Nayla Bahri didn’t realize it then, but an image she heard back in a college literature class was to morph over the years into an incredibly effective metaphor for getting results for her clients at work.
She recalls, “A faculty member asked our class something along the lines of, ‘Who do you think this character is allowing to drive his decisions?’ I realized the professor didn’t mean actually driving in an actual car. For some reason, though, the image of that car stayed with me.”
Today, Nayla is a Leadership and Career Development Coach, Consultant and Professor who helps individuals and corporations break through the blocks that prevent personal and company-wide change.
“When I started advising, teaching and coaching, I found that the image of driving in a car was a very powerful tool to explore what drives our choices, decision and actions. That car metaphor enables people to visualize themselves, take stock, and generate options that helps them move their lives forward to where they really want to go.”
How It Works
(Try this for yourself as you read Nayla’s story.)
“In short, when someone wants something to change, I ask them to envision a car and to point it in the direction where they want to head. Before we drive though, I ask, who is in the driver’s seat? Who is making the choices that determine where you go and how fast?”
“What I have found is that more often than not, what’s blocking us from going in the direction of what we want is that
we’ve given Fear control over the driver’s seat. Fear is in the driver’s seat because we’re worried about failing, getting it wrong, being inadequate or under prepared, and so Fear gets to either idle the car, or send us in a direction that’s ultimately not satisfying or is away from what we want.”
Find Fear a Different Seat
“I don’t think we should spend a lot of time trying to annihilate or destroy fear (I find that distracting and exhausting). And, in many cases, fear is a good thing when it’s used as a tool for keeping us physically safe, like when you instinctively run from a big black snake that decides to drop in at your campsite.”
“I think though, that the car metaphor gives us a chance to relate to our mental and emotional fears differently. Rather than running over the Fear to eliminate it, I invite my clients and students (and myself) to make a different choice about where Fear gets to sit in their mental car…. In the passenger seat, in the back seat, in the way back seat?.”
Bottom-line
Sending Fear to the rear of the car and putting her clients in the driver’s seat lets them see the road ahead for themselves more clearly. With that clarity of vision and control of the wheel, they are then able to make the decisions they need to go wherever they choose.
Nayla’s fear/car metaphor has helped thousands of people see their way through to better working lives – and all from an experience she had many years ago, proving once again how endless the sources are for the metaphors you can use to sell, persuade, or explain anything to anyone.
What past experience(s) can be the source for your next metaphor win in business?
Anne Miller
Make What You Say Pay! – with Metaphors
P.S. Nayla says she continues to see the benefit of this metaphor in her own life and it seems to resonate with all kinds of people. For articles by Nayla and to learn more about her work, visit www.naylabahri.com
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