How to feel "good enough" so we can be better marketers and Photographers
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I often see posts saying that we are our own worst enemy and wondering how to conquer the feeling that we aren’t good enough. The imposter seems to follow us everywhere, lurking in the shadows and then coming to slay any good or positive thought we might have to keep us in the dark.
Let me ask — if there was someone doing the things you do to yourself but were a separate physical person — like an actual worst enemy, would you entertain their abuse? What about if they did it to your family? Use that analogy. Your worst enemy should never be you!
If someone were toxic to me and my advancement, I would probably block them and cut them from my life, or at least keep them at a distance. So we have to do the internal equivalent since we can’t separate ourselves from our own selves!
The impostor script
Your functioning brain operates based on stuff that goes into our heads from the world around us. We must train our mind to filter and discard just the way we might sort our mail. Junk mail? Into the bin. Good mail? Goes to be filed somewhere. If we can do it with our mail, we must do it with our thoughts too.
You are the only one inside your head so this is your job and it is a job. Most don't do much work here at all, and just let the impostor live in their heads rent free, whether it deserves to or not. We struggle against it, we grudgingly accept it and curse at it, we hope and pray it will go away one day. But hoping and praying isn’t a good strategy because it means you feel you have no real control. But here lies the answer, because you do have control. And you must take the wheel.
Fact versus truth versus opinion
Everything that you hold as an opinion now was formed from places that may not have been good for you (like negative people). But the good news is that opinions are not facts nor truths. You can change your opinion instantly. So if a thought forms in your head "I'm not good enough" then know that this isn't a truth. You can decide right there in that moment that you wish to believe the opposite "I am good enough" and nothing can really stop you. And if you then seek confirmation, as in just one thing that supports you're good enough (like someone complementing your work) then it proves that opinion is worth holding onto. Is there any kind of greater force in your life that tells you what opinions you must hold? Nope, it’s all up to you. And as Henry Ford famously said “'Whether you think you can, or you think you can't — you're right.” You can think whichever way you please and you absolutely can discard that your Grade 3 teacher said something negative that stuck with you all those years ago.
We have a daily barrage of thoughts, opinions, etc. You must mercilessly reject all that doesn't suit you and accept what boosts and advances you. It is a daily regimen and it requires discipline, the same way you would maintain a fitness routine or diet.
Mind Fitness Routine
For several months now I finally nailed down a solid morning routine. Part of that is 30 minutes to an hour of mindset training. I do visualization exercises or listen to guided meditation or affirmations. I offset whatever crap might be swirling in there by feeding myself a steady diet daily of all things success, abundance, wealth, creativity, personal development, positive self-thought, self esteem, confidence etc. It's like having a personal coach cheering you on every day. If you believe that you can form a habit on repeat, then this will work to replace negative thoughts with better thoughts. If you work out for 30 days straight, you will see results in your body. Know that you can do this with your mind too. The mind fitness routine.
Better for marketing and photography
What happens if you someone does something nice for you out of the blue, or compliments you on your hair or outfit? You get a boost of endorphins - our feel good hormones. And in that state, you feel like you can conquer the world and you may smile at everyone, have a spring in your step and have a really productive day!
And what happens when someone rains on your parade? Insta-slump. Boo.
How would you rather feel daily? How would you rather feel permanently? In which state would you feel more ready to tackle things, more accomplished? I’ll venture your answer is the former and not the latter. Don’t wait for others to boost you; boost yourself.
Practicing daily mind training - a steady diet of success and uplifting messages, along with a banishment of any toxic thought that doesn’t serve. It will start creating a positive snowball that will grow in your favour. With each day that you feel boosted, you will feel more empowered to help and serve clients, unleash creativity with your photography and start getting out there and discovered in your marketing. I cannot see ANY downside. And don’t tell me you don’t have time because you need to work. Mindset training is a critical pillar of work — your life’s work which wraps your photography business. The other work won’t get done effectively if your mind isn’t in good shape. It is a business activity.
I call mindset the great annihilator of our ability to do business, because it can so powerfully decimate our efforts. It's too important to leave to chance, or hopes and prayers. So now, I protect my mind fiercely from all that doesn't serve, and create and craft the thoughts that support where I wish to go. Everyone else with their own sucky opinions can go kick rocks.
P.S. Don’t foreget to grab your copy of the Little Luxuries Handbook today. Elevating your business can happen in an instant with these 10 powerful ways to differentiate and add a touch of luxe from your competitors. The handbook comes with a narrative for each of the ten scripts, and that narrative is like an endorphin boost - inspires you to be the business owner that you dream of being. Let it catapult you to new heights!
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