Welcome to “The Looking Glass”, a weekly newsletter journey of personal growth into mindset, meaning and mastery in work.
#36 – 30 Dec 2022
Hello friend,
Thanks again for being here!
Here’s an insight, a question, and a quote I reflected on over the last week.
💡 Face up to what is calling you
You know you have something special to give.
You think the world doubts you.
But you’re the one who is doubting you.
You are scared as this might not work.
The world doesn’t yet know of the potential trapped inside of you.
You can feel it, though.
The longing for creative work aches in your body.
You can see it like a distant star burning in the night sky.
Time to start showing it to the world.
Start small.
You will surprise yourself.
People will take notice.
And before too long, you will be on your way…
❔ Not caring about what others think
I was tired of pretending that I was someone else just to get along with people, just for the sake of having friendships.
Kurt Cobain
Do you get hung up caring about what others think of you?
Maybe you have to pretend to be someone else.
You feel misaligned.
It’s taking an emotional toll and wearing you down.
You can feel the quality of your work drop as you ‘play it safe’.
Maybe it stops you from writing the post, following up with the networking opportunity, making the speech, or putting your name in the leadership ring.
You get all excited about the possibility which could come of those things.
But then that fear stops you in your tracks.
What will they think of me?
I can’t be doing this.
It will seem out of character.
I am not good enough.
And so we neglect our creative abilities.
Then our light doesn’t shine so brightly.
Because it has been dampened down from all the times, we shied away from our creative calling.
Two options
If you feel this overwhelming pressure to fly below the radar, then you need to consider two options:
- Test if this limiting belief is true. Maybe you ship the work, follow up with the lead, make the speech, or take the leadership role, and that negative consequence you expected to happen doesn’t happen. People may actually surprise you with positive support. Most people want the best for us.
- Reconsider your associations. If you really are being torn down by your inner circle, then it might be time to reconsider the members of that inner circle. Who we surround ourselves with has a dramatic impact on our potential success. And what are they there for if people aren’t supporting you and raising you up to climb mountains?
Jim Rohn said, “we are the average of the five people we spend the most time with”. So it’s important to recognise we become our associations. The battle of life is hard enough without having to worry about what people think.
Am I surrounded by people who want the best for me and positively support my new direction?
Let go of what others think.
💬 A quote to ponder
– On no longer feeling half-alive
You absolutely have the capacity to lift your work to the level of artistry and have an impact for the betterment of humanity.
And yet we resign our lives to apathy because of this faulty perception of who we truly are and what we can really accomplish, staying violently stuck in half-alive lives.
And here’s the really big idea: as we betray our true power, a part of us starts to die.
Robin Sharma
📣 What happened this week
Taking a break
This week I am taking a well-earned and much-needed holiday with my family.
One of the problems with starting as a one-person business is that you work almost non-stop during waking hours.
What’s that, you say?
More work?
Didn’t you start this solopreneur thing for more freedom over your time?
More flexibility and no boss to answer to, but then you decide just to work all the time?
Is it “work”?
It doesn’t feel like work when you align your passions, strengths and values with your work. So you are quite happy to keep on working. Even when it is really hard, as the sense that you are building something is tremendously meaningful.
But the idea here is that you put in the extra time at the start to get things off the ground.
Then you implement systems or outsource tasks to reclaim that precious time.
It’s super hard starting a new business.
Especially solo, as if you don’t do things, they don’t get done.
There is this constant pressure. It’s like a permanent low-level anxiety in the back of your mind to be effective with your time.
But the potential trap is staying stuck in the busy period forever.
This sucks for someone like me who has a track record of being notoriously bad with ‘productivity’.
But I am finding out that my prior lack of productivity was more due to a career misalignment than being defective. It’s hard to get motivated for work we don’t enjoy, and productive output decreases.
Maybe you will find this new energy too.
Before you go too far
There is the looming cloud of potential burnout hanging over you.
You don’t want to end up there.
So it’s important to look after ourselves.
That’s where the holiday comes in.
I hope you are also enjoying some time out over the festive season.
Make sure you genuinely switch off and have some fun.
You’ll come back feeling energised and new.
💭
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Cheers!
