Ever known you “should” be doing something specific and you go to google something only to fall into a glassy-eyed zombie state, scrolling through Facebook. Thirty minutes (or 2 hours) later you snap out of it and you FORCE. YOURSELF. TO WORK. But it sure doesn’t come easily.
I find myself in this spinning my wheels like this once in a while and when I do, I really have to stop and ask myself what’s going on, because there’s usually something more than just a burning desire to find out what my FB friend Tony had for his Keto lunch. (But Tony’s chicken salad did look delicious!)
This is procrastination at its worst, and for some, it’s the biggest reasons they can’t make progress in their business.
But procrastination is just a symptom of the root cause: FEAR. To find out more about how to defeat fear and procrastination in freelancing, you can read below or check out my Facebook Live video below.
3 Ways Fear Presents Itself
1. PERFECTIONISM
When we fall into the perfection trap, our insecurities can keep us from taking action. I’ve had this happen many times. I enjoy having things “just right” before moving forward, and I would get stuck trying to reach this unattainable goal of perfection. Now I strive for excellence. This grace allows me to forge ahead without the pressure to be perfect, and instead, just to do my best!
2. FEAR OF FAILURE
Over the years I’ve learned there are no “failures”, only learning opportunities. We don’t “win” or “lose”, we win or LEARN. Reframing the thought process before we start can get us excited to make progress in our business, because we know if we don’t achieve the desired outcome, there’s still the positive result of learning something.
3. FEAR OF SUCCESS
It sounds nuts, but you’ve seen it so many times. In his book, The Big Leap, Gay Hendricks talks about this phenomenon and points to celebrities that seemingly self-sabotage themselves with drug abuse or similar. Their limiting beliefs create an “upper limit” for themselves which they don’t feel worthy enough to overcome. Could this be you?
Defeat Fear and Procrastination
Now that you know where fear can originate from and how it can hold you back in your freelance business, it’s time to remember, your business is about more than just YOU. Shift your thinking to the people who need your help and expertise – right now! Perfect or not, there are people out there with problems YOU CAN SOLVE for them.
If you saw someone drop a bag of groceries and fall down on the sidewalk, you would (hopefully) run to their aid, help them pick up and rebag the groceries, right? The person you’re helping isn’t going to be judging how you put the groceries back in the bag, and you won’t be worried about it either – you know you’re helping and that is what counts!
In the freelance world, it’s the same way. You don’t have to do everything perfectly, or live up to an unobtainable standard of perfection. As my mentor Stu McLaren says, “You don’t have to get it right, you just have to get it going.”
If you’re ready to “get it going” as a freelancer but need a little assistance knowing where to start, visit my Facebook page www.facebook.com/matcasner, where I keep up to date information on my FREE freelance coffee chats, and weekly freelance trainings!