What Are You Pretending Not To Know? | 130

My business coach asked this question a few weeks back and it stuck with me.

What are you pretending not to know?

It’s a question that challenges me to confront the distractions and excuses that get in the way of my success. Let’s dive in.

A world full of shiny objects

It’s easy to get caught up in the latest trends. As creatives, there’s always something new coming out. Whether that’s new gear or new ways of making money from our cameras, distractions are everywhere.

Sure, the latest thing may seem promising. But almost always, it’s a distraction that’s taking us in the wrong direction.

We all know that person who jumps from one thing to another every few months and never seems to gain any traction. They blame the economy, they blame the clients, and they blame everything but themselves.

If we strip away the distractions, we’re often left facing the hard truths about the things we know we should be doing but aren’t.

Knowledge vs Execution: What’s really going on?

Have you had any success before? Landed a client? Got paid for a job? Good. You know that it’s possible.

There’s value in doubling down on what’s worked in the past rather than always seeking the latest thing. Sometimes, the key to moving forward lies in what you’ve already discovered in the past.

Now, if you don’t know how to reach your goals, there’s a lack of knowledge or ignorance.

Figuring out how to reach them should be your primary focus. Have you seen someone else do what you want to do? Great - that means you can too.

Figure out what they did. If you value your time, pay them to teach you, or if you have plenty of free time, go on YouTube, read books, and learn it by yourself.

Once you know what you need to be doing, it’s time to execute on it.

Your constraints are either ignorance or execution

Okay so we learned what to do to reach our goals. Now the issue becomes actually doing it.

For most people, the constraint isn’t the lack of knowledge. You know what you have to do. It’s the excuses you tell yourself about why this won’t work for you.

If you know what to do, you go and execute and get results. If you can’t stick with the work, that becomes a mindset and productivity issue. The beauty is that this can be trained. Your capacity to work is a trainable skill, just like anything else.

Be honest with yourself today.

Do you still need more info on how to double what your business is currently doing?

Or do you have the info you need right now? Are you sitting on information of how to do the thing and you lack execution?

If it’s the former, then go and take a few courses. If it’s the latter, consider a coach & community to hold you accountable.

Either way, it’s on you if you don’t improve. Get after it.