Greetings!
Happy New Year to you and welcome to my first guest blog of 2017 for the awesome people of Winbox!
May I wish you a prosperous year ahead and I hope you achieve everything that you put your mind to.
I also hope that you managed to survive the crazy Christmas and New Year period with your sanity in check – which is no mean feat!
At this time of year, we are all focussing on declaring our intentions for the year ahead and putting in plans to make it the best year yet in our personal and business lives.
But, how many of you think along the lines of ‘by December 2017 I will be THE best widget seller in the world!”?
(Obviously, replace ‘widget seller’ for your line of business or personal ambition – unless you sell widgets of course!)
BUT THEN…
Self-doubt creeps in…
“What if I can’t be the best widget seller…”
or
“I’m not good enough to be the best widget seller…”
or
“Who do I think I am to be so egotistic – I can never do that…”
OR…
‘Other people’ tell you…
“No way, you can’t do that – never…”
or
“You aren’t good/smart/clever/talented enough to achieve that…”
or
“That’s just stupid, just who do you think you are?”
Either way – whether it’s self talk or other people telling you – these statements will pull you in to ‘Imposter Syndrome’ – you know you are good enough, but the talk going on around you makes you feel like a fraud.
Bad times.
Now, there are two things going on here – let’s tackle them one at a time;
Self Talk
When I first started talking publicly, openly and honestly about my personal experiences and challenges of living with OCD & Anxiety – I had Imposter Syndrome big time.
Who was I – in my imperfect state – to talk openly about this, to try and help others through my experiences? Me - who still suffered from Anxiety!
This all changed when I countered my self talk with Positive Affirmations.
I told myself on a daily basis 10 positive things about me and that gave me the confidence to stand up and speak.
You do not have to be perfect to start – by starting you provide your own counsel and you WILL help other people who are on the same journey as you.
Other People
“What other people think of you, is none of your business!” – is one of my favourite quotes, ever! And so, so true.
We readily accept people’s statements and comments as true – then set out to work back on them. Why do we, as humans, accept it neutrally and examine people’s opinions before taking them on board? Madness.
Use other people’s negativity to drive you – set out to prove them wrong!
Be careful who you take advice from – and what information you absorb from them – usually, it’s the people closest to you who can do you the most harm. Often they have positive intent, they think they are doing it ‘for your own good’.
Do what you feel is right, learn from your mistakes and be confident – only then, will you never regret anything that you try – because you were truly accountable and courageous enough to be yourself.
Plus, I would rather get insight and advice from someone who is living it than someone who has just got their knowledge from books – be that on Anxiety, Business, Weight Loss – any life experience.
The best speakers and educators and the most positive and inspiration people that I know and learn from – are all speaking from experience and by sharing their challenges.
I’d love to hear how you get on – so please drop me a tweet @NickElston_ at any time - and share your successes and challenges with me.
‘Til next month, have an amazing January – make your voice heard in 2017!
Cheers
Nick
Marketing
self awareness
positivity
