Do you ever have so many good ideas, or a list of things you want to do that you know will help you reach your goals, but for some reason you can’t get yourself to do them? I’ve been feeling this quite often lately. I have a huge list of blog improvements, business ideas, marketing ideas, and yet it’s hard for me to knock a couple things off my to-do list.
Why is this? I feel like some of the best entrepreneurs pound out work like it’s nothing. But for newbies, I feel like the struggle is real. We put off work because of the fear of failure. This doesn’t mean that we don’t trust ourselves enough to figure out how to motivate ourselves. When we learn how to solve this problem, we can find the courage to work for ourselves. Here are some ideas on how we can let go of the fear of failure.
1. Show up for ourselves. If we need to write, just sit down in front of a blank screen and write. If you put off writing to get other things done, such as reading stuff online/cleaning/playing with your puppy then you’re never going to write. Dedicate specific time to sit, be alone, and write.
2. Think about who you’re helping. If you’re a blogger, your readers are benefiting from your recipes, your nutrition articles, your business tips, whatever you’re writing about. But in the end, you’re just helping yourself by building a new career or business. You are a person deserving of help.
3. Take the smallest step. The smallest possible. Instead of looking at your giant to-do list (right now mine contains 12 major blog/business related things), take tiny steps. Instead of saying to yourself, “Write weekly newsletter email”, it means, “Go to your computer and open up the webpage”. Or, “Get up off the couch.”. That’s a sucess. If you can take that tiny step, the next one will be a little easier. Think of the episode of Friends where Ross has to walk Chandler through his wedding day step by step. We’re all afraid. It’s perfectly fine to be afraid, so let yourself feel it. Be present with the feeling, and experience it. Where is it coming from? What scenarios are you playing in your head? Are they realistic?
We can do this. I believe in us!
Do you ever have these feelings? Let’s get through it together!
Hi! I’m Emily, Registered Dietitian Nutritionist and self-taught intuitive chef. I firmly believe that cooking is the simplest and most important step we can take to improve our minds and bodies and build healthier communities. Join me and let’s bring food back to the kitchen!
Good advice! I’ve been feeling like this a lot lately #burnout!
We just need to take it slow and one step at a time!
The fear of failing is such a human thing. We are ALL going through it at one time or another. I agree, we need to do the things we are afraid to do or that we are having trouble committing to. Scheduling time for things definitely does help!
The fear of failure is what prevents us from doing so many things. I know that I am scared to work on my project ideas because I’m scared of failing! But I just need to DO it!
The first paragraph really resounded to me. It’s been a repeating theme that I somehow keep doing but only notice when I reflect back on what happened the past few months. A part of me has to think it’s human nature but another part may be because we were taught in school not to make mistakes. I’m not sure though, just guessing.
That’s a good guess– we always have to do everything perfectly– no mistakes! I was definitely taught this in school.