Over the past few months, I’ve had the recurring opportunity to remind myself that I’m professionally relevant. When you are running a business of one, there isn’t a team to back you up or a peer to encourage you to keep going. The amount of certainty is minimal, making the pressure to solidify engagements high and constant. As a solopreneur, rejection is sometimes a daily occurrence, and often a weekly one, which can be demoralizing and demotivating. It can be hard to celebrate the wins and appreciate the good things when we become uber-focused on the numerous tough and challenging experiences. The truth is that there likely will be more “no’s” than “yes’s”, creating a narrow sliver of light and hope to focus on.
Any client I work with is facing some level of uncertainty and I support them to navigate and build skills to adapt, be resilient, and find a path forward. Uncertainty is also something that I am navigating every single day. I worry that I’m not relevant, not smart enough, not good enough, not ‘fill in the blank’ enough. These worries can swallow me whole unless I step in, flip the script, and say to myself, “STOP! How is this thinking helping me productively move forward?” Usually, the response is that it isn’t helping, which begs the question, “What would be productive?”
From there, I write down the facts of the scenario as I separate them from the stories I’ve conjured up in my head. Often, the truth is that I will never know all the facts, so I must focus on what I do know and leave the rest. As I step back and look at the known facts, I can more easily see and focus on what I can authentically do to leverage my strengths and support my goals. I do this by reminding myself of and capturing my innate qualities and strengths I can draw upon to take action. Then, I create a few clear small short-term actions and commit to them. As I start to take those actions, I stop stoking the negative self-talk fire and begin to clear the smoke taking small meaningful productive steps forward.
This work takes an immense amount of energy and focus. Sometimes the negative association with uncertainty can be so strong that I’m catching myself and working through flipping the script multiple times a day. I know that I need to acknowledge where I am and give myself grace as I navigate through these oceans of uncertainty. Know that you are not alone when facing uncertainty that challenges you to the core of your being. Try flipping the script to open up possibilities and hope and discovering your next best step. You’ve got this!
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