Your Head Is a Scary Place: Practical Strategies for Success in Spite of Yourself
We all want success and are willing to work hard for it. We even have moments of clarity and inspiration when we really believe it’s possible, and times when we have a taste of real success and want more. Then, in one way or another, the world slows us down and gets in our way. In reality it’s not ‘the world’ that keeps us from having/doing/being what we want; it’s usually something of our own doing.
This is precisely how my own life and career have gone. I have had crazy dreams and big plans I really believed were possible, only to have them dashed by unfortunate circumstances or, more often, by my own human frailty, But I also had wise guidance along the way to act in spite of (or because of) these head gremlins. By following that encouragement I have enjoyed big and small successes, each of which fueled the next attempt to overcome them. Over time I have noticed that those gremlins come in just a few different flavors, and each one is 100% defeatable.
With that realization, now I am the one encouraging you. I know you want to do/be/have more, I know life gets in the way, and I know that the hardest part of it all is when you get in your head. It is a scary place to be! I am here to give you a peek behind the curtains inside your brain so that you realize that it’s not that scary after all. It’s just work, and you’re not afraid of that!
One Rule:
For this to work for you, there’s just one pledge you have to take:
“I am nobody’s bitch; not even my own.”
In the world of success there is no room for victimhood. But because there are so many ways that things can go wrong, both externally and internally, and it’s so much work to overcome them, most people simply don’t. That’s why mediocrity is mainstream. Don’t be fooled; you are equipped to be more successful and happy than you can imagine. But to be more than mediocre you have to plan for discomfort, obstacles, and failure. You must see the challenges that come your way not as stinky piles of horse manure, but as rich compost which when turned into the soil will fuel bodacious growth you would have never had without that manure.
“Everybody has a story that would bring you to your knees” - Brene Brown.
I can give a long list of unfortunate events and circumstances that have kicked my ass, so much so that if you saw me huddled in a corner weeping, you would think, ‘Seems appropriate.’ And I know the same is true for you. (By the way, if right now you are actually weeping in a corner, that’s ok too. Corner weeping is quite common among successful people; they just don’t give those moments a lot of airtime. Carry on.)
The Gremlins:
There are a lot of scary things that happen in your head, but most of them fall into one of these categories:
Self Doubt
Perfectionism
Imposter Syndrome
Complacency
Apathy
Illness/Injury
Burnout
Overwhelm
Loneliness
Failure
The Strategies
Each one of the strategies deserves a blog of its own, but if I tried to do that here it would be a whole book. So, actually, in spite of the nightmare of rioting gremlins in my head, that is exactly what I am doing. I’m writing a book about how to do, be, and have everything you want, no matter what kind of madness is going on inside your head. What I hope is that it will give you the encouragement and guidance you need to overcome anything your brain throws at you. If you don’t want to wait for the book to come out, I am happy to share with you all the strategies in an easy cheat sheet you can pull up and reference any time your head starts to get the best of you.
Comment CHEATSHEET below for a quick and dirty reference that will get you out of your head and back on your path to success.