I want you to think back to something scary, intimidating, something you're signed up for and thought was a great idea in the moment, but that grew more and more unnerving as it grew closer. If you asked friends for advice as the big day crept even closer, they probably asked you the classic question, what's the worst that could happen, which generally isn't that helpful and only makes us think
about some really bad things that could actually happen. Michelle Poehler has a much better question for you to ask when something's scaring you, and I share it in this extract from my new book time Wise, which is available wherever you buy books. My name is doctor amanthe Imber. I'm an organizational psychologist and the founder of behavioral science consultancy Inventium, and this is how I work a show about how to help you do your best work. Think back to a time when you tried to do something
that scared you. Perhaps you have to give a high stakes presentation in front of a big group of people. Maybe you worked up the courage to ask your boss for a pay rise. Perhaps you jumped out of a plane, hopefully with a parachute, or maybe you were one of the participants in the spider experiment I described on page one hundred and sixty six. If you spoke to someone about how you were feeling in the lead up to the event, chances are a well meeting friend said to you,
what's the worst that could happen? Michelle Poehler has heard this advice hundreds of times. When she was doing her masters in branding back in twenty fifteen, she started a project to conquer one hundred fears in one hundred days. Her master's project turned into a global movement that impacted millions of people and received coverage on NBC's Today Show,
Fox News, CBS, and CNN, to name a few. When Pola was in the middle of her project conquering fears such as performing stand up comedy, cliff diving, and swimming with sharks, people often tried to help her by asking what's the worst that could happen? Well, Pola could concede that perhaps she wouldn't die, there were many other worst case scenarios this question would bring to mind. Maybe I won't die, but I will embarrass myself. I might fail, I might get rejected, I might hurt my ego and
my self esteem. There are many things that can go wrong whenever we take a risk. Paula describes the key problem with the what's the worst that could happen question is that it serves to bring out the worst case scenarios. So Paula realized that she needed to change the question. If we actually want to face a fear and do it with the best attitude, we have to ask ourselves what's the best that could happen instead of what's the worst.
When you think about the best that could happen, only the best case scenarios will come to your mind, and this reminds you of the real reason why you thought this was a good idea in the first place. If you're keen for more tips like this one, I think you will love my new book time Wise. You can get it from all the usual places where you buy books. How I Work is produced by Inventing with production support
from Dead Set Studios. And thank you to Martin Nimma, who does the audio mix for every episode and makes everything sound so much better than it would have otherwise. See you next time.