if I wasn’t able to contribute successfully to the goal. He simply said, “I believe you can do it.”
The day I arrived at the plant, there was no fanfare. My presence was being tolerated because I was the daughter of the company’s president but I was aware that there were a few strikes against me… I was the boss’s daughter, I was fresh out of school, and I had no experience with the line that needed to be improved.
Being sensitive to people’s perceptions, it took me a bit to overcome my insecurity. Then I realized that wasting my energy and time thinking about what others thought, was decreasing the amount of time and energy I had to put towards a solution. This was a real “a-ha” moment for me. I can remember telling myself to put all of my negative thoughts into a “black box” and place it on a high shelf too far away to access. I told myself that I could only look at these negative thoughts when I was completely finished with the project.
I then got on with the task at hand. If even a glimmer of a negative thought showed up, I would remind myself to “black-box it”.
Over the last decades, I have had to use this strategy more times than I can count. The next few weeks will be no different (see “Hope and Fear” in “Life Today”). I will do my best to “black-box” my fears and stay focused on what I can do to help!