How to not stop before you start!

 

When we have SO many mindset gremlins running wild and having a party in our heads, how do you make sure you don’t stop before you start?

 

Last week the tech gremlins were wreaking HAVOC with me, but it ended up being a really good thing because I got the opportunity to show lots of people that…tech happens! Things can and will go wrong, all the time in your business.  But the thing that stops people is the fear of it happening, without realising they’re the ones in control of how they react to it.

 

Because the ‘thing’ happening isn’t actually the scary part.

 

The scary part is what we unconsciously make that mean about us.

 

That’s the scary part of MOST things in business…and in life!

 

If this happens, then that happens.  How many times have you created a story around something like that?

 

When you don’t have awareness, you can’t challenge it.  So it stays.  As a fact.  Running the show!

 

So here’s a few things that happened to me last week.  I must add I’m a complete technophobe.  That’s not strictly fair, once I’ve learned I’m pretty good but the learning piece for me is excruciating and I stay consciously incompetent for far longer than I’d like.  But I’m aware of it.  So now I outsource pretty much all of my tech.  Which makes me very happy indeed!

 

So…first up, my email system went haywire and wouldn’t let me send my Wednesday email to my list.  Every week they get my nuggets of ‘wisdom’ into their inboxes and last week…computer literally said NO!

 

I was trying to create it and it was doing this weird thing where you couldn’t type into the body of the email. You also couldn’t type into the help chat box.  A nightmare for a technophobe!  

 

I just want you to take a second to think about how you’d feel and what you’d do in that moment.

 

We’re hammered with ‘consistency is key’ a lot in the online business world, and to an extent it’s true.  But if you miss an email, or you miss an episode, there won’t be a revolt!

 

People might wonder where it is, some people might not notice.  But it DOESN’T mean that everyone is going to unfollow you and you’ll be dead to them.

 

It doesn’t mean anything about you.

 

It doesn’t mean this is the end of your business.

 

It doesn’t really mean anything other than you didn’t get an email, or an episode, or an instagram post out.

 

I still don’t know if it will let me send an email this week…but really, what can I do?

 

I can let people know and bring them along the frustrating journey with me.

 

I can try to see the funny side and let them laugh with me at the ridiculousness of a technophobe not being able to do the most basic of things and send an email.

 

Sitting there wondering if I’d pressed a button on my laptop, or I’d locked something by accident.  

 

AND, guess what…by talking about it on my stories one of my lovely audience members messaged me and said ‘are you with X CRM software’, which I was, and she said ‘I’m in a group and lots of other people are talking about the same thing’!

 

Cue instant relief.  It wasn’t me.  It was a ‘bug in the system’ which happens!

 

I’ve now joined that helpful group so I can go there next time to see if it’s just me.

 

Don’t let something paralyse you, or allow you to make up a negative story in your head that just isn’t true.  If something happens, ask yourself, ‘what could I do right now that could help me figure this out?’

Tech is SUCH a biggie that holds people back…but if I can do it, you can do it I promise.  Don’t let it intimidate you.  There are courses, memberships, communities for all the softwares out there.  There are also usually amazing step by step, click along with me tutorials on youtube.  Just make sure you type in the year so you don’t get one that’s outdated.

 

PLUS…you can OUTSOURCE it YEAY!

 

There is a steep learning curve but you won’t stay there forever.

 

The other tech gremlin I had is one that would have sent the fear of god into many.

 

Facey B was playing silly beggars while I was live to 1200 people.

 

And I’m SO glad it happened.

 

Let me tell you why.

 

So, I’m the mindset mentor inside Lisa Johnson’s One To Many programme.  Every Thursday I put in a post to see what gremlins are bothering people and how I can help.  Then I’m supposed to go live and answer all the questions.

 

Sounds pretty simple.

 

It is when Facey B isn’t being glitchy.  So there I am mid flow, getting into my vibe and I see all these messages popping up saying the video keeps pausing…uh oh!

 

It’s doing it for some people but not all.

 

I look at my internet connection, full bars, all good.  So what the fudge is going on?

 

So I keep chatting, then people say it’s all good now, so I continue.  

 

It happens again! 

 

So now I’ve got two choices.  Totally abandon ship or improvise.

 

So I stopped the live and said hold fire.  I messaged Lisa and said are you ok if I post a zoom link, she said yes…so that’s what I did!

 

No glitches, no pauses, totally fine.  It’s up in the membership area for people to see.

 

No harm no foul.

 

It was GREAT that happened because there are SO many people in there who fear tech, who fear things going wrong so they had the opportunity to see exactly how I handled it and that it really wasn’t that bad.

 

That you can laugh about it with the audience together and it can actually create more relatability.

 

The tech isn’t going to be perfect.  Things are going to go wrong. One person said ‘I loved seeing how you handled that because I didn’t think ANY of the things I assumed my audience would if it happened to me.’ What a gift!

 

This is also why I encourage you to find safe spaces that you can practice.  And think about what you’d do if the tech doesn’t play ball in advance.

 

So, if you’re listening in and feeling like the tech, or things going wrong is holding you back.  Go a little deeper.

 

What are the assumptions you’re projecting onto your audience? 

 

If these glitches were to happen to you, what story are you telling yourself around it and what would happen?

 

What are you making that mean about your business, and about you?

 

Sometimes it can be really simple things that are holding us back that if we dig a little deeper we can work around quickly.  

 

Don’t keep them in your unconscious mind, get curious so you can challenge them!

 

I hope if you’ve been struggling with this at all that it inspires you to take a leap of faith and give it a go.

 

Fx

Fran Excell, Subconscious Success Mentor – Helping Business Owners Overcome Stress & Self Sabotage at www.franexcell.com

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