There are several different ways that fear can impact your business and sabotage it to the point that you may even have to close your doors. In this series, I hope to help you identify the different types of fears and actions based on a fear that may limit your ability to grow or have a successful business. A tangible thing to remember as we talk about these different ways that you are self-sabotaging your business through fear is that these are all common fears. These are all behaviors or actions that every business owner or individual takes that often lead to self-sabotaging.
The first fear-based behavior that I want to talk about is having negative or self-critical thoughts. It's easy to fall prey to our own self-criticizing thinking, which leads us to believe that we don't know enough, don't know what we should know, or are not good enough at what we do to be successful. We often run into coworkers or constituents in our field who have differing views, opinions, and thoughts on things that we believe to be true. They are often very critical of how we are handling or interpreting the same data they are. It's easy to take constructive criticism negatively, internalizing it as if you're not good enough or skilled enough to do the job you are doing. The fear that stems from these negative thoughts that you have now internalized prevents you from going after your dream client. As humans, we are our own worst enemies.
One technique we can use to help us process negative thoughts and critical thinking and lead us to positive outcomes is to rewrite the narrative of the issue that caused you to have self-doubt and fear in the first place before you even complete the idea. You can do this by becoming self-aware of what you're feeling and thinking at that moment and try to turn it more toward a solution and less of a problem.
When you deal with a client who has a complaint, an issue with how you perform or perform, you don't necessarily need to believe it is valid. Please do not spend your time trying to convert them. Pull back from the conversation. Retreat into silence and think more positive thoughts. Remain listening, but in a manner in which you are not internalizing the negative criticism, they are throwing at you.
In the end, when you're dealing with the fear brought about by self-doubt and self-criticism, one of the simplest things you can do is forgive yourself for the behavior or the action that may have caused the self-doubt and criticism. Maybe you procrastinated too long and didn't meet a deadline, or perhaps you rushed a project because you didn't give yourself enough time to complete the task. Maybe you failed to respond promptly to an email, which led to a client complaint. These are all things we do as a human. We all have lapses. Shake it off and give yourself a fresh start, learn from your mistakes, and move forward knowing that you are good enough to succeed.
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