5 Simple Tricks to Instantly Improve Your Business Confidence

Key Takeaways

Okay, so this is a video that I've been wanting to do for a while now, but I've been putting it off and putting it off just because I know that it's likely to feel quite uncomfortable whilst doing it. And I really don't do feeling very uncomfortable very well. But anyway, I now feel like the time is right to do it and the video itself is going to be about anxiety and starting a business. So if you're somebody like me that suffers from crippling anxiety on a daily basis, then this video is for you. I'm going to show you exactly how I feel pretty much every single day. Uh and I'm also going to be able to talk about my journey, but I'm also going to talk about the steps that I have used that have helped me overcome a lot of these feelings and essentially help me start my own online business. Okay, so before we get started, hit that like button, hit that subscribe button and let's crack on. Right, okay, so I'm going to tell you exactly what crippling anxiety is like for me basically on a daily basis. So I suffer from something which is very common. Um huge people suffer from it. I suffer from health anxiety mainly. Uh I also suffer from an anxiety of failing, feeling worthless. Okay, these these are you know, huge amount. I'm not I don't want any pissy from anyone. Okay, this is something that I deal with and a huge amount of other people deal with this as well. So my symptoms, well, for the health stuff, >> [clears throat] >> I get a new symptom pretty much every single day. Okay, this is something that is some people who suffer from health anxiety have. You you focus on something, it then you catastrophize over it. And then when you've gone to the doctors enough times, they finally give in and basically do some tests and they reveal that there's nothing wrong, it's all in your head. Great, you're okay for a few months and then the pattern repeats. And anyone else who suffers from this pattern will confirm that it is an absolute sh illness to have. Okay, it is relentless. You get very little breaks from it. It's just a cycle that just goes on and repeats and repeats and repeats. But look, we're not here to talk about the health anxiety. That's a completely different discussion. I just wanted to give you a bit of a background information about what I'm suffering from on a daily basis and it's just part of my struggles. Okay, so let's talk about the anxiety of failing and sort of self-worth. You know, again, this is a very common one. Huge amount of people suffering it from it. And especially when you're it's very difficult when you're trying to improve yourself and do something that is very challenging like setting up a business and essentially documenting it along the way because you're leaving yourself exposed for criticism and ridicule and a whole heap of different stuff. So this is not an easy task for someone like me. I mean, hell, it's not an easy task for anyone, let alone somebody like me. So deciding to take these steps and start my own business and especially document it online was a big deal. And it took me a little while to build up the confidence, build up the courage to actually start it and continue doing it all these months down the road. And I'm sure a lot of you can relate to this and perhaps a few of you are where I was a few months ago still wondering whether you can do this or not, you know, having your doubts, having all of your your fears, you know, the worst-case scenarios, what if people laugh at me and what if, you know, what if I make a fool of myself. You know, I had all of those feelings as well. I I you know, I had sleepless nights about the whole thing. I mean, I've had bouts of insomnia in the past which have lasted for months, you know, absolutely horrific insomnia where I haven't slept for you know, the whole night, sometimes two nights in a row, haven't slept at all and had to go to work the next day. Okay, that was tough. That was a real tough tough space to be in. But I got over it. And eventually I just told myself that I can't keep feeling like this. It's miserable for me, it's miserable for my family. Something's got to change. So I decided to take that step and start face my fears, start the business and start documenting it online. And it was the effect that I saw it having on my family was the kick up the ass that I needed to to make that step, make that happen. Okay, so how did I go from feeling like I had been feeling to actually starting doing my business and managing my stress and anxiety levels throughout the process so far. So there's essentially five strategies that have helped me keep my feet on the ground and sane throughout this entire period of starting my own business and documenting it on online. And these are strategies that I've learned along the way. So at first it wasn't plain sailing. I had to figure this out um as as I went on. So hopefully these strategies can help you miss that beginning bit that I had to deal with and hopefully will keep you grounded through the entire process. Okay, so number one is take micro steps. When you're starting a business, it's very easy to get completely overwhelmed. Okay, I get very overwhelmed very easily. So to start with, I was panicking because I had so much to do. I I was thinking my head just couldn't stop thinking about stuff, you know, all of these things that I had to do, you know, the the the the launch date that I had in mind and I just I couldn't deal with it. I was losing sleep because I was thinking about it at 12:00 1:00 in the morning and I stupidly didn't write any of this stuff down. You know, I I decided to keep it all in my head. Completely the wrong thing to do, by the way. And it wasn't until about a month in that I realized that it wasn't working. I couldn't carry on doing it like this because it was driving me mad. I was losing sleep. It just wasn't working. So I decided to completely restructure my organization. I use something called Notion which is just incredible. If you've not used it before, it's brilliant. It's free. Highly advise you go and look at that. I essentially wrote down every step of the process in Notion and delegated a couple of steps a day. So that way I wouldn't feel completely overwhelmed. It was all part of a plan, it was processed, it was out of my head. And essentially that pretty much worked overnight. And these tiny wins became proof that I could do this and I could keep going. Okay, so strategy two, good enough beats perfect. Perfection was one of my biggest anxiety triggers. I would obsess about the you know, certain uh position of a button or a color of a button or something like that because I would think to myself, if it wasn't perfect, I would be I'm opening myself up for criticism and you know, a know-it-all to come online and say, "Oh, this is in the wrong place. It looks All this sort of stuff." So I would then obsess over that and think to myself, I can't allow that to happen because I'm going to look like an absolute idiot. When in truth, nobody cares. Okay, doesn't matter. No one actually gives a damn. Yes, and you may get the odd person come on to um YouTube or forum and slate it, but that happens with everything. Okay, that that is that I've learned that that's just the way the world is, you know, you've always got these negative people who are going to uh leave you, you know, something, pick a hole in something or say something nasty. It's just because they're probably insecure about their lives and they like to try and make others feel bad. So if someone like that's doing it, does it really matter? No. So please don't obsess about perfection. It you know, perfection is in your head. Okay, it's it doesn't exist because perfection to you is not perfection to someone else. So you have to just strive for good enough and not perfection. Okay, so number three is guard your time like oxygen. So when you're working a 9-5, you're limited with the amount of time that you can spend on your on your business or your side hustle, whatever you're doing. So it's absolutely essential that you use your free time wisely. I was getting in a panic every day at work because I was thinking, I've got so much to do. I just can't I don't have the time to do it. I've got these things to do when I get back. How am I going to squeeze this in this evening? And the fact of the matter is you can only do what you can do. If you've only got 1 hour free in the evening, then you can only do 1 hour work. That's absolutely fine. But what I will say is if you're only squeezing in 1 hour, but then you're going to watch TV for a couple of hours, just doom scrolling, watching crap on YouTube, then that's sort of on you. That's that's you have got more time. You're just choosing not to use that time. For me at the moment, I'm using every single bit of spare time that I have whilst spending time with my family. Now obviously I want to spend time with my son and my wife, but you know, when they're having their time doing watching crap TV or on the iPad, then I'm on here. I'm on my computer making sure that I'm being productive with my time. And the fact of the matter is that this isn't a race. Okay, you you've got all the time in the world to do this. It's not you don't have to answer to anyone. So if you don't hit your deadline, then it doesn't matter. Okay, just just delay it. It's fine. But you know, you want to try and get in as much ti- um of your free time as possible, but also keep this keep this um healthy as well. So don't sacrifice going to the gym, you know, going for a run because that's one of the best things you can do for your mental health is some exercise, but doom scrolling is not good for your mental health. Trust me. Okay, I've been guilty of doing it in the past and I always feel you know, more positively when I'm doom scrolling. So I basically just completely canned that and I feel so much better for it. So, use your time wisely. Okay, so number four, reframe your age as an advantage. And this is something that I've talked about in many videos in the past. And this won't apply to everyone, but for someone over the age of 40 like me, you're likely having anxieties about starting a YouTube channel, starting your own business because you're thinking, "I'm past it. I'm over the hill. It's too late for me. This is a Gen Z thing. I can't do it. I'm stuck in my 9-5 grind doing whatever." And if you are having anxiety about being too old, let me tell you this. You are not too old, okay? You are absolutely not Anyone can start a business at any age, essentially. I mean, there's kids launching multi-million pound businesses. There's people in their 60s and 70s doing it. Age is but an excuse. Okay? Don't use that excuse. Don't put it off until next year or next week or whatever. Use your experience and use your connections and use your wealth to help you create the life that you want to have. And if you want to start a YouTube channel, but you think you're too old, just have a look. There's There's people in their 60s and 70s, even 80s just They're thriving on YouTube. There is literally There is literally no age limit to starting a YouTube channel. There is always going to be an audience out there, someone who wants to hear your story. In fact, the older you are, the better because you've lived life to the full. You have many stories to tell. Okay, so finally, number five, which is an important one to me. It's a big one, is find your safety net. Okay, so what do I mean by find your safety net? Well, basically things like having therapy, you know, going to the gym, breathing apps, you know, Calm apps, places like that, meditation, and communities online, you know, that are going through similar things, that have similar people. These are all things that I do on a regular basis. You know, I like to try and meditate every day if I can with the breathing exercises. It really, really helps calm me down if I start feeling a bit overwhelmed with everything. Just slap on the Calm app, headphones on, do my breathing, listening to some birds singing, and all that. And and it really does work. So, I really encourage you do that. And again, Facebook communities, Reddit, people who are going through So, you'd be surprised at how many people are doing, you know, going through the same thing, swapping tips, you know, even just having someone listen to what you've got to say. It all helps. Get it out there. Okay, so I really hope that you can use these strategies to help yourself if you're feeling like me, if you're in the same sort of position with your anxiety and your fear. It's really common. Don't think you're on your own doing this, you know, because you're not. You'll be surprised at how many people suffer from, you know, extreme anxiety or just sort of general anxiety. A huge amount of people suffer from it. So, you're not alone, but I want you to know that it can be done. Okay? I'm living proof. I'm doing it now. I had massive massive anxiety before I started doing this about launching my own business and if it fails, then I would feel like a total failure. Um and it hasn't succeeded yet. So, you know, I'm not out of the woods on that one yet. So, but you know, I'm taking each day as it comes. I'm going to make sure I get there because I'm determined to get there. I want to prove to myself that I can do this. And because I know I can. I know deep down that I can do it. I've got the skills. I've got the ability and I've got the willpower to do this. And if you're watching this video, it's likely that you have to as you're actually taking the first steps to doing something about it. So, drop us a comment. I'd love to hear what you're working on. Really hope you found this video useful. I've opened my heart a little bit to you all. Um hope you appreciate that. Not an easy one to do. Feel incredibly uncomfortable. My phone's ringing now. Let me just turn this off. And if you can implement these strategies, you'll find the whole process a whole lot easier. Trust me. It's your your miss out on the sleepless nights, all of the chest tightness, and the racing thoughts, and panic attacks because it's all laid out there for you. It's It's strategies to help you keep grounded and not overwhelmed and more productive. But um right, there's a video above. If you want to watch another one of my videos, again, I'm so disorganized. I don't even know what video it's going to be, but it was my last video, which is doing really well on YouTube. So, obviously a lot of people are liking it. Give it a watch. Worth a watch. It's a good one. And next week Oh, sorry, next week. Next few days, hopefully I'll be a bit more organized where I can tell you exactly what that video is. But anyway, hope you enjoyed this video. I shall see you all in the next one.