fear

I’m gonna give it to you straight … Those “what ifs” won’t save your business.
You’ve identified what’s not working and even how to fix it … but now one four-letter word is holding you back from taking action.

Fear.

Fear of criticism, failure, loss of reputation, reduced referrals, fear you’ll kill your business…

Whether it’s a fee increase, changing your employment model, or a targeted marketing campaign … these are big changes, and tend to trigger the “what ifs” big time.

It’s natural to have these fears. Of course it is. But it’s not WISE to let fear call the shots. In fact, FEAR DOES NOT GET A SAY! Because, let’s face it, allowing fear to stop you making essential changes in your business is bonkers.

You know your business better than anyone. You take on all the risk. YOU get to decide what changes need to be made.

I can’t promise everyone will embrace your changes with glee. Not everyone will. I’ve certainly faced pushback from staff, colleagues, and even friends when I’ve announced major business changes in the past.
We don’t love it when our ideas aren’t met with universal agreement and applause. But sometimes we have to do what is right, not what is popular. (Where have I heard that phrase before? *wink wink*)

Remember two simple facts:
1. Your business, your rules.
2. You get to change the rules as you see fit.

You know that things can’t stay the same or you’ll burn out, go broke, or simply stagnate. Without you taking action to make the changes you know you need to make, things are guaranteed to stay to same. When you allow fear to call the shots, when you give in to the “what ifs”, you are choosing to stay with what’s NOT working.

Or put more harshly … You are essentially saying you are prepared to fail rather than risk success.
Are you? Really? Of course not! That would be crazy, right?
Change is hard, but so essential for the longevity of your business.

Don’t let fear call the shots.

Much love,
Tess x

Shame doesn’t become you!

I can’t sleep, so rather than lie here and fret about tomorrow’s lockdown update, I am playing with the idea of shamelessness. As you do.

If shame is SUCH an awful feeling (which it is!), when did it become such a bad thing to be shameLESS?

I’m reminded of past experiences where others tried to shame me, tried to make me feel shameful. It worked for about five minutes, then I made a conscious, deliberate decision to be defiant in the face of shame.

This became a standard strategy and has helped me explore and grow. I called it defiance at the time, but it was really a constant striving for shamelessness.

We all have memories of past behaviour that we’re embarrassed by ... hello tequila, I’m looking at you ... or memories of harsh criticism from others that left us feeling small. The feelings are prickly, and sometimes we let them stick to us like buzzy burrs stick to our socks.

But we mustn’t let them.

Shame is wasted on you. Because you are not shameful. Your efforts are valiant. Even if they sometimes don’t work out the way you planned.

Don’t let shame grab your ankle when you’re trying something new. Don’t let it keep you small, hidden, afraid.

Shame is wasted on you.

Shame doesn’t become you.

Embrace shamelessness! Embrace your daring, your courage, your innovation.

You are brave.
You are bold.
You are shameless!

Much love,
Tess x

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Dr Tess Crawley

Tess is an Australian clinical and forensic psychologist with over 20 years' experience in such diverse areas as community mental health, the prison system, perinatal mental health, university lecturing, and private practice.

Tess has a PhD in clinical psychology, has published one business-related book and is in the midst of writing a second. She is also a former actor, which some say explains a lot! In fact, she met her husband of 30+ years while they were involved in a Melbourne stage production of Macbeth (also explains a lot!).

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As business owners we often expect ourselves to know everything at once. Worse, we fear that everyone else expects us to know everything too.

You know it’s unreasonable, but still you hold yourself to this unattainable standard.

How about this? What if, instead of expecting ourselves to be know-it-alls, we encouraged ourselves to be learn-it-alls?

And no I don’t mean know-it-alls-in-training.

Allow yourself to say “I don’t know”.

Give yourself permission to say “let me find out and get back to you”.
Invest in yourself and your business by getting some business coaching.

By openly being a constant learner (rather than trying to be the mythical all-knower), we model a growth mindset to our team members. And this helps them to acknowledge their own knowledge gaps and find ways to fill them.

So lighten up and give yourself room to grow. Adopting a learner stance is a big step towards building a healthy CEO mindset!

Much love,
Tess x

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tess-bw-1

Dr Tess Crawley

Tess is an Australian clinical and forensic psychologist with over 20 years' experience in such diverse areas as community mental health, the prison system, perinatal mental health, university lecturing, and private practice.

Tess has a PhD in clinical psychology, has published one business-related book and is in the midst of writing a second. She is also a former actor, which some say explains a lot! In fact, she met her husband of 30+ years while they were involved in a Melbourne stage production of Macbeth (also explains a lot!).

Flourish-5

You're avoiding putting yourself out there!

You and I both know that social media is the way forward for your business to get noticed, which in turn means business growth.

You and I also know that you're avoiding putting yourself out there on social media for all of the "reasons".

The truth is that it's fear that holds you back.

Fear of criticism, fear of making a fool of yourself, fear of stuffing up, fear of having nothing good to say.

You need to stop that crap.

Stop letting your self-esteem and self-criticism get in the way of strategic decisions.

Stop letting fear prevent you from growing both in business and as a business owner. Even as a human being.

Growth means change, change is scary and hard.

But you can do scary and hard things.

I know this cos you're a business owner. You're already doing scary and hard things.

Now get out there!

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tess-bw-1

Dr Tess Crawley

Tess is an Australian clinical and forensic psychologist with over 20 years' experience in such diverse areas as community mental health, the prison system, perinatal mental health, university lecturing, and private practice.

Tess has a PhD in clinical psychology, has published one business-related book and is in the midst of writing a second. She is also a former actor, which some say explains a lot! In fact, she met her husband of 30+ years while they were involved in a Melbourne stage production of Macbeth (also explains a lot!).

Flourish-5