I am right-handed. I have always worn my watch on my right wrist, face inward.
Yes. Right wrist. Face pointing at me.
Before you say anything, just know I've been playfully teased about this many times. But I always had my reasons. When I'm writing, my wrist is already in view. When I'm reaching for something, same thing. My watch is right there.
There was even a first date conversation in my twenties about pet peeves where the guy listed, among other things, "people who wear a watch with the face pointing inward." I let him finish. Then I held up my wrist.
We both laughed.
The relationship eventually fizzled out. My commitment to my watch placement did not.
For decades, wearing my watch this way made perfect sense to me.
Recently, though, I decided to change it.
As I (hopefully) gain a little wisdom with age, I thought maybe I should challenge myself. Get out of my comfort zone. Try something different. See what I've been missing.
I expected resistance.
I anticipated a genuine adjustment period. Muscle memory confusion. Constant frustration. Maybe even some profound life lesson that would unlock a breakthrough on a project I'd been working on.
The result?
Pretty much nothing.
Glancing left instead of right was not the character-building exercise I had prepared myself for.
The only real challenge was realizing that putting on bracelets with my non-dominant hand is surprisingly difficult.
That's it.
That's the whole story.
And yet, I think there's a leadership lesson hiding in this tiny experiment.
How often do we convince ourselves that a change will be difficult before we've even tried it?
We rehearse the discomfort. We imagine the obstacles. We wait until we feel ready.
Then we finally do the thing.
And often, we're fine.
My coaching clients regularly experience this too.
Clients tell me about the difficult conversation they finally had. The boundary they finally set. The request they were finally brave enough to make.
And so often, the outcome is remarkably uneventful.
No dramatic fallout.
No catastrophe.
No career-ending mistake.
No relationship-ending conflict.
The world keeps spinning.
We laugh about how much energy was spent preparing for a challenge that ultimately wasn't nearly as difficult as anticipated.
The lesson is simple: The resistance is often bigger than the transition.
The stories we tell ourselves about change can consume far more energy than the change itself.
The sooner we take the step, the sooner we discover what's actually waiting for us on the other side.
And more often than not, what's waiting isn't nearly as scary as we imagined.
So here's my question for you:
What transition are you circling right now?
What conversation, decision, or change have you convinced yourself is going to be a whole thing?
Maybe it's time to stop rehearsing and start moving.
You might discover it's easier than you think.
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