Recently I have been having conversations with people asking for permission to “do the work”.
Permission is an odd thing. We give ourselves permission to take it easy but we have a hard time giving ourselves permission to do the work.
Permission to sleep in, permission to skip a workout, permission to eat an extra slice of pie, permission to take a day off, permission to not follow up, all easy…..but permission to try something new, permission to take a leap...well that’s where we pause. All of us.
These conversations happen 1st quarter of every year. I get invited to have coffee and people ask me questions about photo-biz-life and random stuff. I love every opportunity that I get to have these conversations. Each one is a teachable moment and life lesson for me. I learn so much, I love it, please keep asking.
Last week we lost a job due to a backhanded nature of a competitive vendor (not a photographer) and we are asking the question: should we take legal action? In our gut with think we would win, easily. But at what cost to us, financially and emotionally? Do we want the fight? Do we want to be bothered? Do we want the revenge!? Do we want to fight the anger inside?
This is where we find ourselves fighting the fear inside. It happens to all of us. Taking the leap. Fighting your own inner voice.
Doing the work and fighting the anger inside; these two concepts go hand in hand in business, art and in life.
“Doing the work” for some people is simply their nature. They simply do. Doing the work for others is not natural at all. It’s not that we’re lazy or lacking motivation, it’s that we do not know where/how to start. We are fighting the anger inside of ourselves about taking action. The idea of taking action and failing is what causes the anger in the first place. It’s the “why bother” attitude, and that is the answer. If we have a “why bother” attitude then we are not excited nor passionate about the outcome.
Ask yourself “What is the anger inside?” Is it the drudgery of giving yourself permission to fail or is it that the achievement will not be fulfilling?
