Holding Yourself Back?!

I want to share with you, a recent tale from my own experience. It's really a little about how not going for what you really want, can in reality actually be a means of holding yourself back from making progress in life and business more swiftly.  At times we may wonder why we're not making the progress we feel we should be, but it could all be down to our own decision making.

If you’re like me, you may be blessed with having lots of good ideas and creativity.  Most of the time I am able to move forward and just do things the way I want to, but occasionally, I’ll come up with an idea that can cause me to stop in my tracks. Mainly because it’s different and unusual. And I occasional wonder how it might be perceived by others or to be more precise, how I might be perceived by other people.

By the way, that’s never a good thought to have and I’m learning that whenever that thought appears, the best thing to do is to kick it to the curb and just move on with your idea.

Anyway, back to my example. I've had an idea for an event for a few years now and I've put off running the event because it just seemed so way out and not directly connected to business achievement at all.  The aim of the event was around less tangible and more emotional things.  However, this idea would just not go away.

Numerous times throughout each year I would have this thought, but it was strongest at the start of the year.  Every year I would tell my husband about it and I would still not pluck up the courage to just go for it.

Finally during the later quarter of last year I decided that it was time for me to just do it.  So I shared my decision with my husband and before I could change my mind, I set up a Facebook event and invited as many of my friends and business contacts that I thought appropriate.

Then to keep myself moving forward I focused on writing a list of all the tasks that needed to be completed in order to ensure that I achieved the outcome I wanted.  What I forgot to mention was that creating the Facebook event forced me to actually set a date.  Sharing that date with so many people made it far more difficult to chicken out of it.

I decided that the date should coincide with my birthday which is in the first month of the year.  So that gave me an even more positive focus for the event.  And my finally action was to verbally invite people to the event and to talk about it.  There were parts of the event that I wanted to be a surprise, so I did not share everything, but I got the excitement and the momentum going with everyone, including myself.

So having put as many support mechanisms in place to encourage me to go through with it, the time came.  All the emails, telephone calls, venue arrangements and everything else completed the date was here.

I will not bore you with details of the event, but I was amazed as to how well it went.  The response from everyone who attended was brilliant and as a result I’m planning a similar event for later in the year.

And my concerns about people not getting it could not have been more wrong.  Everyone got it and went away completed inspired and looking forward to the next event.  We have sponsors for the next event and a couple of other opportunities that have come out of this, which I’ll share more about in the coming months. I must admit, I’m sitting here wondering why I did not do it sooner.

My point in sharing this, is really that we should not allow our own negative thinking to hold us back from progressing the ideas we are gifted with.  To second guess one-self is actually to take the easy option and to withhold from ourselves and others the wonderful opportunities new ideas would bring.

Yes, in most cases one should assess the suitability, identify the risks and consider the necessary expenditure, but if the idea still continues to push up from within you, then maybe one should try to find a way to make it happen and just go for it.

I’m not saying that my idea will be one of those that changes the world forever, but you never know, it could be.  Most of the things we take for granted to day like the internet, flying in an aeroplane or helicopter, driving a car or a myriad of other amazing things we have in our day to day lives now, all started with someone having an idea, which was way ahead of its time and which they could not let go of.  An idea that most other people thought was crazy.  But these amazing inventions would never have happen, had someone not taken the chance and pushed forward, ignoring what other people thought.

Just because we've not seen something like it before does not mean it cannot happen.  And in the reverse, but because someone else is doing it or has done it before, does not mean it should not be tried again, and tried by you.

Could it be that we’re given that idea because we’re the only one with what it takes to progress it? And to share this gift with those around us, to deliver that inspiration, that something new. I've learnt not to let myself and my own fears keep me back.

Is there something you've had on your mind that you've been thinking about doing, but you've talked yourself out of doing it?

Just go for it!  Give it a try!  It may well be the very thing you've been waiting for.  It may even be the making of you.

Sandra Pollock

Director, Open Mind Coaching UK

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