Feel the fear - and do it anyway
How do you handle the fear in your business?
You know, that feeling when a new enquiry comes up, and 50% of the time instead of feeling excited your first reaction is to wonder how you’re going to screw it up. That feeling when you look at that item that’s been on your to-do list for 6 weeks – every Monday morning you’ve told yourself “okay, I AM getting this done this week”, yet inevitably Sunday evening comes… and you haven’t done a thing about it. That phone call you need to make, that product you need to launch, that song you need to release…
Yes but… What if they say no?
What if it’s too soon and I’m not ready?
What if it’s not perfect?
Sounds familiar? I wish I could say “I’ve been there!” but the truth is… I AM there. More often than I’d like to admit. Call it procrastination, self sabotage, lack of organisation… It’s exhausting, and it gets you absolutely nowhere.
I’ve been reading Brianna Wiest’s recent book ‘The Mountain Is You’, in which she discusses self-sabotage and the reasons why we do it, so we can learn to identify those patterns and ignite change in our lives. It’s helped me become a lot more aware of all the small and not so small ways in which I let myself and my business down, and one thing I’ve come to realise is that more often than not, I procrastinate out of fear. From chatting with fellow creatives, I think this is something that a lot of us can relate to, so today I wanted to share something that I’ve been doing in recent months whenever I’ve caught myself avoiding a task. Something to help face the roadblocks and hopefully get past them.
Next time you’re sat at your desk, knowing what you should be doing but feeling like you’d rather be doing anything but that thing, grab a piece of paper and work through these questions:
What step are you afraid to take right now?
What is your fear telling you?
Why is this step important in relation to your goals and dreams?
What’s the worst that could happen if you took that step?
And what’s the best that could happen?
How can you break down this step into smaller tasks to make it feel less scary?⠀⠀⠀
This has helped me quite a lot recently – I hope it helps you too! ✨