You can do it, don't allow self doubt to stop you.

How Not to let  Negative Talk, Self Doubt and Procrastination, Stop You from Trying Something New

It’s Simple. Just do it! You can read a million books on procrastination and motivation but it won’t stick until you start creating and attempting to follow through on your goals. Self-doubt can stall the process so it’s important to recognize when it is happening. There are so many things I could have discussed for my first post but what better way to discuss motivation by me posting about my own self-doubt in launching this blog.

For the longest, I’ve always wanted to have my own business let alone have a website or a blog. Then one day I just said it’s been a lot of years Kay, what are you going to do? Continue to talk about this? Continue to give away good advice to others but not follow the same? Nope, I’m deciding that the middle of 2017 is the year that I fly, fall and fly again.

So, how do you do something new with your life? You have to first want to do something new or different. Then you have to figure out what that actually is. Perhaps you want to go back to school, take a new class, or meet new friends. Then you will need to start putting yourself in those situations that can assist you with your desire to try something new.

Don’t Allow Negative Self Talk and Self Doubt to Win

 

It’s easy to allow negative self-talk, self-doubt and procrastination to get in the way. If I haven’t learned anything over the years, I now understand the effects of negative thoughts. If you think you can’t do something you won’t. There were so many times I told myself that this wasn’t going to work.

I would tell myself that I have no experience in writing. I took a few classes in undergraduate school on storytelling (actually wrote a few short stories) and wrote poems when I was a teenager. Still, I told myself, I have no history of writing. I told myself people will not read it or be interested.

Truth is, many folks won’t read this post! It will take time to obtain more readers, that’s the truth.  I told myself folks will talk about what I’m sharing. The fact is some of the best bloggers out there are criticized daily. So, I kept finding different ways to stall this process. Then I just stopped talking to myself all together :).

Self-talk can halt your growth. I kept needing permission from others that it was okay. The crazy part was when I spoke to all of my supportive friends (there will be some people that will think you’re crazy) I  felt validated. It all made sense but because I allowed negative self-talk take over a week later, I was back to thinking this project wasn’t going to work.

Well, had I continued to feed my negative thoughts you would not be reading this right now. So, if you have an idea or want to try something new try not to let your fears get in the way of you sticking and following your goals. It will only come back to haunt you later on. Trust me, I do understand the idea of fear and allowing it to set in. So, if you’re struggling,  I am with you. You can read more about self-doubt here.

Do the Scariest Things First

So, you’re over that negative tone in your head but you’re still scared? That’s ok. I’m ok with being afraid to do something opposed to telling myself I can’t do something. Over the years, I had at least 10 strangers and friends, during a conversation, tell me that I should write, be a financial planner or have my own business. I simply allowed self-doubt to take over.

I always ignored those silly thoughts to infiltrate because I doubted myself for the longest. Trust me, I’ve always struggled being shy. I’m the person that will have a bunch of ideas and comments at meetings and keep it to myself. I’m also that person that can come off as quiet and reserved, which is true but can also be an open book and love to talk about things that I’m passionate about.

With every little mishap that occurred, I learned something new about myself and was ready to start a new venture. When I first started putting the blog together, there were a lot of hours spent creating this site. I had no background in coding and had no idea how things were going to look. When the time approached I doubted that I even had the energy or time to do this.

By taking this daring step and launching this blog, I knew that things were going to change. So, in order for me to launch this blog I had to throw everything I subscribed to out the window.  I wouldn’t be able to do this had I continued to tell myself that I couldn’t. That is how I got over self-doubt.

Procrastination

Let me be honest and say that I’m a procrastinator. I procrastinate on just about everything. Here’s an example, I get up every morning around 7:30 am. Of course, I have a routine in the morning but I’m at my computer around 8:30 am. I’ll procrastinate on my computer until 9:15am-9:20 am, knowing I need to shower and be to work by 10 am. So, no judgment here but I think you get the picture.

There were times that I sat at my computer all day because I was “working on my site” but actually doing nothing.  There were so many days that I would tell myself that after my candy crush lives ran out I would get back to writing. It never happened. I would run out of lives, then play another set of games on my phone. Needless to say, I got nothing done.

Sometimes procrastination comes in the form of research. It’s great to research. Researching can help you plan out your thoughts before starting a task.  However, don’t spend too much time over researching. Sometimes, researching can turn into procrastination. You’ll spend so much time reading over things no action takes place!

I told myself I needed a stand-up desk (because I have one at work) before I started writing.  The stand-up desk was a great idea and a necessity because I shouldn’t be sitting all day.  A friend’s husband made me a more cost effective wood one in April-It’s now July and I’m currently sitting!

So my point is that we often make stuff up to only prolong the process and it will work. You won’t get anything done. Friday will soon be Monday morning and next week will be 6 months from now. You’ll be wondering where did all time go.  Please don’t procrastinate especially with your goals and dreams because it’s something you have control over.

Try Something New

Launching this blog is more liberating than anything because it’s something  I always wanted to do.  Launching this site keeps me accountable.  I’ve been struggling with procrastinating on so many areas in my life. One minute I’m excited and dedicated to make some positive changes and try something new.  Then all goes well for a few weeks to a month and then the fire fizzles out like a dull match -so promising.

Not this time. Something was in me to start this website but I paused for a month or two looking for the perfect name when I had it for the last 10 years. So, launching this blog is my accountability log. It will hold me accountable because I not only want to make positive changes for myself but help others that are struggling in this area as well.

Besides me having to pay about $100 for my domain name and hosting, there were no additional up front costs. Some may say that’s a lot of money to spend but the money spent is dinner for two with drinks to me. Consider that we all have that one guilty pleasure.  Some will spend $100 on video games, partying for the weekend, shoes, or eating out. So, invest in yourself.

The Take-Away

Do your thing! Do something different-something you always wanted to do and take the jump. Please don’t think too much about it especially if it’s something you always wanted to do. When you overthink you give yourself the opportunity to back out; don’t listen to the negative self-talk.

Is there something you can do in the next week or two that you’ve been wanting to do? Comment below or email me and let me know what’s stopping you. Stay tuned for my next share. I’ll discuss the power of networking in my next post, what it has done for me and what I strongly believe it can do for you!