Holy terror of creation
By Vincent Heeringa,
Smoking cigars and drinking heavily into the early hours of New Year’s last week I was in the company of some high achievers: an international journalist, a published author, a chief executive of a 2,000-person company and a top level health manager. The talk was your typical, reflective New Year’s Eve crap, so I ventured a change in direction, asking:
“Does anyone feel the terror when they awake?”
I meant night terrors, involving judgment by an angry God, incomplete tax returns, overcharged credit cards, stupid comments that can’t be retracted, awful hair cuts worn on big occasions. I also meant the terror that accompanies me in the daytime – the white knuckling fear of an editorial deadline, the certain knowledge that one day I will fail spectacularly at something public and costly or be involved in helping one of my employees be “let go” (whoever made up that stupid expression?).
I thought that I was rather special in this experience. I even have a name for it - the Holy Terror, because it’s so very protestant. Probably Calvinist.
Turns out I’m not special at all. Everyone that night nodded sadly that the Holy Terror lives with them too. They had different names for it but, essentially, the beast that drives me out of bed at ungodly times lives in their bed too. Or in their heads, to be exact.
So here’s an experiment: as I said, all those present were highly motivated, hard working, creative achievers. Is the Holy Terror common to these folk? My thesis is that not everyone has it. I don’t believe, for example, that people who lack ambition, who are satisfied with their lot live with the HT. I also wonder whether the super high achievers, like Olympic gold medallists or the super entrepreneurial live with the HT. Super high achievers often lack the inner critic that voices its fear of failure.
I’d welcome any suggestions about how to live with the HT. And maybe overcome it. Although, I doubt I ever will and maybe deep down I don’t want to. Dissatisfaction and fear are great motivators.
The point of my blog will be track the course of the HT in its various forms and to reflect on how I’m winning the battle over it. Or maybe using it. Or maybe losing it. As an entrepreneur in the rather risky area of publishing I will have plenty of experiences to generate thoughts and lessons. And I hope you’ll respond in kind.
Comments
Fenwick
You are right, you are not alone with fear driving your creativity or fuelling your motivation. Many high achievers are "not satisfied" with their results and they believe that is what keeps them going.
But does it have to be that way? And do you stop being creative and driven if you remove it from your life? I would suggest that the answer to both these questions is an emphatic "No".
I would also suggest that there is another level of creativity & performance waiting for us all beyond the fear based “Holy Terror” (and I am not going to get all Buddhist on you here, despite you playing the Calvinist card!).
Fear is a pretty simple emotion isn’t it. It’s really useful if you are faced by a physical threat (rampaging lion or a mugger perhaps) as it can kick in that adrenalin surge to get the muscles pumping even harder as you strive to exit sharply or fight. But as a simple emotion its use stops there. It’s not a lot of use having pumped up muscles and lots of adrenalin if you are only grappling with a keyboard. A lion isn’t going to eat you if you fail to meet a deadline isn’t it?
Imagine having the drive to strive without the negative emotions, sleep deprivation and associated stress & illness associated with “The Holly Terror”. Imagine the joy of creativity without the prevarication that goes with creating that tight deadline (we do that don’t we). Imagine achieving without fear.
Well, you don’t really need to imagine as it can be done through a little bit of clean up of your own mind using a technique called Neuro-Linguistic Programming (check it out on www.thechangefactor.com/performance.htm ). It’s a dreadful title for any technique, but don’t blame me I did not invent it. It’s kind of complicated to explain (and I don’t want to sound like I am trying to sell you something, but that’s what the specialist is for), but I can use sportsmen/women as an example. We all know that sportsman mentally rehearse just as much as they practice their sport. Whether it is picturing the scene as they lift the trophy so that they know they can do it (if you’ve done it once you can do it again right?) or mentally rehearsing a penalty kick, we know that sportsman put as much emphasis on their mind as they do on their body. The constant repetition of these pictures is a form of programming their mind.
NLP works on a similar basis, helping you programme your thoughts to have the beliefs that you need for success, removing those out of date fears that drive your HT for example. It’s as simple as that.
So next time you wake up with the HT and think “I want to go to the next level”, give me a call (some time later in day!).
Martin Fenwick.
talk@thechangefactor.com
09 414 1399
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