It’s been a whirlwind week filled with back-to-back keynotes, and working on my next product a book. I just submitted a proposal a publisher (fingers crossed).
And yes even after working for days, weeks, and months to create something, I always have THE moment.
You know what I’m talking about. The moment before it’s time to share it with the world when you pause and realize: “OMG what have I created?”
Your product could be a book, a post, a product, a talk, or something else.
All the excitement that fueled you to create has now turned on you. You are now held hostage by your own nerves.
As you examine it more closely, you come to the realize that it’s incomplete, flawed, not as good as someone else’s, and as a result just won’t do.
You declare: “There’s more work to be done!”
Or maybe you decide to quietly slip away.
The forces that compelled you to create a product are now acting against you.
Why does this happen? Why can’t we just stay calm, cool, collected, and share our creation?
Because we CARE.
We care about so many things.
We care about …
… our creation representing our best selves.
… what others think, whether they are close to us or complete strangers.
It’s easy to tell people, “Stop caring.” And, “Just be yourself.” Or my personal favorite, ”Don’t worry about what others think.”
Deep down we want to be seen as competent, creative, and confident.
But it seems impossible to muster the courage to confront our nervous energy when it’s holding our creation hostage.
How To Move Forward With Our Product In Spite Of Our Nerves
We have to go back and ask ourselves: Why did we think it was important to create this thing?
If it’s no longer important to us and we are truly dispassionate, then quit and move on. But if it’s still important, then put it out there.
Our nerves, they like to show up and make it seem like they are threatening our confidence. But that’s not what they’re doing. What they’re really doing is testing our commitment to ourselves, they challenge our creative energy to remember about why we care about our creation coming to life above everything else.
Whatever happens next doesn’t matter as much as our creation getting out of our head and into the world.
So tell me in the comments below, are your nerves holding your creation hostage? And if they aren’t how did you learn to handle them?
