Fear is Inevitable. Get Used To It — Here's How the Army Helped Me Through Every Career Change

Parachuting onto the 50-yard statement is an different measurement to get astatine a shot game.

As a West Point elder connected the athletics parachute team, I joined respective classmates leaping from a chopper and landing wrong Michie Stadium pinch the crippled ball.

At the academy, I sewage hooked connected jumping retired of craft — Huey and Blackhawk helicopters, Twin Otters, Cessnas, moreover from the ramp of a elephantine Air Force C-5 carrier plane. I tallied much than 450 jumps complete 4 years. In hindsight, those experiences helped prepare maine for a career wherever I've many times parachuted into a caller role, large situation aliases unfamiliar environment.

After starring an Army platoon successful Afghanistan, I taught astatine the Naval Academy (deep down "enemy lines"), worked connected a statesmanlike run and served astatine the Pentagon. I shifted to the exertion manufacture successful my early 30s, first astatine a startup, past astatine Meta, past arsenic a firm advisor. I began my existent domiciled arsenic main of unit astatine tech pioneer Coherent (NYSE: COHR) this year.

These transitions mightiness look jarring. In fact, they're thing but. Throughout my career, I've intentionally sought opportunities to build divers skills, knowledge and relationships to hole myself for greater work and impact.

But this has required mastering the creation of parachuting — landing successful caller roles and unfamiliar territory. Here's really I've learned to make the astir of those shifts and what others tin return distant from the experience.

Related: What My Near-Death Experience Revealed About Resilience

Fear is inevitable. Get utilized to it

There's thing earthy astir hurling yourself retired the unfastened doorway of an craft and falling done free abstraction astatine 120 mph. In paratrooper training, moreover immoderate of the toughest guys froze retired of sheer terror… only to get a footwear successful the backmost from the instructor. My fearfulness of heights made parachuting an particularly improbable passion — but it squares pinch my position that the champion measurement to conquer a fear is to look it successful the face.

Changing roles, whether it's astatine the aforesaid institution aliases moving to an wholly caller industry, tin beryllium arsenic scary. Our careers are our lives, aft all. They're our financial mainstay. They're often intimately wrapped up pinch our consciousness of self. It tin beryllium terrifying to guidelines connected that ledge and leap into the abyss.

But facing that fearfulness — and getting comfortable pinch it — is worthy it. So, what are immoderate actual takeaways for leaders and entrepreneurs connected reckoning pinch fear?

• First, a displacement successful position is captious — from seeing alteration arsenic an aberration to a constant. As Elon Musk notes, "Some group don't for illustration change, but you request to clasp alteration if the replacement is disaster." Most group will now displacement roles more than a twelve times successful their lives, truthful each of america request to get comfortable plunging into thing new.
• Another cardinal measurement is reminding yourself of times that you've been intimidated and flooded challenges successful the past. This benignant of neural rewiring tin beryllium an effective antidote to fear.

You get a 15,000-foot view: Take advantage

• What will occurrence look like? Experts recommend "starting pinch your why" and creating an image of what you want to achieve.
• How tin I bring my existing experiences and skills to carnivore connected an unfamiliar situation?
• What do I dream to return distant from this adjacent challenge?

Related: What is Resilience and Why is it Vital to Your Success?

Preparation is indispensable

As little arsenic a jump whitethorn be, that infinitesimal aliases truthful successful the aerial requires aggravated prep. During basal parachute training, aka "Airborne School," astatine Fort Moore, Georgia, we had 2 weeks of crushed training for the week of 5 jumps that would make america paratroopers.

Sport parachuting takes that obsessiveness to different level. We spent respective months packing and unpacking parachutes, rehearsing information protocols and practicing landings from a level earlier the first tandem jump. A year's worthy of training successful my arena culminated successful 4 jumps and 40 seconds of recorded footage astatine the collegiate championship. By the clip I began an acrobatic sequence, I'd already visualized myself doing it hundreds of times, pinch AC/DC's "Thunderstruck" arsenic my soundtrack.

That aforesaid level of mentation tin thief arsenic you move into a caller domiciled astatine a company. In applicable terms, business leaders and entrepreneurs tin return the pursuing steps to hole earlier a transition:

• Explore opportunities for lateral activity successful your ain org. Experts at Google stress the powerfulness of soul activity to summation entree to caller managers, a caller web and caller ideas. This tin thief you trial the waters.
• Determine the gaps successful your accomplishment group and activity retired resources to upskill. As the adage goes, the champion clip to get fresh for a caller domiciled is while you already person one.
• When you settee connected a domiciled to pursue, get to cognize a workfellow successful a akin position, whether it's by chatting pinch them aliases shadowing them connected the job. From Richard Branson to Robert Herjavec, starring entrepreneurs attest to the powerfulness of mentorship to accelerate your master learning curve.

Stick the landing

Ironically, an Army paratrooper's main situation isn't jumping; it's landing. The standard-issue Army parachute is shaped to autumn consecutive down, minimizing the consequence of collisions but leaving small room for finesse. Landing connected your feet isn't possible, truthful you do a five-point landing fall, leaving you curled up for illustration a shrimp. This inelegant maneuver is wherever paratroopers often get hurt, pinch ankle injuries accounting for immoderate 60% of mishaps.

For anyone changing roles, the first days, weeks and months connected the occupation telephone for sticking the landing, too. This is wherever you'll make it aliases break it.

My advice: Have a boundless appetite for learning and cultivate a beginner's mind, which combines openness, curiosity and humility. Of course, your past acquisition is valuable, but it shouldn't unsighted you to caller ways of doing things. You should besides beryllium consenting to put successful other hours astatine the start, erstwhile it really counts. Be unfastened to caller responsibilities, nary matter really daunting they seem. And don't beryllium acrophobic to delve into a caller taxable area and each of its intricacies — arsenic I've been doing pinch materials science, datacom transceivers and lasers successful my first twelvemonth astatine Coherent.

The modulation won't ever beryllium smooth, truthful expect the inevitable awkwardness. As clumsy arsenic it mightiness look, that five-point landing will hopefully spot you through. Stand up and conscionable support marching.