I’ve been taking a lot of downtime over the summer holidays, pending time with the kids, reflecting and enjoying the headspace after a few crazy months.
Last week I spent the day with my daughter. We wandered the lanes, ate ice cream and enjoyed all the fun on Brighton Pier. We even won Dolphin Derby!
We also paid a visit to the fortune teller, who was tucked away in his gypsy caravan. He read my tarot, and the resounding message was
‘face your fears, take action, good news is coming.’
If you have followed me for any period of time you will know that I am ALL about this. Courage has been my highest driver for a good few years now, and overcoming anxiety, taking action and facing those fears has been the biggest contributor to my business success.
Anxiety used to make me hide, stay small, not speak to people. It made me run away from my career, stop communicating. It put a stopper in me standing up and speaking. So I avoided and distracted instead of facing it straight on.
And I’ll be honest that old pattern has come up again of late. I haven’t wanted to show up, be visible, I haven’t wanted to put myself forward for gigs, podcast interviews or anything else that requires speaking.
The speaker coach stopped speaking! That’s no bloody good is it!
So when the fortune teller told me exactly what I needed to hear (whether you believe in that stuff or not) it was the nudge I needed to stop, regroup and refocus.
If you feel like you are in a visibility slump right now then you aren’t alone. There are many external and internal forces at play that can put a blocker in your mind and a stopper in your mouth.
Here are a few tips that have helped me to get back on the path towards confident and consistent visibility.
1. Give yourself the nudge
If you know deep down that you are avoiding showing up right now, take a minute to shine a light on it and find out what’s really going on. What are you fearful of? What is really stopping you? Confidence? Clarity on what to say? The potential consequences of your visibility? It doesn’t always have to take a huge wake up call to start shining a light on your awareness and making a choice to think or act differently.
2. Face the facts
What is it really going to take to start showing up consistently, and how can you manage that in a way that works best for you?
For example, one of the blockers to my recent visibility was structure. I am totally out of routine being immersed in the summer holidays with reduced childcare and so the lack of structure was making me hide. So I came up with a simple content and repurposing plan that looks a little bit like this
Weekly I will write:
• One email
• That email will be turned into a blog for my website
• The blog will be shared to my Biz Page
• The blog will be turned into a LinkedIn article
• It will be broken down into three posts and shared on Instagram, my FB personal profile, LinkedIn and my Facebook group the Courageous Leaders Club
• I will also go live once a week on a similar topic
I have the support of my amazing VA Sharon to help me deliver this so I don’t have to worry about ‘showing up’ when I am knee-deep in the waters of the local lido splashing about with my kids. What could this look like for you?
3. Focus on what you want
If you are suffocating behind your silence and invisibility at the moment, stop focusing on what isn’t happening and start focusing on what you want to happen. When I started to focus on the outcome instead of the current reality, I was able to galvanise into action whilst working towards a positive goal.
So, if your lack of visibility is having an impact on your income streams right now….
• Get clear on what you need to bring in each month and what that looks like in terms of your work. My financial goals have changed recently, so getting super clear on this provided a real kick in motivation.
• Then put together an action plan of what needs to happen to achieve that goal. What content plan can you put in place to get you visible and heard? What clients can you reach out to to sign up to your programme? What events are happening that you want to speak at? What podcasts or publications do you really want to feature on?
• Take consistent and considered action towards those goals at times when you can give it your focus. If your current routine is up in the air, where can you find a bit of headspace and focus to take action and tick things off the list one by one? It doesn’t have to be huge, but all action is progress, so even taking one tiny action today can make all the difference in your visibility mindset.
If you would like support in being your most visible courageous self but are not sure where to start, send me an email. I have calls available to discuss suitability for my intensive, which can help you to remove your visibility blockers, get super clear on your stories and messaging, take action and win more business as a result.
Helen x
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