Dear Designers,
I had a little epiphany recently. I realized that I had a habit that was standing in my way of moving forward in my business for a prolonged amount of time.
My habit was that I was forgetting to do something very important.
When I did remember, I experienced a boost of progress and momentum in my business, which is great. But the second that I let myself slip into the habit of forgetting to do this thing, it all went down hill.
That thing that helped me boost momentum?
Letting go of the need to know everything about a situation before actually getting started.
So things would go like this…
I’m going along in business, then feel like I’m in a bit of a rut, then I realize that I’m holding myself back because of my need to know it all, so I push past that and see progress, and I continue moving forward, that is until over time I let myself get back into a rut. And then the process starts all over again.
Sound familiar?
It’s tough because it’s not always easy to see how we’re standing in our own way. We don’t always realize it. And so it’s hard to cut the habit. I mean, how do you stop doing something that you don’t even realize you’re doing?
And this need to have it all figured out before we’re willing to move forward is a pretty classic example of standing in one’s own way.
It’s the,
“But will it work?“s
“How will that scale?“s
“I don’t know…“s
They can be deadly to our business. Because we’re keeping ourselves from accomplishing something before we’ve even had a chance to try it.
And the fact is, we never really know anyway. There’s never a guarantee with the things we do as business owners. There is always opportunity for things to go in a direction we weren’t anticipating.
So then, why do we do this? Why do we hold ourselves back by refusing to move forward without a clear and definitive picture of what’s going to happen?
Fear.
Like so many other things in our businesses, we’re scared of making mistake. The wrong move, the wrong choice, the wrong idea.
That’s why I’m so grateful for this epiphany. I’m grateful that I realized how much I’m sabotaging myself and my business by constantly waiting until I “know it all” before trying something that has the potential to propel the business forward in leaps and bounds.
I challenge you to do the same. Pay attention the next time you’re feeling hesitant to make a move. Ask yourself if you’re sabotaging your own success by pretending to believe that you need to know it all before taking the first step.
If the answer is yes, then make the decision to do it anyway. See what happens.
Lots of love and encouragement,
