Beat the Beast…
of self doubt.
I have owned my own business, as a sole trader, for ten years. It has been one heck of a journey. I started out thinking I knew lots, then realised I didn’t. As part of that learning journey, I realised that the people that did know lots, thought I knew more because they didn’t believe the things they already knew. (There is a lesson there)
Thankfully, I have always been quick learner and have the ability to take on new information, assimilate it into something that makes complete sense to me and is usable and then be able to use that knowledge to help others go through the same or similar problems.
I actually love doing that, and doing what I do for small businesses for straightening their spaghetti*, typically, the business owner already has the knowledge and the skills to know what to do, they don’t have the understanding of how to make them work together.
Don’t you find it is easier to do ‘your thing’ for other people than yourself?
Give me half an hour with you, and you will go away knowing what is blocking you, what the first steps are and the potential of your business. It’s ‘my thing’ — I call it my super power — and others really appreciate it.
So what happens when I do it to myself? I stall, I question my abilities, I consider that I might not have the skills to do this. Most of all, I let the beast of self doubt come in through the door and ask the questions.
Which is why it is SO important that you keep learning. As I write this, I am bang smack in the middle of a thirty day training programme on using funnels as a sales and marketing vehicle.
The difference with this, the company is actually taking the time to educate me on all the aspects of the approach and marketing good practice BEFORE they teach me how to use the software! In doing so, it has highlighted a few holes in approach and my business and by doing that, the beast is at the door trying to shout at me again.
Beating the beast is actually easy but can feel hard. You beat the beast but continually learning about what you do. I mean continually.
Provided you are constantly learning and putting that new learning into some form of action, your self doubt will become self confidence.
- *Straight Spaghetti — a facilitated workshop that sorts the different strands; thoughts, goals, worries etc. and prioritises the important ones first. We say, clarity of though, focussed action.
