“Should You Give Yourself a Get-Out Clause?” Comments, Page 1

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2 Comments on “Should You Give Yourself a Get-Out Clause?”

  1. Thanks for the inspiration, Libby! What great story. And great tips to pass on, on how to effectively reduce anxiety, which always comes up when starting something big and potentially important. I agree that the ‘get out clause’ is key – once you start feeling you *have* to do something, that already ups the tension level considerably….

  2. Hi Sarah, thanks very much for your comment. When I worked in the media, we had a phrase for acutely stressful moments — ‘No-one dies….’. The end of the sentence being along the lines of ‘…if I don’t finish editing this programme in time’, or ‘….if I don’t record this interview in time’, etc. Quite literally, it just wasn’t so critical that someone’s life depended on it! Whenever I felt my tension levels rising to the point where I was becoming ‘stuck’ like a rabbit in the headlights, unable to think straight, I’d say this to myself and the tension would ebb away and I’d have more mental capacity to think effectively.

    Of course this might not work if you’re a surgeon or a pilot with other people’s lives in your hands, but it certainly worked for me!

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