Spending time on the things you care about

Something we can consider to be true is that, you don’t really know how hard you can work or how much effort you can put into something until you find what you care about.

You can spend a large chunck of your life thinking that you’ve given your full effort or gone above and beyond. However, when you find something that really matters to you, somehow you’ll find a surplus of energy to do more than you have ever done before.

That might come at a time in your life when you transition from working a traditional 9 to 5, to working for yourself.

Perhaps you find a new hobby that you’re really passionate about. Then all of sudden you’re spending your evenings doing extra research, learning new information and dedicating time you used to spend on less fulfilling past times

Your audience might not be on Instagram

When it comes to putting your work out there it’s really important to consider your audience.

I think these days because Instagram is such a popular social media platform, we automatically think that our audience will be on there. We think it’s the only way to find people that are interested in our work.

I think that the issue we sometimes end up having is that we can’t think of any other possible way that we can put our work out or connect with new people. It’s Instagram or nothing.

However, I think it’s valuable to seek out other ways because sometimes the truth is your audience might not be on Instagram.

No longer worth doing

When you have any sort of habit or action in your life, it will be helpful to regularly assess whether it is worth carrying on with.

The thing you started doing 2 years or even 6 months ago may no longer be worth doing.

On the flipside, it may be more necessary than ever before.

Understanding whether it is worth it is based on various factors. This includes: whether the pro’s outweigh the cons, if the cost outweighs the inconvenience, if there is a shorter or better way and if your quality of life would be less without it.

The purpose of all this is to ensure that you don’t just keep on doing things that you don’t need to do.

75% qualified

There are stats to prove that when it comes to job applications women are less likely to apply than men, if they don’t meet all the requirements.

The interesting thing about this is that if you don’t get the job you don’t really lose out because nothing changes. So if you apply yo a job where you only meet 75% of what they are asking for, there’s no real risk at all, in fact you should probably do it more often.

The things you can’t yet do or don’t have much experience of are probably things that can be learnt on the job.

Of course, if what they’re asking for is experience in a specialised software that you’ve never even heard of it’s probably not worth going for. However, if the application asks for someone who has used a particular software and you have, don’t let not being an expert stop you from applying.

When you don’t perfectly meet all the criteria for a job application perhaps you feel like you won’t be able to do a good, you’re worried about your weaknesses (the things you’re not as experienced in) being exposed or maybe you don’t think you’ll get an interview.

All that stuff is just guesswork. You can apply to a job you’re perfectly qualified for and not get it, you can apply to a job you’re 75% qualified for and get it.

The risk of applying is minimal, I think the real risk is in getting your hopes up.

But the purpose of taking a risk is knowing there’s a chance it might not work and doing it anyway.

Worth the hassle

Before deciding whether or not to do something it’s worth asking yourself if it is worth the hassle.

Sometimes, we jump in head first because we think we should do something or we feel like we’re supposed to do it.

Instead, I think it’s much more helpful to assess if it’s something that even needs to be done. The last thing you want is to out of your way or go above and beyond for something that you don’t consider worth it or something you will regret agreeing to.

An example could be agreeing to help someone when you’re already busy. Something like that is rarely worth the hassle and being considered helpful for taking on too much and exhausting yourself probably won’t make it any more worth it.

Moving towards future plans

When starting something new, whilst it’s great to have a long term strategy, it is also important to focus on the present.

The last thing thing you want to do is get overwhelmed or distracted with where you want to be in a few years time.

The long term strategy gives you something to focus on and can help you figure out what you need to be doing day to day in order to achieve the bigger goal.

But what can end up happening is that you’re so focused on the little things you’re doing each day that you aren’t actually moving any closer to your goal.

And so it’s important to ensure that you regularly check in to keep things moving forward.

The people and the work

The idea that what you are doing might not be good enough can be difficult to accept. Especially when that might be the reason why people aren’t supporting your work.

It’s much easier to hide behind the excuse that people just aren’t supporting you because you’re not popular but if it was *insert name of celebrity*, they’d be all over it.

That could be true for some situations but it isn’t always the case.

On the flipside, instead of playing the blame game you could accept that maybe your work needs work.

Instead of feeling frustrated that you aren’t getting enough support take some time out hone your craft, learn something new and improve. Then put your work out again.

If it’s better received great but if not then maybe you need to change the people you’re sharing it with.

Reacting to mistakes

Here are 2 options for how to react when someone makes a mistake.

The first is to get mad as if the person made the mistake on purpose, maybe shout at them and ask why they did it.

The second is to let them know what they could have done better.

It’s similar to the idea of criticism and feedback. One of these reactions is useful whilst the other is simply someone using it as an opportunity to take out their own anger or frustration.

The first reaction will likely have someone feeling bad for doing something wrong and overtime could contribute to a fear of failure.

The second reaction will help someone understand what they can do differently next time and encourages growth.

Maybe they don’t trust you yet

When you’re putting out work out there having people support you enough to promote your work takes trust.

Trust is something that is earned, yet many people expect it simply because they’re putting in time and effort.

However, earning someone’s trust isn’t just about what you do, it’s about how a person feels about what you do.

You can end up sacrificing the work you want to create by trying to appease people in the hopes of gaining their trust. But I think it’s actually really important to start by trusting yourself and the work you’re putting out.

Something as simple as taking a step back and asking yourself questions like ‘Would I share this online if I saw it?’ or ‘Is this something I would talk about?’ can be incredibly useful.

If you can honestly answer yes to both of those questions then maybe the reason people aren’t sharing or talking about your work is because they don’t trust you yet.

Keep working and give it time.

Free promotion

Something that you may have observed in almost any field of work is that once momentum starts to pick up, the people that support you or your work will begin to promote you themselves.

However, it’s not that you no longer have to promote yourself.

But what happens is when you build up a network/group of people that believe in what you do they will eventually talk about your work with the people they know and words will spread. Essentially you end up getting free promotion without even asking.

It could be something as simple as when someone asks for a recommendation, your brand/work is what they bring up. However, over time it may go further, to the point where your work is brought up as a conversation starter rather than in response to something.