We All Have “That Day”
I had one of those days yesterday where I just felt like I was done writing. I mean for good.
I was thinking:
- I know my writing isn’t that great
- I don’t express myself clearly enough through my writing
- Am I being heard?
- Am I making a difference anyway?
- Am I making any impact?
All of us have those days sometimes. Yesterday was my day. I felt like I needed to read Chicken Soup for the Bloggers Soul if it existed. Maybe it does but I’m a vegetarian anyway.
Needless to say I was ready to quit, cash in and walk away.
But then in succession the universe seemed to conspire against me. A huge squadron of entrepreneurs, without their knowledge, swooped in to my aid. So I decided to make space with what is and took heed to their messages.
I’ll share with you at the end how this relates to you and your efforts to make an impact in this world. What you do does matter to someone. In the mean time you’re also going to get some resources that seriously kick ass.
The Entrepreneurial Support Squadron
Support #1 – Chris Guillebeau is a world traveler and writer who just released the book, The Art Of Non-Conformity. (Not an affiliate link)
Everything Chris writes is insanely valuable. If you’re not into living life in a conventional manner, read it. Or if you are looking to begin writing, freelancing, blogging or anything creative then you seriously need to read it.
In it he states some of your most loyal readers do just that, they read. They don’t comment, they don’t reach out to you with emails, twitter retweets or even blog comments. They just consume your material and use it. “Imagine that,” I said to myself.
So it makes me wonder, how many people are getting not only insights but results from what I share here?
Chris also most recently released a free PDF download called – 279 Days To Overnight Success which embarrassingly I hadn’t read yet until yesterday. (Thank you Laura, you rock) You can pick it up at not cost and begin to learn more about approaching world domination through some of Chris’s successes and failures.
The truth is I know I could and can do a better job of delivering my work to you. I have 4 different reports and ebooks I’ve written sitting on my hard drive right now and won’t put them out to the world. Why? Because quite frankly they don’t tell the story and deliver the message I’d like in a congruent manner that I feel will be helpful to you. At least in my eyes that’s how I feel.
Maybe I’m afraid of criticism?
I watched Steven Pausch’s farewell speech this morning and he said something that gives me a whole new perspective on criticism:
“When you’re screwing up and no one says anything to you that means they have given up on you.”
The fact is we’re all a little freaked out when we first stand for something. Including me. That’s the painful truth.
Fortunately I have plenty of friends telling me when I screw up so my freaked outness isn’t required. 🙂
“To be honest, entrepreneurialism isn’t really a choice that most people would recommend for a lifetime career. It’s tough being an entrepreneur. You constantly live on the edge, pushing the envelope, fighting your fears, facing adversity and ignoring the naysayers, all to live your dreams.”-Peter Shallard – The Shrink For Entrepreneurs
Support #2 The quote is from Peter Shallard‘s ebook – Seek and Destroy –How to Identify Entrepreneurial Obstacles and Overcome Them. It’s a free PDF: scroll down on the right hand side of his blog and just click on the cover.
It’s a brilliant piece of work and delivers a tremendous amount of value with no price tag attached to receive it. However it’s powerful, very powerful.
“Entrepreneurs may just be the most valuable group of people on the planet.“
I would have to agree that no other group of people have made more of an impact on our society as a whole than entrepreneurs. Entrepreneurs have created more jobs, created more life changing ideas and contributed to our economy than all other groups combined. Look at our world today and ask, where would we be without entrepreneurs and their courage to take risks?
I’ve been giving some of my best ideas here at this site for nearly 2 years and I’m beginning to rethink my next steps as I take the above sentence and wrap it into my next work. What risks am I willing to take in doing my very best?
What impact can I make while doing what feels right?
Support #3 – Mars Dorian knows how to make life and work more exciting even when it scares the shit out of you to do so. I get what he meant because I know I feel I need to shake things here at the blog and in my life in general. It’s scary but you just have to do it anyway.
“You never fail in life, you always succeed in getting a result.”–Mars Dorian
Like Mars says in his post, it may not be the result you want, but you’re always smarter than before you started. I get it. We get results from not doing anything too, and those results always suck. At least we can get better when we make an sincere effort over and over. Refining as we go.
You don’t have to be a entrepreneur to make an impact on the world. It just means you just have to stand for something, whatever that something is, and put it out in the world. That’s just how I feel.
Today I feel my work has to be an expression of who I am rather than what I am. (What I am comes from divine spirit) This probably comes from being a musician all my life and allowing what I feel to come out of me through my music. But you know what, for some reason that’s all the more reason I freak out inside sometimes.
The best way to overcome it is:
“An exciting (business) life comes from throwing yourself into situations you have never been before. Saying “to hell with it” and then letting your brain find a way to make it work.”- Mars Dorian
Support #4 – James from Men With Pen‘s knows something about that. Transforming your life and a business is like ripping the band aid off. It’s only scary because you know it will hurt. However 9 time’s out of 10 we over exaggerate that hurt and it’s never as bad as we think. Instead we make the transition more painful and take longer than was probably necessary.
Shit. (Raising my hand)
I almost quit writing yesterday but deep down I know I don’t want to. I know I have more to contribute. I know you have a gift to give as well. Maybe it’s something you’re scared to share.
Maybe writing hasn’t been one of my strongest points of communication but I know I want to get better. With friends like Farnoosh Brock from Prolific Living who writes ridiculously beautiful content and catches my grammar boo boos to Laura Espinosa from Cottage Copy who tells me like it is, I can’t go wrong because they are there to tell me I can get it right.
What gifts and talents do you have that you can could give to the world?
You’d be amazed at the support that comes to when you find you need it the most.
One more quote from Peter’s ebook Seek and Destroy:
“When entrepreneurs overcome limiting beliefs, eliminate negative emotional conditioning or resolve internal conflict, they don’t just live happier lives or enjoy more profits. They don’t just turn in a better report at the end of the month or make an accountant grin. They leverage what they do. They innovate and develop. They build and teach. They create exponential impact. They generate wealth, growth and freedom, not just for themselves, not just personally or financially, but for all of society – and very often without even realizing it.”
Without even realizing it the few entrepreneurs I’ve mentioned here today have supported me in moving forward with my work, my expression and my mission. All of their messages were congruent with what I felt I needed. Maybe because I wanted them to be.
Regardless I am grateful for both their message and my ability to be open to them. For that I only wish to pay it forward by doing my work with excellence.
Don’t stop doing what you’re doing. You don’t know how far and wide your impact will be felt. That’s something you can believe in.
The world will conspire to do you good.