AP 0147: How Do You Tell the Difference between Distractions and Actual Concerns?

AskPat 147 Episode Transcript

Pat Flynn: Hey, what's up everybody? Pat Flynn here and welcome to Episode 147 of AskPat. First of all, just want to thank all of you for all of the amazing support. It means so much to me. We're climbing really high on iTunes right now and that's thanks to you and your ratings and reviews and subscribership. I appreciate all of you for listening to the show.

Now, before we get to today's question from Jessica, I do want to thank today's sponsor which is ZipRecruiter.com. It's an awesome site if you're looking to hire anybody for your business, doesn't matter what size you are. But if you're looking to hire anybody, it could be difficult to go out there and find candidates, especially because all the candidates live on all these different job sites. There's like, hundreds of them. With so many job boards out there, you need to post your job on all the top sites to find the best candidates. But with ZipRecruiter.com, you can post to fifty with just one click. Screen, rate, and hire the right candidates fast. They tell you the best candidates; it's awesome. Try it for free right now if you go to ZipRecruiter.com/pat. Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com/pat.

Cool, now let's get to today's question from Jessica.

Jessica: Hey Pat. My name is Jessica and I wanted to ask you about fears. So, I have an idea that I think is a great idea. It's in an industry that is up-and-coming. I don't see many people doing what I intend to do, so right now would be the perfect time to start, when there's not a huge amount of people that I have to kinda vie for attention with. But one of the things that I'm experiencing is that I want to make the best first impression, so what ends up happening is that I plan, and my planning turns into procrastination because then I need things like a better microphone or a better camera. Things like that are keeping me from actually starting, so I was wondering: When you were starting out, did you have those distractions and how did you sift between them to determine what is an actual distraction and what is a legitimate concern for your business, so that you can make sure that the people who are listening are enjoying the quality of what you're producing? Thanks so much.

Pat Flynn: Jessica, thank you so much for your question. It's a fantastic question because this is something that I and a lot of people deal with, and unfortunately, it's what holds a lot of people back from finding success. But you know, when you think about it, it's also holding back from a lot of people from helping other people. And that's what I think has gotten me though most of these types of fears, was thinking about, okay, am I going to let my fears stop me from actually helping people? And when I think about the people on the other end that could actually be benefiting from the content I have to share, or the work that I'm doing, or the software I'm creating, or whatever it is that I'm scared of doing, it usually gets me through those barriers.

So that's the first thing I want to suggest to everybody out there who has any type of fear, especially when it comes to online business. You have these great things to share. I mean Jessica, you have this knowledge and information about this up-and-coming topic and not a lot of people are talking about it. There's a lot of things that people could benefit from that you have to share and these fears are just holding you back. And I'm scared that these fears are going to hold you back so long that, you know, other people who see this opportunity and don't have these fears are going to do the work that you should have done. So I think about that whenever I'm met with fears and I hope you do that right now, because you need to do this. I don't know what your topic is, but it sounds like you are very passionate about it and you have some knowledge you know will help people. You need to do this, not for you but for other people out there who could benefit from it.

I want everybody to think about that. What's holding you back and what is happening as a result of that holding you back? Now Jessica, before I get into some more specific sort of advice for you and everybody else out there, I do want to mention two books that discuss this topic of resistance and fear very, very well. One is one that I read a few years back and another one is one I actually just read last week. And both are really good.

So the first one is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. I will say, for everybody out there, if you're going to listen to that one, don't listen to it with kids in the truck or in the car because there's some language in there. But it's a great book and it really just goes over . . . Everybody's met with resistance. Anytime we're about to do something which should be good for us and interesting and will take our life to the next level, we're always met with that resistance. And Steven Pressfield talks about why that comes and how to punch it in the face, basically.

And there's another book called How to Punch Fear in the Face, but the one that I just recently read is by Ryan Holiday and that is The Obstacle is the Way. Which I think is really cool, because typically lots of people run from the obstacles. But you know, you think about like, Navy Seals for example, they run toward the bullets because that's how you make the most change. You know that . . . I don't even think that example was mentioned in that book, but it just came to mind just now. But anyway, The War of Art by Steven Pressfield and The Obstacle is the Way by Ryan Holiday. Great books about overcoming fear and just knowing that it's common so you don't feel like you're alone but also knowing how to bust through them.

Now, in regards to your question about first impressions and sort of discerning between distraction and also legitimate concerns: Jessica, this is a fantastic question because it's hard to gauge, sometimes, what is what. So I think whatever comes across your mind, you want to write these things down and then you want to consider them one by one. Is this something that needs to happen in order for me to deliver the content that I have in the best way possible? Now there's also some things you might want to think about because you could easily make up excuses for yourself, right?

You could say for example, “I don't have the right camera yet and I want to have really good-quality camera work to be able to best present my ideas.” Well if you wanted the best cameras in the world, you'd have to spend like $20,000 and that's obviously not something you have to or should do. You shouldn't have to spend that much money. You could use the phone that you have in your pocket right now to record some incredibly high-quality videos that will do the job as long as your content is there, obviously.

Let's see, let's go back in time and talk about some of my fears and distractions and actual concerns when I was starting out. Now, I'm going to rewind to when I was creating my first ebook. I had my setup already, and I had got some advice from my sort of master man group here in San Diego to write this ebook, and a lot of concerns were going through my head. A lot of distractions as well. And I remember, for an example when I was writing the book, I kept thinking, “How the heck am I going to sell this? What software am I going to use to sell this? What price should it be? What should my sales page look like?” All this stuff, which I knew was necessary, right? People needed to see those things in order to buy and I needed to figure those out eventually, but then I also knew—and I got some great advice along the way—that none of that would have mattered if I didn't finish my book.

So I just took all of those out even though those were actual concerns, I took them all out because they didn't have anything to do with the next task at hand which was to finish that book. So I think for you when you're just starting out, and this is probably the best advice that I would give to anybody, is to focus on what you need to focus on now. There's another book that I've been reading that talks about this really well called The One Thing, and it talks about how our success is directly related to how small our focus can be. And it's hard because we work on these big projects, we have these big giant goals for our audience and our websites. But narrow down your focus to that one thing that you have to do next and focus all your efforts, energy, and learning into that.

And that's what I did with that book. I knew that the sales page, the website, the selling mechanisms, and the shopping cart—none of that would have mattered if I didn't have the book. So I had to finish the book. And then when I had it finished, you know, I was motivated to figure all that other stuff out. But it was at first a distraction and it was not a concern at that point. So I think the thing to think about is, what is the one thing you need to finish next? And, you know, it's good to keep in mind all these other things that you have, and you probably have written down these things that you want to do, but are those things related to this one thing that you want to try to finish next? If not, then it is a distraction, so wait until it becomes that actual concern and then everything else can be focused on that.

So for example, Jessica, you were talking about camera equipment and having the best camera. Are you at a point where you are ready to record? If not, then that is a distraction. If you are ready to start recording content for your show, or your video content, then that is a concern and then that's what you should be focusing on. And probably beyond everything that I've already mentioned in this particular episode of AskPat, the biggest thing that could help is getting advice from other people. You know, people in your mastermind group, other people who are doing this already—go over what's going in your head with them and they will help you filter through those distractions and actual concerns.

I do this every week with my three different mastermind groups and I can't tell you just how vital that is to helping me keep moving forward distraction-free. Because sometimes when we're so deep into our own work, we have a hard time discerning between distractions and concerns, and worries and resistance, and actual things that have to get done. And so, getting that outside help from somebody who is not in it all day and thinking about it all day and night can be really, really helpful. So try and do your best, Jessica and everybody else out there, to connect with people who you know are going to be honest with you, but also help you filter through all those things in your head.

So Jessica, thank you so much. I hope that answers your question. I appreciate you submitting the question. And for anyone else out there who has a question you'd like potentially featured here on the show, you can submit it easily by going to AskPat.com and just asking right there on that page using your mic from your computer or whatever you have handy. Your internal mic, even. Thank you all so much and I also want to thank today's sponsor which is, again, ZipRecruiter.com. If you're looking for any candidates to fill any positions that you have for your business, no matter how big or small, go to ZipRecruiter.com/pat, because it makes it incredibly easy to find the candidates you need. A number of people who have listened to the show who have used this service have emailed me back just saying how easy and awesome it was. Again, that's ZipRecruiter.com/pat. You can post to fifty job sites with just one click.

Awesome. Thanks so much and as always, I like to end with a quote and today's quote is from Oscar Wilde: He says, “Don't use big words, they mean so little.” Now, I think this is in regards to the copy that you have on your sales page, the words that you used in your blog post or in your show. Luckily for me, I don't know very many big words, but I know because I write this way and I talk this way. It's a lot easier to follow along, especially for the kids in the car, but you know—not to say that everybody listening to this can only read at a fourth-grade level—but I like this quote. “Don't use big words, they mean so little.” Don't pretend to be somebody you're not; don't try to sound smart just because. Obviously, if that's your audience, then you want to speak that way: Just know your audience and speak to them in their language.

You rock. Thanks so much and I'll see you in the next episode of AskPat.