Clues on Uncertainty- the biggest fear of all

Uncertainty is the most crippling fear we can experience. But we create uncertainty ourselves, no-one does it to us. So if we
can create it, we can learn to manage it. Listen now for the CLUES you need.

CLUES Are you worried about money?

There has never been a more important time to be emotionally strong and mentally tough, to control your amygdala rather than the other way around.

Job cuts are now announced daily. We see iconic brand employers laying off staff. We watch well known retailers closing their doors. Does it cross your mind: “will I be next?”

In most organisations you will be under pressure to cut costs, reduce budgets, remain competitive, deal with your employees’ uncertainty and stress as well as your own and yet still manage your team’s performance for strong results in an economy lacking in confidence and optimism.

And how are things at home?

We haven’t even started to talk about the pressures and decisions you might be faced with at home.

If you have young kids – how do they ‘get it’ that in the course of six months, the ground has shifted under things they took for granted.

If you have parents – are they fretting about the drop in the value of their superannuation fund – in some cases of 50% or more. At least with our parents, many of them lived through tough economic times before – and if they can keep their ‘almonds’ under control, they’ll know it’s cyclical. But who would blame them for saying – I may not have time to wait out the cycle!

Don’t succumb to The Almond Effect®

It would be easy to give in to fear and alarm. That’s what your amygdala wants you to do. That’s what The Almond Effect® is all about. It’s the stronger and dominating emotional response – it’s automatic while being calm and optimistic requires a deliberate choice.

Remember it is The Almond Effect® that initially caused (and is still causing) people to react to appalling financial events way out of proportion to the threat that existed at that time. I strongly hold the view that this global financial and economic mess is the result of uncontrolled panic and fear reactions to perceived threats that in many cases were not real – but our reactions have now given those fears substance and reality.

I want him on my plane

In stark contrast think about the way Captain Sullenberger landed Flight 1549 in the Hudson River on January 18 saving the lives of all 155 people on board.

Through his training and experience, the pilot showed complete mastery over the potential disastrous consequences of The Almond Effect®. Using his pre-frontal cortex (PFC) he over-rode his amygdala – and focussed on acting calmly and logically to get the best possible outcome to the crisis. I am sure that the passengers and crew were also very happy that he also glided planes for a hobby!

Yes we can

The saving of Flight 1549 was an example of self-control in a life threatening situation. You too can do this and rule your amygdala - especially in challenging but not actually life threatening situations such as the ones the economy is creating right now.

Lack of confidence, fear about the future – you can discipline yourself to think rationally and with hope about what this really means for you. Learn to ‘Flick the Switch’.

Flick the Switch

Here is an introduction to one of the tools we use when teaching the STAR method for mastery of The Almond Effect®. It is a simple process that we can use to respond thoughtfully rather than react emotionally.

I created the tool based on research from neuroscientists showing that a conscious act such as naming our emotions produces a decrease in amygdalic activity and an opportunity for the PFC to assert control. It is a clear example of STAR in action Stop - Think – Act – Rewire.

You’ll learn to do this quickly in your head but do it on paper the first time and at any time when you want to really take the time to think through what’s worrying you.

Create it as a flow chart for optimum visual impact.

What’s worrying me most at the moment?
Can I control it?

Yes
Best outcome?
How can I work towards this?
Physical actions? Now/future?
State of mind needed? Now/future?
What does the change and outcome look like?
Activate feeling or behaviour!
Triggers/techniques to Flick the Switch!

Worst outcome
How can I work to minimize this?
Physical actions? Now/future?
State of mind needed? Now/future?
What does the change and outcome look like?
Activate feeling or behaviour!
Triggers/techniques to Flick the Switch!

No
What can I do to manage my stress?
Physical actions? Now/future?
State of mind needed? Now/future?
What does the change and outcome look like?
Activate feeling or behaviour!
Triggers/techniques to Flick the Switch!


We expand, explore and practice these steps in our workshops. If you want more information on our workshops and tools, let me know.

Stop reacting, start responding at work

A major concern I have about the rapid increase in redundancies and sackings is the message it sends not just about the organisation’s lack of loyalty and compassion but its lack of leadership insight, courage, tenacity and strategic thinking. Not just to the retrenched but to all staff and customers.

We’ve been through it before in the 80’s and the 90’s. Mass redundancies and layoffs in a panic situation resulting in lowered engagement, innovation, teamwork and performance – everything that organisations in the 00s have invested in.

And will organisational history repeat itself? In the past, these actions resulted in bringing about the very things they thought they would avoid including increased costs, poor retention, low engagement and re-hiring on a more expensive basis.

Clever organisations and thoughtful leaders will react strategically at this time. They will not be frightened. They will see it as an opportunity to review, change and revisit the existing way of doing things. They will make hard but wise decisions with a view to the future as well as the short-term. They will respond not react.

And most importantly of all, they will stay the course back to prosperity and success. That will take intestinal fortitude on their part and yours.

Stop reacting, start responding at home

It’s a similar message for home. If you apply the same thinking you’ll insert a pause before acting, you’ll consciously take time to reflect and plan your responses, you won’t panic, fret and stress.

STAR tools can help you achieve that ability– based on neuroscientific research that is unlocking doors into the reasons why people behave the way they do – and what to do about it.

Scared again - I’m practising what I preach

This weekend I am swimming in the scary 2.7km ocean swim from Palm Beach to Whale Beach – my response to the cancer-related deaths of family and friends and for so many other friends who are dealing with this dreadful disease.

Thank you to the many of you have supported me with your words and your sponsorship in my quest to raise funds for Cancer Research. Perhaps the short video I sent influenced that - see it at www.anneriches.com.au/AnneCanSwim.html

In any event I want you to know that I am Flicking the Switch every time I think about the swim. If I wasn’t actively using STAR tools, I know I would be feeling sick (and wanting to break a leg or something so I didn’t have to do it) at the thought of Sunday. The adrenaline is still running I can assure you but I am visualising what it will be like to emerge from the sea at Whale Beach in one piece and constantly Flicking the Switch to that feeling.

I’ll let you know how I go.

You can still be part of Team Anne

And it’s not too late to sponsor me – it truly adds to the motivation I need to conquer The Almond Effect® and get into the water. Please go to www.anneriches.com.au/AnneCanSwim.html to be part of Team Anne as my wonderful supporters call themselves. I would be really appreciative of any contribution no matter how small.


Hope you enjoyed this edition of CLUES.

Till next time, take care.

CLUES How will you make decisions in 2009

How will you make decisions in 2009? Logically or emotionally?

I didn’t know whether we would live or die. Nearly 10 years ago, on March 22, 1999 my husband and I were trapped in the centre of category 5 Cyclone Vance when it hit Exmouth, Western Australia. We were there for a scuba diving trip. The storm surge was predicted to be 3.6 metres so we got our scuba gear ready – potentially to use inside our holiday townhouse!

Happily we survived the devastation unharmed and indeed returned to Exmouth the following year to dive with the Whale Sharks as originally planned. Although 10% of all the buildings were either destroyed or damaged, Exmouth had rebuilt and looked beautiful.


How will you live out the global financial storm?
I’m sharing this story with you because the current global financial downturn might feel as devastating as a category 5 cyclone. Some people already have or will lose their jobs. Some will feel their homes and incomes are at risk. Some will see, as I have done, superannuation and retirement funds slashed and plans that were dependent on these funds, have now dramatically changed.

Many people will worry about their financial situation. And your brain won’t help you during this time, unless you take charge of it – not the other way around.

Logical or emotional decision-making – YOU decide

At the risk of sounding like an old record – please remember the essence of what I’ve been speaking and writing about for years. It will help you weather any storm.

Your brain automatically focuses on your fears. As you know I call this The Almond Effect®. And what we are experiencing now is the worst economic example of this – when fears have become a reality.

Although a correction was due in some places, I believe the world financial situation is a psychological over-reaction by governments and businesses that everyday people are caught in. It should not have gone as far as it has but as we know, toxic emotions are contagious. We have seen a global spread of negative emotion at a speed and with an intensity that is almost impossible to believe.

So right now I encourage you to stay in control of your lives. You can keep your fears, anxieties and worries in check in your life and your decision making by using my STAR approach. Take the time to read about it again now. I know it will help you.

Be a STAR

S - Stop: simply take notice the moment you become aware that fear, anxiety, uncertainty are impacting you and your ability to ‘think straight’. Your body will tell you – increased heart rate, tummy churning over, tears forming, flushed face, the shakes – everyone responds in their own way. How does your body tell you your brain is stressed?

T – Think: immediately take several deep breaths to minimize the impact of the adrenaline that’s swirling around your body. Acknowledge that your emotions are in play and ask yourself: Where are they coming from? What’s triggering this?

A – Act: Do something to control your emotions before you make any decisions. Here’s an idea from one of my closest friends: “I imagine my fears and anxieties are tied to me with string. Then I cut the string and let them fall away.” It’s a great idea.

And here’s the approach I use most: First, I name out loud the emotion I’m feeling: e.g. ‘I am feeling really anxious right now.’ (Or words to that effect!) Then I ask myself: ‘What’s the worst thing that could happen? And what would I do about it?’ This usually works – because both of these techniques engage the logical part of the brain and slow down our amygdalae. With practice, you can, at will, override your immediate emotional reactions.

R. - Rewire: Practice this over and over – whenever you feel your mind being clouded by irrational thoughts. You’ll be amazed at how much control you build into your life, the quality of the decisions you make and the relationships you have with others.

Me in a cozzie - Support me in my Craziness

Occasionally over the last two years I have shared with you my personal examples of overcoming The Almond Effect® in my quest to raise funds for cancer research as I learn to swim in the ocean and participate in ocean races.

If you’re interested and want to see how I’m going, please enjoy the short picture show http://www.anneriches.com.au/AnneCanSwim.html and if you feel inclined to support me, that would be so appreciated.

In any event, enjoy the 4 minute video! http://www.anneriches.com.au/AnneCanSwim.html

Happy Holidays

For those of you who celebrate Christmas – I hope you have a wonderful time with your family and friends or whoever you choose to spend this time with.

Even those of you who do not celebrate at this time, will inevitably get caught up in the season. So to all of you, warm wishes for a safe and happy holiday period.

And I wish you a fearless 2009 when you turn challenges into opportunities and potentially difficult times into the best outcome you could have dreamed for.
Take care

CLUES How much is your ego costing you?

Which is more important – your ego or your cash?

What level is your credit card or frequent flyer status? Bronze? Platinum? Does it matter? I never even stopped to think about this until recently.

Some good friends were teasing me because I have a high tier frequent flyer card but I couldn’t see the joke. It meant I had a reasonable place to wait for flights, that I might not be the first to get bumped off an oversold flight and that occasionally, the staff member at the aircraft door would call me by my name instead of simply being told to take the second aisle.

So I suggested to my friends that their banter was just “card envy” But it stopped me in my tracks and made me think when David said: “well my goal is to have bronze”.

Bronze? His goal? He went on: “If I had bronze instead of platinum, it would mean that I wouldn’t be travelling as much and would be at home with my family more.”
What an insight. He’d certainly sorted out his priorities and made me think about mine.

Pre-approved – for more fees!

This issue of card status and its implications came up for me again when I got an unsolicited letter from the bank telling me I had been pre-approved for a platinum credit card.

Of course, in playing to our egos, what the banks don’t emphasise is that if we take up the higher level card it is accompanied by a higher credit limit, encouraging us to spend more. And if we don’t pay off our credit card accounts each month, the bank achieves its aim in sending out the pre-approval, i.e. to earn more interest.

So I got out all my credit cards and added up how much these cards were costing me in annual fees. The nasty thing about these fees is that unless you keep track of when they are due, the only time you are reminded of them is when they appear on your statement and that’s after they’ve been charged to your account.

Then there are the membership reward scheme fees on top.

So I started to do some analysis about what I really need my cards for. And then comparing that with the level of the card I had. I soon realised that I was paying for more expensive (higher level) cards when I didn’t need them.

What’s more, I didn’t need the extended credit limits and I would have to earn an enormous number of frequent flyer points to justify the difference between the costs of some of the cards. It would be cheaper to shop around for a discount fare!

Status and reward

So why was I hesitating in changing the cards? I began to think that my amygdala (and The Almond Effect - in this case an irrational fear of how it will look to others to have an ‘inferior’ card) was getting in the way of my downgrading from gold and platinum cards so I started to explore why.

It seems that reputation and standing (status) could be more important to our brain than cash. According to one of the authors describing an experiment in a study published in April this year in Neuron the part of the brain called: ‘the striatum became just as animated when players were given a shot at improving their social standing as it did when they won a buck...

And that wasn't the only indicator that they cared about how others perceived them... another brain region (the medial prefrontal cortex) involved in sizing up others went wild when players were shown photos of competitors who outperformed them.’

Hmmm. Maybe that’s the explanation for why, when I split the lunch bill with a friend the other day, and I put down a gold credit card and he put down platinum, I momentarily felt, well, of lower status!

And The Almond Effect® also is implicated. The researchers went on to note: ‘brain areas that process emotional pain (the amygdala and posterior cingulate) lit up when players failed to answer questions that inferior competitors had aced. The researchers speculated that this is because they were worried it would diminish their reputations as superior players.

The power of status in rational decision-making

Some of you will also remember the work of Robert Cialdini on Influence. Linking his work and the status theme, the way that status lights up parts of our brains reminds me of the mental heuristics (or shortcuts) that Cialdini talks about. In particular I’m thinking about his research on how we respond to social proof (“keeping up with the Joneses’) and to authority where Cialdini writes that people will tend to obey authority figures, even if they are asked to perform objectionable acts.

Authority and the perceived value of status seem closely connected to me. And this raises the whole question of how we make decisions and what we sub-consciously allow ourselves to be influenced by.

Managing your almonds (and your striatum!)

Coincidentally as I thought about these things, I was revisiting the writings of Viktor Frenkl. In particular the latter part of the following quote resonated with me:

"We who lived in concentration camps can remember the men who walked through the huts comforting others, giving away their last piece of bread. They may have been few in number, but they offer sufficient proof that everything can be taken from a man but one thing: the last of the human freedoms—to choose one's attitude in any given set of circumstances, to choose one's own way.

And this:

“Between stimulus and response, there is a space. In that space is our power to choose our response. In our response lies our growth and our freedom."

Gold, Platinum and the patience to do something about it

As I write this at my desk, I now have three credit cards sitting in front of me. These are the cards that I am going to cancel or downgrade because I simply don’t need them - even though I like their colour!

As we face the fallout of the global almond effect (that’s the way I described the global financial crisis in the last CLUES) maybe, as I have done, this is a good time to ask yourself what you really need and whether your ego is costing you? Is it worth it?

And of course, the issue of status and ego goes way beyond credit cards and into the world of work where the ‘status card’ gets dealt endlessly by bosses to employees and by others who like to play with power and politics. Maybe that should be the topic for another CLUES.

In the meantime, I’m struggling with other parts of my brain including the amygdala. The parts that deal with garnering the patience and tolerance I’m going to need when I speak with the banks about changing or cancelling my credit cards.

Maybe that’s the real challenge here, not the potentially high cost of status but the emotional cost that has to be endured when trying to do something about it!

CLUES A Global Almond Effect

CLUES Put your money under the bed

A few weeks ago I was in Brussels. Walking to a restaurant to have dinner about 7.30pm one evening, I noticed an unusually large number of people at a Dexia Bank cashpoint (ATM) queuing to withdraw money.

I remembered that it had been reported, earlier in the day, that Dexia was in trouble. It was a striking example that the global financial crisis had hit. I was instantly reminded of events I had read about where people had made a run on the banks to withdraw their funds to protect them but I never honestly though I would see that in October 2008 in the city of the European Union headquarters.


Panic spreads quickly

In a matter of months, or was it weeks, major economies of the world crashed. Banks collapsed, companies folded, stock markets took the concept of roller coasters to a new dimension, and people became scared – for their jobs, for their homes, for their lifestyle, for their futures.
Potential retirees have watched the value of their superannuation funds plummet and are now revisiting their retirement plans. Those who have retired are watching the value of their assets declining and wished they had more in cash.
Many businesses started to experience bad debts, decreased orders and supplies. Some are starting to contemplate closures and foreclosures.

A Global Almond Effect(R)

Never have so many banks got into so much trouble taking the rest of the world with them. Their excesses and recklessness have caused havoc.

Fear, uncertainty and anxiety are rampant. Humiliated CEOs and many senior executives have been and will be sacked as taxpayers have to bail out financial institutions, providing guarantees to save businesses and to stop people putting their money under their beds!

If we ever imagined a global example of The Almond Effect® – this is it. As the full extent of this crisis is revealed and when history reflects on it and its aftermath, we will see decisions and actions driven by recklessness, fear, anxiety and uncertainty.

Amygdalas – unable to perceive the difference between real and psychological threat – will cause, and have caused people to act rashly, unmediated by their pre-frontal cortexes; i.e. without thinking.

Stay in control

This is one of those times when we have to be really clear about what is going on in our own heads and stay in control. While Governments try to sort out this mess, the most important thing that we can do is remain calm.
Yes it will be tough. Our brains hate uncertainty. We pass most of our days, weeks and years in routine and predictability – responding to patterns that our brains have been laid down over time to enable us to get on with our lives without needing to continuously create new pathways.

Too much change – even welcome change – can place significant demands on our working memories resulting in tiredness, anxiety and an inability to think straight. Add the stress caused as the adrenaline flows when our amygdalas respond to the media bombardment of gloom and doom and heartbreak – no wonder there are reported increases in calls for help to corporate employee assistance programs.


Nothing to fear but fear itself

Roosevelt said: we have nothing to fear but fear itself. So put the STAR model into action immediately.

Stop. Try to notice when you are getting caught up and impacted by the headlines, the TV and radio reports and the worrying talk of others. When you catch yourself, take a deep breath and notice what is happening to you.

Think: how much of it is directly impacting on you. How much is your life going to change? The magnitude of this crisis is in the order of (though of course, different from) September 11 - and just like then, the world will change.
But at the time of 9/11 when lives were lost and the laws of 'war' were rewritten, people worried that it would be impossible for the world to ever be 'normal' again. Yet normalcy did return. Think about that. Take the time to consider and plan for the future to the extent that you need to make changes.

Act: Then act according to your plan and stay the course. Constantly monitor what is happening to you and to the people you care about.

Don’t get caught up in the emotional contagion of others. If you see friends, family and colleagues getting upset, explain to them what is happening in their brains and The Almond Effect® and share the STAR model.

Rewire: If you’ve been through other demanding events, review how you got through them and see what you can apply to this situation.


Cliché time: the sun will rise tomorrow and Australia will win the Rugby world Cup again one day

OK – I’m ever the optimist! But do keep things in perspective. It was only a few weeks ago that climate change was the most important item on the global agenda. I have a feeling it’s slipped!

Remember some of the other occasions in your lives when you thought it couldn’t get any tougher. You came through. We’ll all come through this one. Interestingly it might just be easier for those of us who have lived through these sorts of events before. It will be tougher for the younger people who have never experienced depressions, recessions and horrendous interest rates – their neurons will have to make some new pathways!

It’s not going to be easy as we see jobs slashed and home values fall. But, as longtime readers of CLUES, you have the skills to manage your emotional responses at this time. It won’t fix the situation but at least you’ll be making some calm, rational decisions about the way forward.

CLUES Great shark expectations

In this edition, I’m going to talk about how life’s little surprises can sometimes catch us out – and what to do about it! In particular I’m going to talk about the role of expectations at work.

CLUES What's the difference between my dad and going to work?

Do you fight fear with fear?

When a member of your team gives you a scare - how do you respond? If you let your amygdala do the talking - they may well do the walking!

CLUES Procrastination - do you? Or would you like to answer that later?

Do you procrastinate? Put off stuff you really want to do (or think you do) and then beat yourself up for not doing it?

In my most recent newsletter I've looked at this topic and talked about why we procrastinate and what to do about it. If you want to read more sign up for CLUES on the right or go to http://www.anneriches.com/

I've also asked my readers to share their examples and what they think are the reasons. I'll summarize them here soon. In the meantime - would love to hear your examples, don't put off sharing them!

CLUES Fears at Work

I recently conducted a survey asking what are your fears at work?

There were some interesting responses. For example:

Hi Anne...I work as a Contracts Manager [new role in the last 5 months]...my 'fear' is not knowing what to advise or worst still, giving the wrong advice, when a contractual issue arises...people [clients, managers & my staff] rely on me to be correct...this is sometimes difficult...my strategy at present is to research/consult/evaluate options & risk before advice...works at the moment, but sometimes demands exceed timelines with my strategy. What do you think?

Other 'fears' included:

• Discussing with people why they are accountable for their actions, and that it is not necessarily someone else's fault or problem.


• Performance appraisal interviews


• Providing different opinion to manager or colleagues and having to prove my point confidently.

Care to comment on or add to the list?

CLUES Up close and personal

They say you teach what you most need to learn - but did I need to be reminded so dramatically?

CLUES Talk to the boss!

Ever been apprehensive about talking to the CEO? You need to deal with it or it could become a career limiting move. Listen here for tips on talking with the boss.

CLUES The jealous amydgala

Sometimes jealousy can really cost us. In this edition of CLUES listen to an extract of 'Where Did That Come From?' If you want more go to www.AnneRiches.com/almond-effect.html

CLUES I don't intend to die

Sometimes you have to choose. Why are we so poor at succession planning? It's our amygdala again. Listen here for more.

CLUES Teenage brains - an emotional cauldron

Teenagers seem to be risk taking, fearless and reckless at times. It's not just their hormones - it's the way their brain is developing. Listen hear for more information.

CLUES My husband won't hold my hand!

Ever done irrational things based on old emotion memories? And are you risk averse or risk seeking? Listen here for some answers.

CLUES Look at me when I'm talking to you

Have you ever found yourself saying: Look at me when I'm talking to you! Well you might get a better answer if they don't. Listen here if you want to know why.

CLUES The Croc Hunter and the racing car driver

Last week Australia lost two icons - two fearless men. Listen here for more about their fear, or lack of it, and the worrying impact of anticipation

CLUES Fast but maybe furious!

Do you make 'snap judgments'? Of course you do and that's important in life threatening situations - but is it OK at work? and can you do anything about it? Listen and find out.

CLUES The High Cost of Gutlessness

Lack of courage may be costing your organisation money, people and customers. listen and find out why and what to do about it.

I burst into tears - was there a better way to handle it? (Cirstie)

Cirstie wrote:
All the girls in our office decided to go out for a girls lunch. We asked our boss (male) would that be ok and he said yes but he didn't look happy. However upon our return he was agitated and called me into the office (being the supervisor) and blasted me about all and sundry. He was so angry he was shaking and really the things he was saying were just ridiculous. There are 6 of us so we all went in different cars and he timed how long we took etc. I truly believe it was an almond reaction to not being invited to lunch. Anyhow I burst into tears because he was being so unreasonable. Did I therefore have an almond reaction to his aggressiveness and is there a better way I could have handled it?

Here's my reply:
Phew!! From what you say, it was a classic Almond Effect ® on his part! I wonder what that was about? What was he anxious about? Was there work to be done that he was frustrated might not get done and he had a lot riding on it? Was he fearful about being left out, talked about? Has he got a problem with a group of women having fun because of some past experience? I can’t possibly know without talking to him and I guess you can’t know unless you asked him. But certainly from what you have told me, your diagnosis was right.

As for your reaction, probably also right but don’t beat yourself up! Without you wanting it to do this when surprises like that happen, your amygdala interprets the event as a threat to job security, good relations with your boss, i.e. life as you know and want it – and then we react in ways that surprise us (the logical us) and afterwards we regret what we did!! Just learn from it and ask yourself what you could do differently if it ever happened again.

Without wishing to sound commercial, that why I wrote the E-book Where Did That Come From? – it gives a lot of examples of what other people have done and do in similar situations, starting with the ability to recognise what is happening to you and learning to distract your amygdala so your top brain has time to click in and get you back in control.

Hope that helps – whatever you do, don’t let it get to you. If you need to clear the air with him, think clearly how you’re going to do it, even write out a script and practice it with a person who loves you and wants to help, then go to it. Doing this pre-warns your amygdala that the situation is going to arise and hopefully allows you to stay more in control.

Otherwise let it go and try very hard not to store that memory. Whatever you do, don’t stop going out to those kinds of lunch – if you did that it would just reinforce your ‘fear’ of his reaction, and similar situations would cause you anxiety – whoever your boss might be.

Hope that helps. Taking it as you described, it’s a classic situation of poor self-control and self-awareness from a boss.

Cirstie's reply:
He is very insecure, young (only just 30 - most of us are in our 40's and beyond) and I think he does worry that he is being left out. Will have to try and include him a bit more but still ensure we have our girls days. I really don't think it had anything to do with work load although he may have been a little insecure about being asked something he didn't know how to answer while we were out.