OVERCOMING SELF-SABOTAGE
“PROCRASTINATION IS A FORM OF SELF-SABOTAGE”
This past week I was hanging out on Instagram minding my own business when this popped up on my screen and hit me like a ton of bricks. It wasn’t the first time I had heard this expression but this time around, it struck a nerve.
As much as I would like to say I have it all figured out and put together, I, Saskia Mardi, The Virtual Minimalist, have come here in fact to inform you, that I am an imperfect human that does not have all their ducks in a row all the time. There, I said it. I know right - gasp, shock, horror. But I was raised as an honest, open person and I’m about to lay some things bare today.
See, there are some important things I have been putting off.
Yes, I am a productivity nerd and I love a colour-coded calendar as much as the next organising freak.
When things make it into my planning, you know they’re gonna get done. But there are things that don’t make it into my planning, because honestly they scare the shit out of me and at times I don’t dare to say them out loud.
And yes I know “growth is what happens outside your comfort zone” and you have to “get comfortable being uncomfortable”, but at times this makes me feel just as reassured as a kid with chronic stage freight who gets the genius advice to “just get up there and do it”. Yeah, that doesn't help, now does it.
I am not particularly a fearful person. I have done things and taken chances without skipping a beat that would scare many. This past year alone has held some big changes for me, huge in fact. It’s the year I moved to working full time in my business, the year I ended all my Virtual Assistant contracts to focus on coaching without having clients lined up, and not undeserving of a mention, the year I left my adoptive home of Holland to move my family to the other side of the world, again.
No, I don’t shy away from taking giant leaps in endeavours I’m convinced I will figure it out along the way or at ones that in my opinion, are things you can’t get wrong. I mean, is it possible to immigrate incorrectly? But even I am not immune to putting things off out of fear. Sometimes, especially when it comes to growing my business, I freeze in place.
Hello ‘imposter-sydrome, my old friend.
It’s so easy to look around and compare myself to all the entrepreneurs I look up to and get down on where I’m at. Before you start, I know “you never should compare someone else’s chapter 15 to your chapter one”. I’ve heard it a hundred times but what do you know - these things are a whole lot easier to preach than to practise.
It’s only when other people, who are just starting out, reach out to me for advice that I realise I’ve long past chapter one. I am the inspiration to these budding business owners, all the while I am still trying to figure out my business’ ass from its elbow.
Then it hits me. Those guys and girls I look up to, are also looking up at someone else further along their business path. That they are all just like me, trying to figure it out as they go. The only difference being, they had big, uncertain ideas that scared them, and they did it anyway.
So, I decided it was time to pull up my big girl pants. I dug deep and took the time to reflect on why I started this business.
For a minute to turn down the white noise dial and zone in on why I am doing what I do. Ignoring the limitations, the how, the fear, the FOMO, the comparisons, the whatever else was holding me back and to double down on my own thoughts.
By doing so, I mapped out the core reason I want to attack that big, scary goal that I didn’t dare speak of until now. This will be my reminder why I am doing what I am doing when fear creeps back in (which we all know is going to happen at some point). Then by writing out what exactly that big, scary goal was and breaking it down into smaller parts I was able to scale it back to ‘the one task I have to do today’. Easy peasy, right?
The idea is that with my ‘why’ in hand and a mapped out plan, it doesn’t matter what my odds are. It’s about seeing the uncertainty, seeing the risk of failing, seeing what could go wrong and doing it anyway!
So why is it I do what I do?
I am committed to helping as many people as possible see the amazing transformation that minimalism can bring to their business. This is not something that I want to keep to a select few, but rather share with anyone who’s ready to make the change.
Modern life has convinced us all that more = more, whether in our homes or in our businesses, and I am on mission to prove that this, my friend, is bullshit.
So after storing my idea in the ‘too hard’ basket, I have grabbed it with both hands and as of this week I have entered into what the cool kids call “launch mode”. I am creating an online course so that everybody who is ready to get more done, by doing less can get in on the minimalism party.
I want to create a space for people who have figured out that being busy is not the same as being productive. Who are ready to start working differently. Who know they need to escape their never ending to-do list and just focus on their high value tasks, but have no idea where to start.
I want to teach people the simple yet profound methods you can use to reconnect with your vision and create focus so that you know which tasks to ditch and which are essential. That will help you to re-write your own business rules. That will help to eliminate shiny-object-syndrome FOR GOOD. No more wasting your brainpower, money, time or sanity.
Today I am taking one small step for my goal, but one giant leap for Saskia. I stared fear in the eyes and gave it a big, fat middle finger.
What if I fall? I might miscalculate, take the leap and fall flat on my face. Oh but darling, what if I fly?