“To double your income~triple your investment in self-development.”
~Robin Sharma~
“You’re doing it wrong” But at least you’re doing it.
Once you’re doing it, you have a chance to do it better.
Waiting for perfect means not starting.
~Seth Godin~
I am flawed.
I’ve made some “mistakes” in my life. Some big ones too.
I’ve been in jail, used drugs, stole shit, got into fights, drove while drunk, cheated on girlfriends, cheated on exams, vandalized…you name it.
That was a long time ago.
Today, I’m a procrastinator, addicted to flakebook, cell phones, chocolate, chips, motorcycles….
I’m lazy, a no-filter put-my-foot-in-my-mouth ass, judgemental, arrogant, foulmouthed, doubtful, angry, and a whole bunch more crap that I drag around like old worn out luggage.
My big question is three fold:
- How can I succeed even though I’m all these things?
- How do I reconcile the guilt, the anger, the old messages from way back when they come back to haunt me?
- How do I work through the doubts, the insecurities and old voices from my past that try to inflict damage on my self esteem and confidence?
Easy. Here it is…
- the past is the past. There is NOTHING, not a single iota of anything I can do to change it. So, fuget-about-it!
- don’t over analyze. It gets me nowhere
- work, act and constantly, steadily, never ending progress and effort on self-development
- attend my monthly Mastermind meetings….where you can by simply showing up make yourself accountable
Did I mention, “never ending”? That’s right.
One my my flaws, and I’m sure many of you can relate, is we want to “graduate”.
To finally reach the plateau where we never had to worry about any of this anymore.
The fact is, it never goes away, so, we need to always embrace and accept our dark side and always, constantly be challenging ourselves, pushing ourselves to be better.
To be better peeps, better photographers, better at everything.
This means, accepting our past and our flaws.
But more than that, to take action and initiative on doing stuff that pushes our fears, shatters our confidence, even though we know it’s best for us.
The goal is not to end up in an enlightened state, but to make peace and push ourselves to be better.
I think because of my past, and because I discovered these ideas, I have a neurotic drive to share it with others.
Whether I do or not matters not. All that really matters is that I keep moving forward, embrace the changes and challenges that are always thrown into my path.
There is no system no blueprint or map that I can give you.
Only you know what you need to do. And ask yourself: “Am I willing to do what I need to do? Am I willing to do what it takes?”
And then do it.
Up to you….
You’ll be better off for it. And a better person, business person, photographer, spouse, parent, community leader…whatever.
Ask yourself, how can I:
- be more confident?
- take better (insert photography here…weddings, seniors, babies, families, commercial…whatever style of photography you’re into pursuing, or, have been immersed in for decades but feel it’s time for some change…) photographs
master lighting, posing, marketing…whatever
It’s important to ask YOURSELF deep probing questions. Not questions like: Why am I such an idiot? Or why do I do this all the time? Or why am I so bad with money?… you get the idea.
Or worse yet, answer those destructive questions with logical answers and lean on that logic for the rest of your days. Ugh.
When you bust through, you get started on the journey that Joseph Campbell meant when he infamously said:
“Follow your bliss.”
And never let your flaws get in the way of your success.
Robert N. Provencher – Your Master Coach Marketer
“If you want to be a profitable and successful photographer, then study profitable and successful photographers.”
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