Are you standing on the edge of the pool?
I had a lovely conversation last week with a client who decided to join The Money Club. It was clear that something was holding her back from not giving 110% in her business. It was as if she wasn’t really trying. It soon became apparent to me that her biggest fear was not being good enough.
She asked, “Monica, what if they find out that I can’t do this? What if I’m not prepared? If I just hold back a little bit, I’ll always know that it was because of me that I didn’t really succeed, not because I failed.”
Is this going on for you? If you just hold back a little bit, just prepare less, practice less, study less, plan less – that you’ll be able to have a real reason for not hitting your goals.
You won’t have to risk putting yourself on the line completely. You won’t get rejected. You can hide.
I get it. We’ve all been there.
What’s interesting about this scenario is that you are just prolonging your own pain.
It’s sort of like standing at the edge of a swimming pool before you learned how to swim. You were afraid. In fact, you might have been terrified. You didn’t know how to swim. You didn’t know the strokes. You could drown. You might not be able to breathe.
The longer that you stood on the side of the pool, the more awful scenes you made up in your head about what could happen.
You could stand on the side of that pool for hours, just making up scenes in your head. We’ve all seen children do this. They go to the side of the pool – ready to jump in. Then they second guess, go sit with their moms, ponder, reflect, then go back.
By the end of the day – these are the kids that are exhausted, grumpy, and complaining. The ones in the pool are laughing, worn out and excited to go back for more.
This is what happens when you stand on the sidelines in your business. Your fears get worse. The stories about what could happen get worse. Before you know it, you are full on exhausted before you ever really got started.
I’ve talked to entrepreneurs who have been in this state for years.
Just in case you don’t recognize it – here’s what the state of standing by the side of the pool looks like:
-You’ve decided not to ask for help, because if you did then you would have to commit, and then possibly fail. This is too big of a risk.
– You’ve invested in your business before – and it didn’t work out. The assistant flaked. You didn’t participate in the coaching program. Now you’ve decided that you just don’t trust yourself. You’d rather not take that risk again.
-You’re not out there getting clients because if you did, they might find out that you aren’t worth your value.
Here’s the truth.
Everyone fails. Yes, everyone. I could spend a whole weekend telling you about all the times things didn’t go well for me. And I wouldn’t change them for the world – all those experiences led to the success that I am having right now .
Know that there is no such thing as failure. It is all an experiment. Just think, you’re about to create your own version of the light bulb.
We’ve all invested in things for our business that we didn’t use. If I added it all up, it would come close to more than $100,000 that I have spent on programs that I didn’t use, didn’t come at the right time, or that just weren’t the best fit. And if I had stopped investing, I wouldn’t be crossing seven figures this year.
Forgive yourself for your investments. Lose the stories that you are telling yourself about who you are because of these investments.
Chances are there are parts of your business that won’t work, even if you had all the perfect tools. But the parts that don’t work out are the ones that are the most important for you to learn from.
You will learn infinitely more from “mess-ups” then if everything were to go well.
Clients are your best teachers. They will show you everything. Yes I mean everything. They will tell you what they want to learn. They will tell you what you need to do better. They will help shape you to become the best version of yourself.
Yes, you’ll have some difficult situations. Yes, you will absolutely disappoint a client and need to work through that situation. And in the process you’ll become a master at what you do. In fact that is how mastery is born.
You can’t live up to your value until you have a client.
So if you are reading this article and still standing at the side of the pool. Jump in! The water is fine.
You’ll soon be one of those excited and happy kids that just wants to dive back in for more. And the more you dive in – the better you’ll become.
Can’t wait to see you in the water.
