Today I recorded audio for 3 vital inner game posts. Comments are closed, but I’d be happy as a baboon at a banana stand if you’d retweet or Like this article.
In 95% of cases, the only person stopping you from creating something amazing is you. While it would be convenient if we had some diabolical external enemy to fight, the battle is almost always internal.
We are our own worst enemy, but that’s a good thing. It means we care. If we didn’t care, it would just be a job. Our resistance is a sign that we’re doing something right, that we’re on the right track.
The key is pushing back against that resistance. The following three posts will give you some highly-effective tools for bashing three different manifestations of resistance: fear of failure, your inner critic, and stage fright (not just the kind of musicians).
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We frequently avoid exciting new challenges because we’re afraid of failure. We like the safe and easy path and tell ourselves that once we have more time/energy/money, we’ll go out and do that which needs to be done. The problem with this approach: you won’t have much (or any) success until you fail your ass off. Learn to manage your fear of failure.
We sabotage our own best efforts by letting our inner critic run amok. Unchecked, it will relentlessly undermine our confidence, leaving us shaking like a wilted leaf in a winter windstorm and blighted with malignant uncertainty. Fortunately, this inner critic can be managed and sometimes even co-opted. Learn to manage your inner critic.
We hide in the shadows, terrified that we or our work will be criticized, ridiculed, mocked, or (shudder) completely ignored. If we do get our stuff out there, we water it down to conform to some imaginary norm. The result: we produce either nothing, or something so watered-down and PG that it’s as inconsequential as an Icee in an avalanche. Learn how to manage stage fright.
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Have a great weekend. Go kick some ass.
-Seth
Photo credit: carolynwill