A pattern I’ve been noticing is that some of my usually confident clients are reporting that their confidence is shaky these days.
It’s no wonder. The pandemic has been a long-haul (darn, I’m sick of saying that). And it isn’t over yet.
Business as usual has been anything but that. And, the energy of uncertainty and vulnerability is all around us.
How can you stand confidently when everything you thought you knew is, well, uncertain?
With one client recently, I asked her to tell me all the things she can identify that are rattling her confidence. She quickly gave me a list. Everything was related to having a thriving pre-pandemic business, surviving the threats of the pandemic, and now rebuilding in this so-called “time of new normal”.
“What’s your biggest fear in all of this?”, I asked.
“I don’t want to fail”
She was rattled by having brushed up against potential failure in ways that felt so out of her control. And no wonder, it was a scary time.
If you, like so many of my amazing clients, are feeling your confidence a bit shaken, try this:
List off 5 brilliant strategies or decisions that you have used to survive the impacts of the pandemic.
They don’t have to be your original ideas. Heck, they can even be just lucky choices that worked out well. Happenstance, if you will. Survival might mean that you barely scraped by.
Know that those things you did, those choices you made, gave you new data. They helped you build new pathways to survival. They are learned experience and wisdom that can never be taken from you. Even the things you tried that didn’t move you forward gave you valuable data.
Every one of us who had a hand in keeping businesses, non-profits, schools, or agencies afloat over the past 18 months deserves a giant pat on the back. Not from others, but from ourselves.
Keep that list of 5 things you did that had a positive impact handy (even if it was “do nothing”). Look at it every time you feel shaky.
You are a rockstar! Congratulations!