Fear Of Failure and Fear of Promoting YOUR Talent
When a person decides to do something big, like starting a business or entering a contest the rush and euphoria of the idea can be invigorating. Once the high wears away unfortunately people are sometimes left with doubts and fears. They might worry about what others will say and what happens if they fail and they’ve put themselves out there. They may feel that people will believe they are arrogant or shallow. They may even let those around them discourage them from pursuing their dreams.
I became inspired to write this post because I've seen so very many excellent blogs but I look at the stats and likes and can't help but want to tell the writer PROMOTE PROMOTE PROMOTE! From where I'm standing, the only barrier I can see between the persons excellent post and followers and likes is that no one knows it's there!!!
If you are reading this
because you can identify with those feelings I want to help you have a
different perspective not only on starting a business but your ABILITY
to do so if you put your mind to it. The goal is to keep the vigor and
build confidence through self-talk and daily reminders.
For me, it wasn’t an overnight thing. It’s something I struggled with alot in the beginning. It sort of trickled in slowly with one blog post here, one tweet there, and my confidence grew more and more. In the begiining when a person starts on any social media platform it feels as though you are talking to yourself for quite some time. Then a follower here, a retweeter there and the chain reaction was set forth. I began creating my own content, my own memes and tweeting my own thoughts. And guess what? People LIKED it, they listened and they wanted to know more.
FIrstly, I think it’s appropriate to distinguish between confidence and arrogance. There is absolutely no shame in having talents, abilities, skills, etc. And we shouldn’t be made to feel as though putting those talents on the frontline is somehow shameful. There is absolutely no shame in working it! I believe this is a symptom of a deep rooted belief system in society that tells us we shouldn't be proud and we shouldn't feel good about greeatness. Arrogance, on the other hand in my opinion is when a person is unable or unwilling to acknowledge that they or their service is incontestible. In other words, they are perfect and superior. I give you William Pollard,
“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.”
For myself and others, there is almost nothing more enticing as a buyer than seeing someone come ALIVE with their work and be PASSIONATE about what they’ve created. Even if I may not personally care for it as a buyer I am certainly more likely to hit the share button and share others’ work with the world. Because it is MAGICAL!!!! On the other hand, someone advertising their work as better than or cooler than anyone else’s compells me to unfollow. TBH. When I see someone excited about its individual qualities and what the piece means to them, in my opinion that is CONFIDENCE!
Pretend for a moment you are looking for someone who repairs cell phone screens. You announce to everyone nearby youve just broken your screen and now youve got to get it fixed. Joe, the cell phone repair man keeps quiet for fear of putting himself out there even though he could quickly, efficiently, and economically repair the screen. Would you fault him for speaking up and offering his services?
Secondly, I think one must look at the bigger picture. We live in an enormous, interconnected world today. Think of the population, all the INDIVIDUAL people with their own wants, needs and personalities. Now look into your own life. Are there people that love you? Support you? LIke you? My guess is a wholehearted YES! Therefore, It stands to reason that you are just EXACTLY the person with the skills and abilities someone else needs and wants. They just haven’t found you yet!
WIll everyone like you, your service, or what you have to say? Of course not, you may even find yourself encountering more people in the beggining that are not interested. I believe this is one of the key areas in which confidence is absolutely VITAL and the BACKBONE of your endeavors.. So many start a blog, enter contests, etc. and become scared when they have been doing it for a while and the activity and likes on your feed are slow at best. In my experiences listening to other bloggers this is largely the case. Often it is not until after you have made several posts for a spell that you start to see the results. It’s easy to want to quit. You shouldn’t!
Thirdly, I believe it’s absolutely necessary to take a look at the support system in your life. Starting a business, like many other huge additions or changes in a persons life can be scary and overwhelming. A good support system that will offer support and advice will empower a person to be the absolute best they can be. They’ll be there to tell you what you want to hear, what you don’t want to hear in a supportive manner and offer experiences of their own or knowledge they have to help you improve.
For those who unfortunately may not have a solid support system, there is a whole world of people just like you that do the things you do to network amongst. Networking is a healthy symptom of confidence. Its the abiltiy to tell yourself, “Yes I’m new to the game, but I am worthy of talking to and learning from others who can help me get to where I want to be.” There are plenty of people willing and able to give advice and in many cases flattered that you came to them for that advice.
The important thing to remember is that they were once “new to the game” as well. They may even have felt this same way. They may have told themselves it was fruitless to try because it’s too late in the game. Someones already doing it.. While that is a real thing that newbie bloggers these days face, you must look at the greater picture of things. One of the biggest reasons people use the internet is for INFORMATION. If you are creating good, quality content in whatever it is you are doing people will find it and they will love it! There are so many people with so many needs, wants and even learning styles. If you can use your skills and abilities to help others you can affect change in the world! Maybe someone is already following a similar blogger or personal mentor but they are lacking in key components of learning that are more effective for each person? And maybe you are that one person that can help make it click for someone. Or maybe your blog gets found by a newcomer who loves what you have to say? This, I believe becomes a persons signature. Anyone can teach some but no one can teach everyone.
Hopefully this helps! Thank you so much for reading!
For me, it wasn’t an overnight thing. It’s something I struggled with alot in the beginning. It sort of trickled in slowly with one blog post here, one tweet there, and my confidence grew more and more. In the begiining when a person starts on any social media platform it feels as though you are talking to yourself for quite some time. Then a follower here, a retweeter there and the chain reaction was set forth. I began creating my own content, my own memes and tweeting my own thoughts. And guess what? People LIKED it, they listened and they wanted to know more.
FIrstly, I think it’s appropriate to distinguish between confidence and arrogance. There is absolutely no shame in having talents, abilities, skills, etc. And we shouldn’t be made to feel as though putting those talents on the frontline is somehow shameful. There is absolutely no shame in working it! I believe this is a symptom of a deep rooted belief system in society that tells us we shouldn't be proud and we shouldn't feel good about greeatness. Arrogance, on the other hand in my opinion is when a person is unable or unwilling to acknowledge that they or their service is incontestible. In other words, they are perfect and superior. I give you William Pollard,
“Learning and innovation go hand in hand. The arrogance of success is to think that what you did yesterday will be sufficient for tomorrow.”
For myself and others, there is almost nothing more enticing as a buyer than seeing someone come ALIVE with their work and be PASSIONATE about what they’ve created. Even if I may not personally care for it as a buyer I am certainly more likely to hit the share button and share others’ work with the world. Because it is MAGICAL!!!! On the other hand, someone advertising their work as better than or cooler than anyone else’s compells me to unfollow. TBH. When I see someone excited about its individual qualities and what the piece means to them, in my opinion that is CONFIDENCE!
Pretend for a moment you are looking for someone who repairs cell phone screens. You announce to everyone nearby youve just broken your screen and now youve got to get it fixed. Joe, the cell phone repair man keeps quiet for fear of putting himself out there even though he could quickly, efficiently, and economically repair the screen. Would you fault him for speaking up and offering his services?
Secondly, I think one must look at the bigger picture. We live in an enormous, interconnected world today. Think of the population, all the INDIVIDUAL people with their own wants, needs and personalities. Now look into your own life. Are there people that love you? Support you? LIke you? My guess is a wholehearted YES! Therefore, It stands to reason that you are just EXACTLY the person with the skills and abilities someone else needs and wants. They just haven’t found you yet!
WIll everyone like you, your service, or what you have to say? Of course not, you may even find yourself encountering more people in the beggining that are not interested. I believe this is one of the key areas in which confidence is absolutely VITAL and the BACKBONE of your endeavors.. So many start a blog, enter contests, etc. and become scared when they have been doing it for a while and the activity and likes on your feed are slow at best. In my experiences listening to other bloggers this is largely the case. Often it is not until after you have made several posts for a spell that you start to see the results. It’s easy to want to quit. You shouldn’t!
Thirdly, I believe it’s absolutely necessary to take a look at the support system in your life. Starting a business, like many other huge additions or changes in a persons life can be scary and overwhelming. A good support system that will offer support and advice will empower a person to be the absolute best they can be. They’ll be there to tell you what you want to hear, what you don’t want to hear in a supportive manner and offer experiences of their own or knowledge they have to help you improve.
For those who unfortunately may not have a solid support system, there is a whole world of people just like you that do the things you do to network amongst. Networking is a healthy symptom of confidence. Its the abiltiy to tell yourself, “Yes I’m new to the game, but I am worthy of talking to and learning from others who can help me get to where I want to be.” There are plenty of people willing and able to give advice and in many cases flattered that you came to them for that advice.
The important thing to remember is that they were once “new to the game” as well. They may even have felt this same way. They may have told themselves it was fruitless to try because it’s too late in the game. Someones already doing it.. While that is a real thing that newbie bloggers these days face, you must look at the greater picture of things. One of the biggest reasons people use the internet is for INFORMATION. If you are creating good, quality content in whatever it is you are doing people will find it and they will love it! There are so many people with so many needs, wants and even learning styles. If you can use your skills and abilities to help others you can affect change in the world! Maybe someone is already following a similar blogger or personal mentor but they are lacking in key components of learning that are more effective for each person? And maybe you are that one person that can help make it click for someone. Or maybe your blog gets found by a newcomer who loves what you have to say? This, I believe becomes a persons signature. Anyone can teach some but no one can teach everyone.
Hopefully this helps! Thank you so much for reading!
Thanks for writing an inspiring blog post. I can identify with everything you say, regarding the fear of putting yourself out there and after reading your post, I'm going just through caution to the wind and just do it and not care what other people think.
ReplyDelete