Anything worth having comes with a “what if”

You may know already, but I'm really big on mindset. Last year was probably the biggest year of mindset growth for me, and I noticed just how much your mindset and your business go hand in hand. It's really funny because when I first started out in business, all I was looking for was tips on how to actually market my business, how to build a team, the practical stuff, without realizing that the more important stuff is actually what's going on between your ears. That has the biggest impact on anything you do in your business.

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Overcome the fear of “what if” to create something worthwhile

Today, I'm chatting a little bit about the what-ifs. I know that one of the scariest things about creating and launching digital products is that fear.

What if nobody buys? What if it's a waste of time and money? What if I'm a failure? What if people judge me? All of the different what-ifs that start spinning through our heads and drive us into these little spirals of anxiety and worry and overwhelm and ultimately things like procrastination and other behaviours that don't really serve us in our business. For most people, the fear of the what-ifs is ultimately what's going to ever keep them from launching anything. And here's the thing. Anything worth having in life comes with a what-if. When you fall in love with someone, there's the “what if they break my heart?” When you start a business, there's the “what if it fails?” When you quit your job to go all-in on your business, there's the “what if I run out of money?” Any of those things, there's always going to be a risk involved.

 

Experiencing failures and becoming better for it

I've been there, done that. And you know what? I've not only survived the failures, but a lot of my what-ifs did also come true. Right? And I survived them, and I'm grateful that they happened. Every single business failure and I've had five or six of them if we really go back eight years, every heartbreak, every time I've run out of money, all of those things have played a really big part in my journey to where I am today. I'm sure for most of you, if you think back to the person you were in love with when you were 18 or 19, for the majority of you, you're probably not still with that person, And you're probably like, “Thank goodness I'm not because it would have led me down a completely different pathway.” It's exactly the same with failures in your business.

 

What are the costs if you always avoid risk?

Yes, you can keep avoiding the risks. You can live your life avoiding these what-ifs, but at what cost? What potential future are you missing out on? What potential business are you missing out on by avoiding these what-ifs? And if you keep focusing on the what-ifs, are you inadvertently manifesting them? I think about it like skiing. I'm a really keen snow skier. It's been a little while since I've been skiing because of COVID. There's not a whole lot of snow where I live in Brisbane, and there's nowhere I can really go to ski, given that it's summertime here at the moment. But it's like skiing. Right? If you look at the trees, you will hit the trees. The key is to look where you want to go, not where you don't want to go. If you look at the trees, you are going to end up with one ski on either side of a tree, and that hurts. Been there, done that. It was a bad time. Try to avoid that.

So, by focusing on what could go wrong, you are potentially inadvertently bringing it to life because you're acting out of this place of fear. You're not necessarily taking action from a place that feels aligned. And it sounds really woo woo, but you do inadvertently manifest your fears by worrying about them. I hope this has been a valuable little pep talk for you. I know it can be a bit of a mindset shift, and it takes a bit of work to start catching yourself out when you start what-iffing yourself. But just remember, anything worth having is going to come with that what if, and it's up to you to decide whether the possible future that's on the other side is worth the risk.

90% of the time, I'm going to say, “Heck yes, it is.”

 

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