I’m Happy You Are Nervous
- 7 Lashings
- Dropped Apr 28th, 2010 by Ted Murphy in inspiration
The other day I was sitting in a meeting with my lead developers at IZEA. I asked each of them a question I often ask, “how are you feeling?” I went around the table and most of them said “good” – with one exception. That individual responded with “I’m nervous” to which I responded, “good, you should be”. That is no doubt a strange response from the leader of a company, but it is not the first time I have given it.
The truth is I want my team members to be a little nervous. Not nervous for the sake of being nervous, but nervous because they care about what they are working on. This particular developer is leading a team that is rolling out IZEA’s next big service. We are less than a month away from the launch date and there are plenty of little issues (and some big ones) that have to be addressed. There is a ton of excitement… but there are also a lot of unknowns. All of us want this to be a huge success and we have invested time and money into making it work. Should this person be nervous? HELL YEAH! I am.
I’m nervous like a heavy weight boxer stepping in to the ring.
I look at every new initiative as a new fight for the belt. I have won some and I have lost some, but every time I step in to the ring I am full of an unexplainable energy that keeps me from being complacent or over confident in my abilities. I can’t sleep. I can’t stop thinking over the win/loss scenarios. I think about every detail. My legs bounce… my eyes twitch. I am consumed by the task at hand. My heart and mind are committed to success.
So…. when a fellow leader in my organization tells me they are nervous about a launch I am happy. I want them to be nervous. I want them to be attached. I want them to be thinking about where things can wrong. I want them to feel like they are in my corner of the ring. I want them to be ready to come out strong and go the distance.
You are nervous because you care. You are nervous because you want to win. I love that. Let’s kick some ass.
Trackbacks
- dsg (Daniel Goodwin) posted on April 28th, 2010
- georgebassen (George Bassen) posted on April 28th, 2010
Love it! I know this is a weird thing to admit: being nervous, however, I agree… It’s a great thing!
Not the best man to quote but this fits:
I always feel pressure. If you don’t feel nervous, that means you don’t care about how you play. I care about how I perform. I’ve always said the day I’m not nervous playing is the day I quit.
- Tiger Woods
That is an excellent point. I don’t think I’ve been nervous about anything I’ve been doing in my job lately, or ever really, because I am not engaged in it. I’m here for a paycheck because the family needs to be supported.
Outside of day job my projects are what makes me nervous and that feels good.
I’m nervous and excited at the same time about my new venture. It’s definitely not the “safe” route but it’s the right one for me!
- New York
Being a little nervous keeps us all on our toes. I’m looking forward to your new project Ted – I hope that little porker flies
Reminds me of a similar incident. A few years ago, way before I ever did affiliate marketing, I led a team of software developers. One of my developers was really quite poor. The odd thing is that during the year she worked with us, she *kept getting worse*.
It’s not because she became dumber, or her skills became obsolete. She became complacent, very secure in her position. I hinted to her that no one is safe, a colleague did, and my boss did. But still she was visibly turning into a useless employee. Eventually my boss let her go – which came as a complete surprise to her.
So your answer is justified. In fact, every employee should feel so. Not to the point where it’s debilitating, but never take a workplace for granted. The same is true for employers, by the way – never treat employees as if they can’t find another job.
Sorry for the long response. This could be a post by itself