What if it doesn’t work?

As we head into the last month of 2012, you might be spending some time reviewing your year; your highs and your lows. Did you have more highs than lows or vice versa? If you experienced more lows than highs, you might even be thinking “What if it doesn’t work? Should I pack it in now?”

These are perfectly valid questions and I don’t think there’s anybody out there who hasn’t thought this at some stage or another…whether it’s every day or just the odd time but we all feel it.

When I work with clients, I find this crops up a lot. Recently, I asked a client about what would happen if her latest strategy didn’t work. She went very quiet and said “it might be a sign to pack it in?” What was interesting was that rather than seeing the strategy as faulty, she saw herself as the ‘weak link’. When this comes up with clients and when I probe deeper, it becomes obvious our inner ‘Gremlin Gauntlets’ are working overtime – these gremlins are brilliant at undermining us and questioning our self confidence, our worth and our ability.

If you’ve ever felt like this, take heart – you are not alone. And it’s not insurmountable either! The truth is, intuitively, you know you’re good enough, you know you will do whatever it takes to make your business work and you know it will be a success. And if it isn’t? Then well done to you because you tried.

“Don’t be afraid to fail. Don’t waste energy trying to cover up failure. Learn from your failures and go on to the next challenge. It’s ok to fail. If you’re not failing, you’re not growing”

H. Stanley Judge

Your inner gremlins are here to stay but rather than look at it as negative, perhaps flip your perspective and use them as a catalyst rather than a “STOP” sign. What if instead of trying to halt your success they are actually there to help you be better? What if you saw them as your inner ‘devil’s advocate’? What if they are there to help you consider all angles rather than just be a blind supporter who agrees with everything you say?

Wouldn’t that change the way you look at them?