In today’s episode, I want to address three fears that dog new entrepreneurs like you and can block your forward progress.
Self-compassion has helped me overcome these fears through the preparation to show myself grace and kindness.
You’re not alone in feeling this kind of fear and it is possible to manage and overcome three major mindset blocks with self-compassion.
How To Overcome Entrepreneurial Fears With Self Compassion
You’re not alone in feeling this kind of fear and it is possible to manage and overcome three major mindset blocks with self-compassion.
Key Questions and Blocks Covered in the Episode:
- Am I Good Enough?
- The Comparison Trap
- The Fear of Failure
Building a business is not an overnight thing – it’s a long journey (much like building a self-compassion mindset) with lots of bumps and bruises, but it’s fulfilling and powerful and much easier to bear with self-compassion at the root of your entrepreneurial pursuits.
Links and Resources Mentioned in this Episode:
Take a deeper look at self-compassion through the Imperfectly Perfect Self-Compassion Challenge at https://www.inspiringselfcompassion.com/challenge
Next Week Sneak Peek
The Why of Self-Compassion
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How To Overcome Entrepreneurial Fears With Self Compassion
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How many times have you come to a lesson inside a business course that asks you to tell your friends and family about your business?
Does it fill you with fear?
Do you worry about not living up to famous entrepreneurs like Amy Porterfield or Rachel Rodgers?
Do you stress about failing?
And how does self-compassion help you overcome these fears as you build your business?
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This episode is sponsored by the Imperfectly Perfect 5 Day Self-Compassion Challenge, where you can discover self-compassion strategies that you can implement in less than 20 minutes a day. Find out more information at https://www.inspiringselfcompassion.com/challenge
Are you sick and tired of all the negative self-criticism that creeps into your brain at the worst possible time?
Stop me if you’ve ever said or thought this before . . . “I’m not good enough. I’m going to be a failure. This has to be perfect.”
All you really want is a proven way to quiet that tiny little voice so you can move forward in your business – easier said than done, right?
Research has shown that there is one particular mindset shift that overcomes perfectionism, fear, failure, an imposter syndrome while increasing personal motivation, positivity and overall growth.
I’m speaking of the unlimited power of self-compassion when it comes to your mindset and your self-confidence in your entrepreneurial path.
This is Inspiring Self-Compassion with Sarah McLain.
Let’s get into how self-compassion can change your life and your business.
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Hello, and welcome to this week’s episode of Inspiring Self-Compassion.
I’m Sarah McLain, and self-compassion is absolutely my jam.
I wanted to share this terrific 5-star review with you from s0ysauceh_ on iTunes: “Rarely do I get hooked to podcasts, but I love to hear inspirational things. Episode one was great, can’t wait to hear more Sarah!”
Thanks, s0ysauceh_. I love to share inspirational self-compassion content and I’m so happy that you’re enjoying this podcast.
Back to today’s inspirational content.
In today’s episode, I want to address three fears that dog new entrepreneurs like you and can block your forward progress.
You can find the show notes at inspiringselfcompassion.com/episode7
How many times have you come to a lesson inside a business course that asks you to tell your friends and family about your business?
Does it fill you with fear or self-doubt?
In Amy Porterfield’s Listbuilder’s Society, it’s in module 3 – the Circle of Friends outreach strategy which asks for friends to share your freebie.
In Marie Forleo’s B-School, it’s Module 1, Lesson 5 . . . asking 20 people what your superpower is.
In Elite Blog Academy, it’s Module 1, Lesson 3 . . . asking for feedback from friends and family on your website.
I’ve always been an introvert and this assignment has always filled me with terror. At this moment in time, I can say that I’ve completed 1 of the 3 assignments listed above.
There is no excuse, not really, not even that my friends are not terribly interested in self-compassion, or that I don’t really have 20 people that I could send an innocuous superpower survey to. It’s fear, plain and simple.
Will I ever get past this fear? I don’t know.
But self-compassion helped me manage the 1 assignment I did complete. Even as I wrote the website feedback email, I told myself over and over again that I would give myself grace if I received negative feedback.
And even though I was terrified, I hit send on the email. Surprise surprise, the feedback was overwhelmingly positive and constructive. It made it easier to continue to talk about my business to my friends and family in the intervening time.
But in the end, self-compassion helped me overcome that fear through the preparation to show myself grace and kindness.
You’re not alone in feeling this kind of fear and it is possible to manage and overcome three major mindset blocks with self-compassion.
The first one I want to address is this fear that you’re not good enough.
It’s not a surprising feeling as we’ve discussed in past episodes, but it also links you with other entrepreneurs through common humanity.
Every successful (and unsuccessful) entrepreneur has a little voice in the back of her head asking the question, “Am I good enough?”
Rather than trying to paper over it with fake confidence, it’s important to stop, process the pain and suffering of the question, and look at underlying causes and then respond to it as you would a friend.
What kind words would you say to someone you love if they said they weren’t good enough?
This is the language that needs to be prioritized in order to move past the question of whether you’re good enough.
Because, friend-to-friend, you are awesome and uniquely suited to succeed in your business with your amazing clients.
Second, there is the dreaded comparison trap that looms over any entrepreneurial venture.
Paired with the question of being good enough, the comparison trap has paralyzed many entrepreneurs like you and prevented them from moving forward.
How often do you find yourself glancing at a peer or a competitor and find yourself envying their progress or believing that you’ll never be as successful?
Psychologically, this is because we are taught from a young age that we should evaluate ourselves against other standards as a means of correction. It also imposes a distance between us and the people we’re comparing ourselves against.
Self-compassion, on the other hand, asks that we stop judging ourselves based on other people and instead recognize that we are all human.
Definitely easier said than done, but you can stop and remind yourself that you are an imperfectly perfect human as are the people you find yourself comparing yourself against. If you did some digging, you’d find that they have had obstacles along the way that they had to overcome … just as you do right now.
Give yourself some grace and think about how much further you are then you were six months ago.
Third, new entrepreneurs fear failure and it can be just as debilitating as the good enough question and the comparison trap.
So easy to get caught up in an endless cycle of “what will our friends/family/strangers on the street think if we don’t succeed?”
But failure is where a lot of success actually comes from because it’s a space to learn and grow and tweak what didn’t work. The mistakes you make as an entrepreneur will only help you further down the path as long as you don’t get stuck because you’re afraid of failing.
When you do fail, you have to be open to self-compassion for yourself, letting yourself process the failure, and then letting go of it and getting back up to tackle the next challenge.
Building a business is not an overnight thing – it’s a long journey (much like building a self-compassion mindset) with lots of bumps and bruises, but it’s fulfilling and powerful and much easier to bear with self-compassion at the root of your entrepreneurial pursuits.
Conclusion
In this episode, I showed how self-compassion can be used to overcome three paralyzing fears – the fear of not being good enough, the fear of not living up to another’s success, and the fear of failing.
The key to building an entrepreneurial self-compassion mindset starts from a recognition of the pain and suffering that underlines these fears . . . but ends with the realization that you’re not alone in this journey or in your imperfection as a human.
So the next time you find yourself with your finger hovering over the send button, remember that you can only succeed by moving forward with self-compassion.
Reminder, you can find the show notes and links to resources at https://inspiringselfcompassion.com/episode7.
If you want to get a deeper understanding of how to practice self-compassion, you can sign up for the Imperfectly Perfect 5 Day challenge at inspiringselfcompassion.com/challenge.
Next Tuesday, I’ll pop into your podcast player with the why of self-compassion.
This week, I’d love to invite you to leave a review on iTunes and to tag me on Instagram with what you’re loving about the podcast and what question you have that you’d like to see me answer in future podcasts.
That wraps it up for today’s self-compassion podcast. Thank you for listening, and I’d love for you to subscribe in your podcast player so you don’t miss any Tuesday self-compassion strategy tips.
Now that you’ve learned something new, it’s time to go out and practice self-compassion so that you can grow your business. Have a lovely week!
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