Latest / The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast / Episode 218. Overcoming Fear of Failure

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Episode 218. Overcoming Fear of Failure · The Refrigeration Mentor Podcast

• 0:00
  It's totally understandable to be afraid of taking on a new task, but you need to put that work and get in the mindset that I can learn this stuff, that I can overcome the fear of not knowing at this point, welcome to the refrigeration mentor podcast, this podcast is for busy refrigeration professionals who want to learn faster and achieve more.
• 0:01
  I'm your refrigeration coach, Trevor Matthews. Here, we cover everything from technical skills and industry trends to personal development. That is key to your success. And why do we talk about personal development? Because being a great refrigeration professional, isn't just about your technical skills.
• 0:02
  It's also about your emotional intelligence, your communication skills, your leadership skills, and lifelong learning each episode helps refrigeration professionals, enhance their skills, boost their resilience and achieve a better work life. Whether you're a seasoned pro or you're just starting out, this podcast is your guide to being the best version of yourself and unlock your full potential.
• 0:03
  Thanks for tuning in. Let's grow together. Let's learn together. Now, let's get a conversation going. What I want to get into today and start diving into, because I had a few people reach out to me and they would love to hear a little bit more of overcoming rejection, fear of failure. And this is something that everyone struggles with at some point in time, because Fear of failure, you know, can really stop you from progressing and stop you from trying more things.
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  This is something big that even affected me in my career and in my life, fearing that, Oh man, I'm not good enough. I'm not gonna, I can't figure this out. I make mistakes. Uh, the biggest thing is to really recognize why you feel that way. I've, I've sat with coaches and told them that I was, Worried about success, you know, why would I be worried about being successful and getting the things that I want in my life?
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  And he's like you're not the only one Trevor so many people come to me And they tell me that that is something that worries them becoming successful. They may change your life may change Well, you are gonna change the whole your whole life It's about change. As you grow up and you get older, you do not want to get stuck.
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  And this is where most people are in the world. Not only in refrigeration, in the world. They are, they are stuck. So it's the same day, in and out, fear of failure, fear of change, what, what may happen and then they're stuck. And you're, all of you are here. Because you want change. You want to grow. You want to get better.
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  And it's totally understandable to be afraid of things. Afraid of taking on a new task. I've never worked on this controller before. It's scary. But if you don't recognize it and then redefine the failure itself. Because if you sat back and thought about it, well why am I really worried about this? This new controller that's on this rack or on this system that you never used before and you got to fix the problem.
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  Well, if you can get into the mindset of, okay, okay. I have not seen this before. It is a bit scary, but you know what? I know I have the tools to overcome any issue there. So I've hear it all the time on, uh, on controllers. So, and some of you may or may not know the names of these controllers, but, oh, well, I I'm only used to E2 or an E3 controller.
• 0:09
  Uh, Microtherm's terrible, Danfoss is terrible, Novar, whoever, you can go down the whole list of them. And then I talk to someone who is just proficient in Danfoss, Uh, I don't like D2, or I don't like Corel, and then the, this goes on and on. I've, I've talked to thousands of technicians on it. It's what they're comfortable with, because that's the comfort zone.
• 0:10
  But if you can work proficiently on an E2, you can work proficiently on a microthermal, you can work proficiently on an RDM, you can work proficiently on Corel, but you need to put that work and get in the mindset that I can learn this stuff, that I can, that I'll overcome the fear of not knowing at this point.
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  And that's the big thing. Uh, you can do it, but if you keep thinking to yourself, I can't, well, you're not going to be able to, that's a good quote by Zig Ziglar. He says, if you think you can, or you think you can't, you're right. Cause if you keep telling yourself, you can't, you're going to stay in that mindset.
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  And you can't, you're right. But if you think you can, then you're right as well. And then you put the work in, really getting out of those negative thoughts is one of the things to overcome that fear of failure. Because maybe you're getting a new job, you want to change, you want to go to a new company and I've done this before I've did dozens of interviews before I got, I've worked at dozens of different jobs from landscape to painting to construction to refrigeration to H5 companies.
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  The office work, sales roles, and I've done tons. The biggest thing, even though I've done a tons going into that next interview, there was still butterflies in my stomach. Uh, even though I was confident a lot of times in, in getting that role, or I was worried about what I would say. The problem is when I had that fear and that worry, it's because I didn't practice anything.
• 0:14
  I was just there ready to go and jump in. But do you know what? When I thought about, okay. I got this interview coming up, and it's coming up in two weeks. What do I do? Start practicing. You know, in the mirror, what do I say? What should I say in this interview? Do I bring a full stack resume with all the credentials?
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  None of that stuff even matters. It's how confident are you in that interview? And I nailed the interview every time. I don't, you know, every, all the last jobs that I went to, I got the job. Even though I was worried about not getting the job, I was thinking in my head even thoughts that I shouldn't have been like, Oh, I didn't get the job even.
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  You got to think that I got this job. I'm going to nail it. You got to be confident in there. And they see that when you're going into an interview, but there's still that fear getting to that point. And the biggest thing is that you need to set goals for that. So the goals to that interview, I got two weeks.
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  I know this, this position. I haven't did this position before. Okay. So I'm going from HVAC into refrigeration. Well, what do I need to understand? Well, I need to understand the basics of refrigeration. I need to understand how to troubleshoot. I need to understand how to use controllers. Go do some research on those two over that two weeks before that interview.
• 0:18
  And then when you get into there, you're not going to be as fearful when you're having that conversations. You could at least say, okay, I know there's different types of controllers out there on racks. There is Danfoss, there's Corel, there's E2, there's MicroThermal, there's RDM, and the list goes on. So you do research, and then you ask them, which ones do you work on?
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  Which one does your organization work on? Which one should I start studying a lot more, so when I get in here, I can be confident when I go on call, or I can be confident to talk with the other technicians on it, and build yourself up. So, and then you'll start to see that, that fear of failure start to reduce because at least you know the term, then you feel a little bit more confident because you are putting yourself in a position of knowing.
• 0:20
  It is getting outside that comfort zone. And one of the things is setting realistic goals for that, because when you go into the interview, if you don't know how to work on any of those controls, you have to be honest with yourself and honest with the employer because we're in refrigeration, they know, they've done it, most of them that you're getting hired, most of them have worked in the field, service managers, owners, owners, In refrigeration, not all don't get me wrong, but a lot of them have.
• 0:21
  And so they, they totally understand, but what they're looking for is someone who wants to try, who wants to better himself, who wants to bring value to the organization. Uh, and I think a lot of it is. Us against us that I can't do this. I've never done it before. It's scary. And a hundred percent, it is plan, practice, prepare yourself.
• 0:22
  Most people do not prepare themselves. When I come up to a big meeting. Or a big event. I'm practicing. I know when something's coming up, I have to practice. I'll tell you a really big one was when I first started, uh, working for Copeland. One of the big things was the first thing. I didn't think I was going to get that job.
• 0:23
  Uh, it was a business development job. I, I didn't work in business. I was in the field all the time and I was, I was worried that I was not going to get the job. I wanted the job because Copeland wasn't the biggest manufacturer that I knew of compressors at the time. And I'm like, okay, what do I do? So I went in and I planned, I prepared, prepared.
• 0:24
  And then even after I went in, I didn't nail it. I wasn't sure if I got it, but I still got the job. But then I started to realize, okay. Well, what do I need to do to start to talk? One of my roles was going to be talking in front of contractors, be in front of contractors, show them solutions. I was worried about that stuff.
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  I've never went into a room and sat in front of a bunch of service managers and technicians to teach them on something that I really didn't know much about. If it was on the electronics at the time or new controllers or, or whatever, uh, whatever it was at the time. But what I did is start to develop that skill.
• 0:26
  So putting in the work, like, and learning from my mistakes. I remember standing up in a group of 50 people, a technician, and making huge amount of mistakes, saying the wrong things because I was, I was nervous about it. Worried about the things that I would say and that I wouldn't say it probably, but you know what I made a mistake then I realized then I seen myself make mistakes and say things in front of the group of technicians and say, sorry, that that is wrong.
• 0:27
  I don't think that is right. Let me I'm gonna have to look that stuff up. Let me do it at break. I'll look it up I don't think what I just said there was correct and just own it man. That's what you need to do Especially when you feel you know that there is some fear in what you're doing The biggest thing is getting outside that covers them because it's the fear of the unknown what's gonna happen But for sure every one of you on here if I told you to go set super heat On a walk in box.
• 0:28
  No problem. Cause you did it so many times, but that very first time, I bet you, there was some fear in there. What do I do? What is this component? What is a TXV? The more you do it. And if you learn from it, that's, that's the key. If you do make a mistake, if you do fail at something, you got to understand why.
• 0:29
  And this is where a lot of things that I've, I've been working on for years. It's like, if someone says no to me. I want to ask someone, why did you say no? Why didn't you want this training package? Because when someone says no in front of you, what's the reason? It may not even be the reason you think.
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  Cause we're thinking in our head, Oh, it's because of me. Maybe it was the clothes that I was wearing. So maybe the way I look, maybe the way I talk, whatever it is, and maybe it's something totally different, totally different, we could have nothing to do with you, maybe they weren't ready at that point, maybe they had something already in, in, in set and they can't change, but they wanted to see.
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  What you're offering is to maybe down the road work with you. These are so many things. And, and I, I've learned this over the years through mistakes that I've made to go back and ask the question, why didn't you want that? So when you do have a rejection or when you do fail at something, you want to learn from that because if you don't, you're just going to do the same thing.
• 0:32
  And then you're going to stop doing things. And always, if you do run into issues and you feel something and you get rejected, some seek support from someone, go talk to someone, ask them some questions, have that role playing conversation with someone, and maybe it's not in your group, maybe it's somebody that you just associate with, or you just talk with.
• 0:33
  Because there are some people that are out here just going to tell you everything you want to hear. So you need someone to give you that honest feedback so you can learn from it too, because if someone just keeps telling you what you want to hear, you're not going to grow from that. And it's hard sometimes someone gives you the feedback and you don't want to hear that feedback.
• 0:34
  And it sucks. I've got lots of it over the years, but you know what? When I come back to realize I'm like, that was such a good learning point. When you're talking to a customer and that the job goes wrong and everything Is it as an issue? Don't get on the defensive because maybe it was you. Maybe you got to look out at outside as has how someone else would see it.
• 0:35
  Not the way you see it. Okay. Cause maybe you did make the mistakes and that's okay. What did you learn from that one? Because you already had 10 jobs that were perfect. That you, you solve the customer problem. You did it in timely manner and efficient. And I asked him these questions. Did you do it on time?
• 0:36
  Yes. Did you fix it on time? Was the customer happy? Yes. Was it your employer or your service manager happy? Yes. Did you grow from that? Yes, but they're not thinking about that only thinking about the one that they made a mistake on. So that's so so important. It's celebrating those small ones. I went and I cleaned the drain out on this case and now that customer's case is up and running very quickly.
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  That's a small win. A lot of people have drains or refrigeration. I don't do that. That's somebody else's job. That's maintenance job. Think about that as a small win. You gotta start and build yourself up with the small wins to get to those big wins. Whatever that big win is, to me it doesn't even matter.
• 0:38
  A big win could be having a good conversation with your customer and helping them see the value and helping seeing them satisfied. But we don't think about that. We're just going through, doing the daily routine, we're just trying to knock off, knock off, serve a ticket, put out fires, because sometimes it just feels like it's a fire all the time.
• 0:39
  But think about, reflect, you're driving to another job. Stop listening to the music. Just shut it off and just think about how, what worked at that job. What didn't work in that job, and how could I make the next job better? If you start thinking about that more, you're gonna progress, you're gonna get better, 100 percent hands down.
• 0:40
  But if you don't start doing it and thinking in that, those terms, it's gonna be the same thing day in and day out. So when you do get rejected or when you do fail at something, it's just gonna keep, it's gonna feel like it's keep happening, but it's up to you to do something about it. So, the last couple of things on, you know, fear of failure, fear of rejection, you gotta keep a positive attitude.
• 0:41
  That's the biggest thing. Telling yourself that you can do it. Surround yourself with positive influences. That's huge. People will bring you down really quick. I seen this in companies before, and sometimes maybe it's your friends and family that are negative people start listening to what they say.
• 0:42
  Maybe don't comment. Just listen to what they say. But as you continue to meet more people that are positive in a mindset of growth, in a mindset of wanting to do better, bring value to more people, that's where change is going to happen for you. I want to thank you so much for hanging out with me and the Refrigeration Mentor Podcast.
• 0:43
  If you enjoyed this episode, please leave a comment. Let me know what were your key highlights. What you took away from myself or my guests, as well as if you have not subscribed yet, head over to Apple Podcasts or Spotify and subscribe. And if you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend. Let your friends know that there are people who care, who want to share the refrigeration information to help them get to the next level in their career.
• 0:44
  If you have not been to the Refrigeration Mentor website at refrigerationmentor. com, go check it out. There's a ton more guest podcasts I've been on as well as the event page. Check out the events page because there's a lot more free trainings as well as paid training to really help you grow your knowledge base.
• 0:45
  Super excited. Can't wait to see it. The next refrigeration mentor podcast. Let's get a conversation going.