Nobody's gonna buy my product. My mailing list is embarrassingly small. Sigh. I can’t afford to build my team. I don’t have time. I have kids so I can’t do that. Well if I had a spouse to support me, I could focus on my business. Who is gonna pay [insert scary price] for my services?! Getting to $100k/$500k/$1m is SOOOO HAAAAARD. My hair looks disgusting today.
Sound like one of the shitty stories you've been telling yourself lately?
Don’t feel bad. We’re all full of shitty stories. I bet if I asked, you could easily come up with a story about why your business is not as successful as you would like it to be. You could probably give me an elaborate explanation about why it’s so hard. You could tell me about the various things working against you to make it damn near impossible to achieve your goals. Hashtag: #thestruggleisreal
Well guess what? That story is lame as hell.
I don’t want to hear your lame story about why life is so hard and about your lack of success. Neither do your customers, business partners, potential investors, friends, family, children, anyone. No one wants to hear your shitty story.
Despite the fact that no one wants to hear it, you tell that story often. Like all the damn time. I bet you are reeeaaal comfortable telling that story.
You know why? Because failure is extraordinarily comfortable.
“Staying in your lane” is very comfortable. Failure is as familiar as your busted up pair of Uggs that you can’t bring yourself to toss because they are “so comfy” and great for “running to the store.” And they are. But no one will be stopping to stare at you in your sweats and “broken in” Uggs, will they? Which is the whole point, isn’t it?
We think we’re protecting ourselves by not believing in ourselves and by not expecting too much. We don’t want to be too successful. (“Too successful” is not even a thing, y’all.) We don’t want anyone to stop and stare. We want to set ourselves up for a comfortable amount of success which is often very little success, if any at all.
Well I have some good news for you: being a total and utter failure, having to close up shop because you ran out of money, launching your new product to crickets, failing to turn heads when you’re strutting down the street … all of that is going to royally suck whether we prepare ourselves for it or not. Truly.
We cannot protect ourselves from sadness and life’s disappointments.
Which means that we might as well tell ourselves a new story. Because we have absolutely nothing to lose.
So how about telling yourself:
At least 100 customers are going to buy my new product.
My mailing list has 600 people, that’s a lot of people interested in what I offer.
I will be ready to hire my first employee by the end of the year.
I have more than enough time to do the things that matter.
I have kids so I must do that.
I am focused on growing my business. Period.
Who wouldn’t want to pay [insert scary price] for the incredible value I provide?
Getting to $100k/$500k/$1m is totally doable. Let’s go!
My hair is awesome as f*ck.
Tell yourself a new story about how your business is poised for growth, about the value you provide and the lives you change. Tell a new story about how the market is ready for what you’re selling and how you are the right person to make this shift happen in your industry.
Remind yourself about the amazing things you have to offer to your customers, your family, that hot guy who lives down the hall and how your life is pretty fan-f*cking-tastic already. And even though your life is already awesome, you are ready for more. More joy, more impact and more success.
“Most of us are slaves of the stories we unconsciously tell ourselves about our lives. Freedom begins the moment we become conscious of the plot line we are living and, with this insight, recognize that we can step into another story altogether.” – Carol S. Pearson, The Hero Within
The stories we tell ourselves are true stories. They exist in real life and we always do our best to prove how true they are. So tell yourself a new story. One where you win and get everything you want. One with a “happily ever after” and then work to make THAT story come true.
I promise that you have absolutely nothing to lose.
What shitty story have you been telling yourself? How can you change the plot line to make it a new story? You know, the one where you win.
