I am both humbled and excited by the recent popularity of my posts on this blog. Now, I am feeling pressure to keep that momentum going and pump out stellar content, which has me dragging my feet on what I want to write about each week.
Ironically, this procrastination lead me to today’s post.
Do you ever find that you don’t follow your own advice? I do! For starters, I tell my clients to formulate an editorial calendar and write their blogs a day to a week (or more) in advance. Yet, I’m grasping for a topic the afternoon of launch. Ordinarily, I would get down on myself for not following the advice I tell others. But, not today. And, here’s why…
First, I spend too much time telling myself that I need to do better – to a point where it’s creating a lot of negative self-talk. The conversations I have with other business owners leads to me to believe that this is an unfortunate commonality. Who needs that? It only breeds more negativity and it’s certainly not a healthy way to function. So, I’m giving myself a pass for this reason, if for no other.
Second, I am not alone. Of course it’s easier to give advice than to follow it, especially those of us who consult for a living. That doesn’t make us hypocrites; it makes us human. The branding company that struggles with how to brand their own business. The coach that doesn’t have a business plan. The web developer with a mediocre website. It happens to the best of us. As long as we point our clients in the right direction, we need to cut ourselves some slack.
Finally, life is hard. It’s hard for business owners, employees, job seekers and retirees alike. I believe that we are all doing our best. Sometimes, our gift is what we tell others, even if we don’t follow that advice to the letter. If we can help other people make life less hard, I think we’re onto something! If you need some tips, check out my friend Dawn’s most recent post.
What if…
We stopped trying to compete with ourselves?
We acknowledged that there are others who can relate to our challenges?
We set a goal to try to make life a little better for everyone, including ourselves?
What do you think would change? I don’t know the answer, but I predict this could lead us to feel empowered. And, when we are empowered, I can say - for myself - great things happen. So, today, I am not going to get down on myself. In fact, I am going to get over myself!
[…] pressure on yourself if you want to succeed. This Strella Social Media Post by Rachel Strella discusses this concept further. And the BizSugar community also shares thoughts you might […]