Staying Motivated When Your Inner Imposter Shows Up

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One of the ways Imposter Syndrome sabotages your business is by negatively affecting your motivation. You may feel this way because you’re insecure about your business, you sense that nobody wants your services, and you feel like no matter how much effort you put in, you’re not getting anything in return. 

You push on thinking that your hard work is the only thing that determines your worth. If you happen to take a few days off it can create a feeling of being out of sorts because you start feeling insecure about yourself and you can’t pinpoint which direction you want to take your business in. That, in turn, can make you lose all motivation towards that particular project or trying to create new ideas. It can take the wind right out of your sail!

For example, let’s say you’re trying to come up with new content ideas for your Instagram, the lack of motivation and drive can impede your creative juices which then creates the cycle of you feeling down about yourself and your business. Lack of motivation and feeling down definitely go hand in hand. This is why mindset is a HUGE component of business. 

In my own business, I spent so long in the “Do” in the masculine energy, thinking that as long as I just did everything I thought I would be successful. I ended up not paying attention to my mindset, after a while negative thoughts and insecurities started creeping in. It almost ruined my business for good! I felt so defeated with the cycle of negativity that I wasn’t paying attention to trying to keep my motivation up and try to happily push forward every day with consistent joy and positivity. Because in reality, joy and positivity are two crucial things that help your business thrive. 

In the run of a day, the tasks you do definitely help launch your business to the next level. Those tasks can include such things as Social Media content posting or recording a podcast. But if you aren’t motivated, those pieces of the puzzle just won’t fall into place. 

Throughout your workday you need to keep yourself on track, taking time to do some self care, and look after your mindset. If these things aren’t taken care of, then Imposter Syndrome can rear its ugly head and sabotage your entire business model!

If you look at the content you’re distributing, or how you’re pitching your services when you’re in two different mindsets, it can show you a clear picture of how drastically different these two things can be. A negative mindset can make you sound indifferent about your services, therefore sabotaging your sales. A positive mindset, and being excited about your services will radiate from you. Sales would increase because people want to buy into the excitement! 

It took me awhile to figure out mindset was so important! I used to think that STRATEGY was the be all and end all NOT mindset. I was someone who thought the whole inspirational stuff was total bullshit. That manifestation was a crock and the “woo-woo” was absolutely crazy stuff!

I came to realize that having a genuine belief in yourself is a huge part in taking your business to the next level. Believing 100% that people NEED your services, and WANT your services! People feed off the energy you put out! Let’s say you’re an empath (someone who really absorbs other people’s energies), you can feel uncomfortable if someone around you is uncomfortable, or sad when they’re sad. People can feel your negative energy when you’re not excited about your services. If you aren’t excited, they surely won’t be excited either!

Let that sink in- what kind of energy are you putting out there? 

We’re going to jump into the nitty gritty here. 

How do you stay motivated when you’re down and out about your business and insecurities? Does this sound like something you’d say? - “Ugh... who the hell would ever want to buy my services anyway? I can’t think about anything new to write, so why would they ever want to buy something from me?” 

I’ve found a couple strategies that have personally helped me in so many areas in my life. It catapults your positive energy to be SKY HIGH whether it be in your business, looking after your kids - (because let’s face it, we’ve all seen a parent struggling to be positive taking care of their child at one point or another!), trying to stay positive while attempting to juggle a full time job, a side hustle, boyfriend, dog, or just life in general.

Journaling has been one of the tools that’s been helping me when I’ve been down. Motivation comes and goes, it’s not consistent. Discipline is consistent because if you commit to doing something, then you’re going to stick to it. Your motivation should NOT be your backbone!

Write down the thoughts that are making you feel insecure in whatever area of your life. Reflect on  what feelings come up when you think of a certain situation. For example: Why do you feel insecure about your business? Did something happen? Can you identify the thoughts and feelings that you’re having around not wanting to do what you need to do for you business? 

I’ve always found that journaling lets you see your thoughts and feelings concretely on paper for what they are. You’d be surprised to see how they manifest on a physical plane when you’re actually paying attention to them! You can articulate your thoughts better and you’re then able to identify the underlying feelings and thoughts behind what you’re thinking. 

(If you’d like a helpful 30 Day Journaling Prompt Freebie, I have one available here it can help you get started in your journaling journey! You could also journal free-hand without prompts, and see what comes out!)

The second tip I have for helping motivation is to just take a much needed break. Sometimes that’s 100% what you need! 

For example, there have been times where I’ve planned to record a podcast, or I’ve planned to do something for my business but just wasn’t feeling it. I felt like I was so tired, and I didn’t have any motivation at all! I just didn’t end up doing it, I took a break. Sometimes the break may be just taking a bath, but I’ve now realized that I get most of my inspiration when I’m taking a break, on vacation or taking a moment to breathe. 

As I get this new found inspiration I take a moment to jot it down in a note app on my phone, so I can refer to it when I get back to work. I find when I take a moment to reconnect with myself I take time to listen to my favorite podcasts, read my favorite blogs, and I find it motivates me to get back into the positive energy space and get my creative juices flowing again.

So let me say this one more time, for the people in the back - TAKE A FUCKING BREAK.

Your business won’t crumble if you aren’t present 100% of the time. With me saying take a break, I’m not saying taking a year, sometimes it only has to be a couple hours! 

Another way that I stay motivated when I’m feeling insecure or down is by having a folder of content for when I’m feeling uninspired. For example, the notes app on my phone is FULL of stuff I haven’t yet worked with. Sometimes it’s just a sentence or a small idea. I’ll look back on it at a later time when I feel defeated and think: “Oh! That’s a really great idea! I feel like I could expand on that now!” 

I don’t know if you’ve ever heard of the term “batch content”, but many entrepreneurs do it in the online world. To batch content means to do a task over and over again until you’ve created a bunch of content. For example, on my business Instagram, I tend to work in weekly chunks. I do a whole week’s worth of content in one sitting. Sometimes I feel like I don’t always have the required inspiration for the task, so I refer back to my phone note app and get some possible content ideas which can make the task simpler.

Another way to find inspiration is by going through you’re old content and seeing what triggers inspiration in you. There’s no rule saying that you can’t repurpose older content. It’s still relevant information! New people are always looking at your content, and they would have no idea you used the same post a year ago! You can also narrow down what worked well in the past, you know it performed well at that point, it may give you the same success this time around! 

There’s no point in trying to reinvent the wheel. It’s already been invented. It’s all about how you can repurpose that wheel! 

Something I’ve been practicing for a while is to make sure I constantly try to reconnect to my “why”. I’ve talked about this a lot with my business coach, I’ve also realized how much I use her for my business mindset. When I hired her as a coach, I thought I was going to be 100% strategy. I now see that I tend to spend the majority of my time talking about my mindset, talking concepts over, and pitching my ideas to her, and really taking the time to talk them through. I find she really helps me feel them out with her guidance. She doesn’t answer my questions by saying: “This is what you should do…”, she takes the time to ask more questions to unlock a deeper meaning within my original idea. A coach shouldn’t be someone who says do as I say, they are there to guide and help you work through things by clarifying statements you’ve made. Taking the time to look at your “Why” frequently can keep you on track in my aspects of your life.

My “why” has been to release my student loans - I don’t like saying the word “debt” it doesn’t sit well with me. At first I thought having my “why” be about money was a bad thing, making me look money hungry. I’ve now come to realize that if I didn’t have those loans, I wouldn’t have had the opportunity to have a great education and work in an industry I’m so passionate about! Wanting to be financially free is a motivator me.

So thinking of my “why” when I’m feeling uninspired or lack motivation can help me since I can imagine myself paying off a big chunk of my student loan, and how amazing it will feel! This thinking lights a fire under me and encourages me to keep going! 

And finally- There are so many things you can implement in your daily life that doesn't take any time at all and boost your energy to unbelievable high-vibe levels- having a dance party is a great example - WHO DOESN’T LIKE TO ROCK OUT TO THEIR FAVE SONG?! (ok, ok, I know not everyone is a dancer) So if you feel like don’t want to be seen- you can have your dance party in anywhere you want! Want to dance in your walk-in closet? FINE! If dancing isn’t your thing- singing along to some of your favorite songs can also lift your spirits! 

Going to the gym can also give you a rush of endorphins to send you to a high vibe positive spot, I always feel like a fucking ROCKSTAR when I get home from the gym!! If the gym isn’t your thing, going for a small walk, either alone, with your partner, or your dog can be just what you need to get your blood pumping! 

Looking at yourself in the mirror and repeating affirmations such as “I am worthy”, “I am good enough”, “I believe in my capabilities” and “I know that I’m not an imposter, I am the real deal.” can lift your spirits as well. The crucial thing about this though is that you NEED to believe in yourself for it to have any effect. If you don’t believe in yourself nobody else will! You can’t wait for someone else to validate you because their validation is NOT enough! The validation HAS to come from within.

I sincerely hope these tips have shown you that little tweaks in your routine or process can change the entire course of many aspects in your life. 

 

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