ProBlogger: Overcoming the Fear of Being Heard

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Overcoming the Fear of Being Heard Posted: 24 Aug 2016 05:52 PM PDT By Karly Nimmo. In my work with hundreds of podcasters, and potential podcasters (this also applies to bloggers, entrepreneurs, small business owners and anyone putting themselves out there) I see one key thing get in the way over and over again… Our good old mate, FEAR. Let's talk about fear, because it has the capability to paralyse and stop the vast majority from ever leaving the discomfort of their comfort zone.  And, that seems such a shame.  I see so many amazing people, with incredible messages, products and services to share, who are stuck in fear. Fear shows up in a number of ways and in varying parts of our journey.  When you're putting yourself out there in a bigger way, there seems to be a few regulars sitting at the bar, like: fear of rejection (by far the biggest) fear of failure and/or success fear of getting it 'wrong' fear of being exposed as a fraud (good old imposter syndrome) fear that my friends and family won't get it fear that no one will listen fear that it's/I am not enough So, here's my top 8 tips to move through fear. Tip one: identify the fear.   What is it?  Name it.  Shine a light on it.  Say it out loud. I'm afraid of (insert reason here). Tip two:  Does the best possible outcome, outweigh the worst? Best possible outcome? You positively impact someone's day/wee/month/year/life. Worst case scenario? Bruised ego.  (and I've experience enough bruises to know one thing for sure… they heal) Tip 3:  It's not about you. Yeah… that old chestnut.  As humans we have this ability to make everything about us.  Namely, what people might think of us.  And that alone is enough to paralyse us from moving forward.  Focussing on service and shifting that focus from you (and all the things that could potentially go wrong), to those who you can serve, really helps move through the fear. My go to mantra:  When nervous, focus on service. Tip 4:  Practice makes perfect (err, practice makes better) Let's be real.  Most of the time, when we start something new, we suck at it.  Big time.  And the only way to get better is practice. Moving through fear is like a muscle.  If you want to build it, keep working on it.  Remember the first time you've tried anything new and scary?  We build it up to be something really BIG.  Then we do it, and it might not be perfect, but we realise we can do it.  So we do it again… and again… and again… then it becomes something we are comfortable with…. and if we practice enough, we can become a master at it. Whether it's golf, crotchet, growing tomatoes, or doing live webinars, the only way you are going to improve is to keep trying.  Keep showing up – despite the fear. Tip 5:  Drop perfection for experimentation.  Drop perfection.  It serves no one.  And replace it with a good dose of experimentation.  Instead of placing all this crazy pressure on yourself to have things go perfectly, reframe things as an experiment.  Test.  Measure.  Review.  Test.  Measure.  Review.  Framing things as an experiment lightens the load and lessens attachment to outcome. Tip 6:  What you're afraid of has already happened.   Yep.  The rejection you're trying to avoid?  It's already happened.  That doesn't mean it's going to happen again, but if it does, all is well; you've experienced it before and you survived.  You can do it again. Tip 7:  What others think of you is not of your business. Easy to say, hard to live by… but oh, so true.  What others think of you comes from their experience and beliefs and their opinion of you, and anything you say, is ALWAYS going to be skewed by this. Tip 8:  You can't please everyone, so you might as well please yourself.  Enough said.  You're always going to piss someone off.  Might as well be doing it for a good cause. Fear is always going to be present, my friend.  Always.  It's part of our make up as human beings.  A reminder of our mortality.  A way to protect ourselves from harm.  It stems from our vulnerability as cave men and women… when we were prey to wild animals. And while there are many people out there who behave like wild animals, trying to rip others to shreds, the truth is they only have the power you allow them to have.  Hiding away in your cave because someone might have something negative to say about you serves no one. Take a few deep breaths, puff that chest out, focus on those who need to hear what you have to say… and hit record. The world will thank you for it. Karly Nimmo is all about about helping people find their voice, and giving them the tools and platform to get it out there.  She's a passionate podcaster, teacher and mentor atRadcasters Podcasting S'cool. The post Overcoming the Fear of Being Heard appeared first on ProBlogger.

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ProBlogger: How Working Fewer Hours Can Increase Your Productivity

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How Working Fewer Hours Can Increase Your Productivity Posted: 23 Aug 2016 07:00 AM PDT By ProBlogger Productivity Expert Nicole Avery. We live in a culture that assumes the more hours you work the more work you are doing. Stories are traded of working past midnight or working 10 hour days with no breaks with great pride and being sleep deprived due to work, is treated by many as a badge of honour. But is it productive? If you look at the statistics, it appears not: The above graph shows the productivity (GDP per hour worked) in relation to the number of hours worked in OECD countries. The trend is clear: the more hours worked the less productive we are. Personally this is something I have worked out the hard way. At the end of 2014 I was so close to quitting blogging. I was caught in the working longer hours trap. I would work some hours while the kids were at school, then once they were off in bed I would start my second shift and work late into the night. I found myself in the position where it seemed, no matter how many hours I worked, I couldn't keep up. Sometimes we need to reach a low point before we make change and this was the case for me. I shared on ProBlogger last year the steps I took to turn this around and you can read more about it here, but the biggest impact was changing my work schedule and working fewer hours. Working fewer hours when you are struggling to keep up can seem contradictory, but productivity isn't about the volume of hours you work, it is about your work output. I set new work boundaries for myself. I was no longer going to do a second shift. My workday would end when the kids were home from school and I would have at least one day every weekend that was work free. As I made the changes to my work schedule, the results on my productivity were instantaneous. Working tired all the time is ineffective, things take longer, you are more easily distracted and there is an increase in procrastination. Taking adequate breaks away from the blog allowed me to refresh, rest and have time for thinking, all of which helped increase my productivity when I was working. Associate Professor Cal Newport even has a formula to explain why working more hours isn't necessarily more productive: work accomplished = time spent x intensity of focus You can use this formula to see if working fewer hours can help you increase your productivity. Newport uses an intensity of focus rating of 1 – 10 with 10 being the highest level of focus. In my example back in 2014, after working until 11.00pm the day before my work accomplished the next day would have looked something like this: 10:00am – 11:00am – 6 intensity of focus 11:00am – 12:00pm – 5 intensity of focus 1:00pm – 2:00pm – 4 intensity of focus 2:00pm – 3:00pm – 4 intensity of focus This would give me a work-accomplished result of 19 units of work for my four hours of work. Then I would have my second session in the evening: 8:00pm – 9:00pm – 3 intensity of focus 10:00pm – 11:00pm – 2 intensity of focus This would give me a work-accomplished result of five units of work for my two hours of work and a total of 24 units of work for my six hours of work time that day. Compare this to my current schedule, where I do not work at night and am in bed by 10:00pm: 10:00am – 11:00am – 10 intensity of focus 11:00am – 12:00pm – 9 intensity of focus 1:00pm – 2:00pm – 9 intensity of focus 2:00pm – 3:00pm – 8 intensity of focus I estimate that for my four hours of work my output is 36 units of work, a 50% increase in my productivity compared to my 2014 example. And my current output confirms this formula to be correct. I am working about half as many hours as I was working, for more output. This year I have started a podcast and have almost completed a new product to sell from the blog – neither of which I did when I was working in the evenings. It can be scary to think about working less, but if you think about the times when you have achieved your greatest work output, you will most likely find commonalities like you were well rested and focused. Working longer hours is not conducive to creating this state, so take the plunge and revamp your work schedule to work fewer hours, but work more effectively in those hours you work. How many hours a week are you working on your blog? The post How Working Fewer Hours Can Increase Your Productivity appeared first on ProBlogger.

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