The trap of all-or-nothing thinking in your business (and life)
Sitting with yourself.
I meditate on the semi-regular. It’s been several years now — yes, I went through all the usual internal protests. I can’t sit here for 15 minutes, I’m not doing it right, what’s the point of this? But I kept at it (#persistence).
If you’ve tried meditating, or perhaps now have a practice, you’ll know what I mean.
And if you’ve kept at it, you’ll have experienced the benefits of meditation, off-the-cushion, in your life and business.
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The impact.
For me, one of the most profound developments has been the ability to be aware of what I’m thinking, in the moment.
This may not sound like much, but the realization of what was going on in my mind caught me by surprise, and often, not in a good way.
More of in a, “oh, wow, this is not helpful” way.
The gift in catching a thought (or pattern of thought) is then being able to choose — do I want to think this thought, or not? If this answer is “yes,” great. But if the answer is “no,” I get to let it go and choose a different thought.
And do this over and over (because it’s not a one-and-done activity - it too is a practice).
But this is where the power lies.
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An example of all-or-nothing thinking.
Most recently, I experienced this when I caught myself having a thought about something that has not been delivering the intended results in my business – that is adding subscribers for my weekly email newsletter.
I’d been taking the recommended actions – posting in the right places, sharing my new lead magnet, trying various messaging – but I’d been unable to grow my list.
And was ready to ‘throw in the towel.’ Claiming (in my head), “this isn’t working for me, next.”
This is what I mean by ‘all-or-nothing thinking.’
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What you can do about it.
Here is how I worked with this thought as an example of how you might approach a comparable situation.
I stopped myself.
And I asked myself the following questions:
Is this thought helpful?
Is this thought true?
Have I tried everything?
Is there nothing else for me to do?
The answer to these questions was “no.”
Okay, based on that answer, now I get to choose. Do I want to abandon the effort, or do I want to keep at it?
And the answer to that question was, “I want to keep at it.”
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Why I chose this.
First and foremost, because I’ve heard from a few people recently that they really enjoy, learn from, and are inspired by the stories I share – some are clients, and some are solopreneur colleagues. And if they like and learn from these emails, there are others out there who can do the same.
Secondly, to be frank (and for you to take in for your business) – my email list is the one channel, in addition to my website, that I actually own. I do not own Instagram or Facebook or TikTok or Pinterest (and neither do you).
As I (and others I know) have learned the hard way (with Instagram and Facebook) these platforms can shut you down in an instant.
My email list is king. And so is yours.
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Now what?
Here is what I intend to do:
Keep at my list-building effort: posting and sharing, trying new messaging, creating new lead magnets.
Keep writing and sharing emails with you each week. Because the other reason I do this is that I really (really) enjoy it.
And keep meditating and catching my thoughts before they have a chance to take me down a path I really don’t want to be traveling.
My hope for you is that you’ll do the same.
If you find your business moving in a direction that is not what you envisioned, or it’s not moving at all, I’d love to be able to help.
Book a Discovery Call so we can discuss your challenges and opportunities and explore your options.
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