Check your emotional cooling fans before you start

On the first day of my first major road trip since I’d relocated from New Zealand, the motorbike I’d brought back with me started to overheat.

I didn't really need the red warning light to tell me I was sitting astride an engine that was preparing to go molten. The next day my riding pals found the problem. Those small stones, ‘chips’ – the ones used to resurface roads that make windscreen replacement companies rich beyond their wildest dreams – had blocked both cooling fans on both radiators.

The fans only weigh as much as a wafer-thin mint, they’d fit in the hands of a child and they're tucked away out of sight. You don’t buy a motorcycle because of the fans, and yet the performance of the whole machine relies on their calming influence when it's getting too hot to handle.

And we’re just the same.

To construct the machinery of our careers, we focus on our technical skills and experience. They are what fuel our CVs, they make us go faster, and they impress co-workers and recruiters alike. But we also have emotional cooling fans that control how we react in the heat of the moment. And if they’re clogged up with the fear and anxiety of change, none of those technical skills will save us from reacting in the heat of the moment rather than responding with a cool head.

Those stones weren’t easy to get to and they could have seriously damaged the radiators. But with care and persistence, the guys freed up the fans and the bike kept its cool for the rest of the trip – even when it was pushed to do two days’ riding in one day. Being able to control the fear and anxiety we feel about the future doesn’t just let us keep on riding, it enables us to see every unforecast bump in the road as the chance to become a better rider.

A final note
When people talk about the emotional baggage they carry with them, well, I figured out that I picked up those highway chips in New Zealand. I wonder if that’s a world record for the road most travelled.

Rich Alderton specialises in raising adaptability intelligence and delivering executive coaching and mentoring, so if you're looking to unclog your emotional cooling fans, give us a call on 07873 823 800, email us or complete our enquiry form.

And why not download Rich's free e-book here?