Worrying works - and I have proof:
90% of the things you worry about never happens.
Clearly, it’s an effective preventative.
Except for this American woman I saw on TV:
She met his Canadian friend at the airport. As they were driving to the city, she told him not to worry about all the American stereotypes and that gun crime in her city is rare.
A few hours later, they witnessed a guy get shot in the street in broad daylight...
Now, he is too scared to leave the house.
I don’t know what happened after that, because I had to pause the episode and get back to work. (My lunch break is over.)
Anyway, that scene got me thinking about how debilitating worry is, especially for entrepreneurs.
My inner Spock will readily tell you that worry is an unproductive emotion. It certainly won’t help you live long or prosper.
But, as a human, I know that it is our natural tendency to worry about things we cannot control (e.g. tax rates, government policies and crime).
Instead, if you can train yourself to optimise what you can, you will leapfrog your competitors.
Here is a reframe you can use - think of it as mental judo:
“I’ve been focussing on X that I can’t control, and that’s only natural. But for the moment I’m going to put that aside and focus on something I can control.”
For example:
“I’ve been focussing on whether my blog will go viral (which I can’t control) - and that’s only natural. But for the moment, I’m going to put that aside and focus on something I can control:
Catching the traffic that does land on my site.
And I’m going to break it down into micro steps, so it doesn’t feel overwhelming:
1. I’ll fix my opt-in offer, so it can corral the right people into my email list and get them a quick win.
2. Then I’m going to focus on putting that opt-in offer in front of more people.
Here are three things I can do:
- I can run FB ads to my opt-in offer.
- I can reach out to other people who have my target audience via email and put this on their radar.
- I can post it in groups I’m part of.
I notice that I’m a bit worried about doing this because it feels sleazy. It’s irrational, but that’s where I am right now.
So here is something I can do to make promotion feel more authentic:
a) I’m going to find one person and get them results with my opt-in offer.
(This shouldn’t be a problem because I already fixed my opt-in offer to get them a quick win.)
b) I’ll do a case study on their results.
In it, I’ll show them how my technique or tool helped them, and then give them the opt-in as bonus they can download.
c) I’ll share a link to the case study article instead.
I’m passionate about helping these people. Now, I know that I’m offering something that ACTUALLY helps them.
So I have a moral obligation to spread the word and let them know that there is a solution to their problem.”
#mentaljudo
