We all have moments of self-doubt but when it turns into an excuse not to move forward, face fears, persist in the face of adversity we don’t honor ourselves or our talents.  I admit to uttering the phrase “I must not be good enough” a few times, mostly after seeing an Oprah episode of pre-pubescent kids that have international businesses or when I haven’t a clue on how to proceed.  It just seems like divine guidance is supposed to show up quickly and point the way and if it doesn’t that too must be a sign.

It just isn’t that easy and when we limit ourselves with ‘how things are supposed to be’ we cut off avenues of exploration and success.  The last time I checked the Harlem Globetrotters weren’t part of the NBA and yet they don’t seem to be complaining about not making it. Sometimes going down a path previously untrodden is more difficult but it’s also more exciting, because nobody can tell you what’s around the next bend.

For those of us with multiple interests, wanting and trying to wear several hats all at once, it’s worth remembering that it takes something like 10,000 hours to become proficient at something. The more things you add the more your available time is split.  That’s not a bad thing as they can often balance each other and cross-polinate with great rewards, it just takes more patience on your part. Seriously, if you find yourself wanting to stop because you aren’t there yet, add up how many hours you’ve really spent trying to grasp it.  No stopping if it’s less than 10,000.

Next week: ‘I don’t know what to do’

Technorati Tags: common excuses, learning new things, self-doubt

As excuses go, this one is pretty weak (no pun intended) and I think is most often said internally.  Externally, it’s just whining – like kids saying they just can’t get the hang of mowing the lawn.  But when we tell ourselves that we don’t have what it takes either in physical or mental fortitude, there’s a part of us that really means it and that doubt is crippling. While I have no scientific evidence to quote I think women fall victim to doubting their own strength far more than men – testosterone has been shown to be linked to confidence in risk taking.

When it comes to physical strength, we are not all created equal and most of us are not only not ready to tackle Everest but have no real desire to do so which means there’s little incentive to start training for it.  But what about some other goal? I’ve always thought it would be cool to hike the Olympic National Park from the North to West boundaries – a 3-5 day trip through the back country of interlocking deer trails.  There are a number of reasons why I haven’t made any progress towards this and one of them is I don’t think I could physically pull off walking that far with a full pack. But at the same time that’s not an impossible level of fitness, even for me:-) I’ve just let the excuse stop me before I even start solving the other problems like who else would be willing to go along.

Most of us can’t escape testing our mental strength at some point – accidents and disasters happen without warning and most of us discover that we had more in reserve than we ever thought possible.  And yet still, when it comes to something like risking your life savings to start a business, we balk.  Caution and a good business plan are certainly called for, but if what is stopping you is the thought that you aren’t strong enough to handle it, or deal with the potential failure, that’s a problem.  If you make a list of everything that you have been strong enough to handle, I’m guessing the excuse just won’t measure up.

Next week: ‘I’ll compromise because I’m not confident enough to fully commit’

Technorati Tags: common excuses, self-doubt, taking risks

No one is nagging me but me. However, I’m really good at it!  Enough that I’ve decided to dedicate next week to finishing repairing the porch (left over from last summer), getting the garden weeded and the backyard excavated and getting my dishwasher working again.  All of these things keep slipping down the list each week and I’m tired of feeling guilty every time I pass by. I’m hoping if I just focus on that for a solid week I’ll get them done and can get back to putting my attention to more creative things.

What I have gotten done, however is to get a first set of photography uploaded and available for sale on RedBubble.com:  http://julietchase.redbubble.com. That generates a whole new list of things to do around promotion and maintenance but this is a big first step.  When I see how many people are on there already with great work, I feel like I’m late to the party and start doubting myself. There’s not much to be gained from doing that so I’m constantly telling myself to stop and get on with it.  I can’t quite shake the feeling of waiting for something that’s about to happen.

Technorati Tags: getting things done, Health and Happiness, procrastination, self-doubt, solopreneur, the way to happiness

I suspect that the last day of March is going to turn out to be a pivotal one for me.  In trying to follow my own advice on problem solving, I was researching in the ‘people also bought this’ section of Amazon for potential expertise. I saved off a couple of interesting books, one of them being Barbara Sher’s Refuse to Choose, but I was a little too impatient to wait on shipping.  So while I was out running errands I stopped in at the local used bookstore just to check.  They had it in stock.  Another book practically leaped off the shelf at me, This Time I Dance!, by Tama Kieves, a recounting of how she stopped being a lawyer and started being a writer (and she’s upfront with the bumps in between.) Getting them home, I poured a glass of wine and read, and read, and read.

I found myself described in both books, pretty much on the first page. One described my personality and the other my journey.  Wednesday and Thursday, I finished my first go through and then re-read certain chapters of each all the while wandering around the house feeling like someone had pulled about the half the stuffing out of me.  I didn’t feel sick; just weak.  I’ve been introspective enough over the years to have spotted my pattern of indepth obsession with a topic or career only to find that I had absolutely no further interest in it about ten years later.  But I’d subconsciously classified it as a character flaw and a case of bad choices combined with poor analysis.  Seeing it all described in Refuse to Choose as normal, predictable, and something to be celebrated instead of fixed was a shock – so was letting go of that internalized profile. Seeing my very same dilemmas and self-doubts described in This Time I Dance! was comforting and encouraging, maybe I’m not doing it wrong after all… I’m very curious to see where that takes me next.

Technorati Tags: self-doubt, self-perception, synchronicity