Why does success seem like it has involve such hard work; and yet, the rich and famous people are out there, finding time to do cool things and support important causes? How do we bend time, use the law of attraction to draw more customers, and get rid of negative thinking habits that bring our business down? How do we apply more yin in our business model?
I just got off of a tele-conference with the sweet-voiced Angela May, fellow goddess and co-founder of Dream Lash, who gave some incredibly helpful insights on old-paradigm thinking patterns that sabotage business owners.
The call was a part of the an inspiring ‘Abundant Goddess Summit‘ led by the compassionate and ever-truth seeking Erika Matos. I wanted to learn about the divine feminine ways of creating and manifesting businesses, and I found this series almost by accident online – and am so grateful that I did!
Angela said something that resonated with me – that we must embrace the dark – for that is where new life is created. For instance, plants, humans. Darkness is an opportunity to learn more about oneself, heal, and birth new ideas. It goes along with one of Thich Nhat Hanh’s quotes I use quite often, ‘No Mud, No Lotus’.
In an eloquent manner, she went on to describe ‘old-paradigm’ thinking that makes many business owners fail (in her words “There is no such thing as business that fails; but rather the entrepreneur”).
Thinking patterns of the struggling entrepreneur and how to shift them.
1. They are always closed to help.
I have seen this so many times – our current day model promotes self-help and using our mind and logic to solve problems. And yet, most successful people I know, know how to leverage their networks, or even get help from friends, family, healers, counselors. Given that we are inter-relational beings, it seems to make sense that we weren’t meant to solve everything on our own – starting from the day we were diaper-clad and dependent on the loving attention of our caretakers.
Shifting to the mindset of ‘I am always happy to receive help’, or viewing others as a source of help rather than hindrance, is a way of opening up ones heart to receiving more from the universe.
2. They use the words, “I can’t because…”
I am personally guilty of this one. I will find a million excuses of why I can’t do something, and for me, my excuse is always, “because I don’t have my vision clarified yet”. Angela reminded us that there were entrepreneurs in every category of human being possible. Just today, a friend posted this article on Facebook, ‘Think You’re Too Old to be an Entrepreneur? Think Again.‘ which again reminded me that we are never too old (or different, or a minority), to start anything we want.
We can shift our language and perception by saying, “I choose not to because I’m scared of…”. Follow this with a statement around how you will recover and what you will do if that fear does happen.
For instance, for me, I could say, “I choose not to expand beyond my coaching business and adding more programs, because I’m scared of moving down the wrong path and changing my vision, which would mean I would have to reinvent myself or waste time”. I could follow this with, “I will continue to do things that I love, without caring about the outcome; and even if I did start going down the wrong path, so what! At least I’m getting more clarity along the way” 🙂
3. Believing that they are the effect of the world, rather than the cause
This is one that brings in victim-hood thinking, but also takes away responsibility of one’s success from oneself. If we do believe that we are creating the world around us, it leads to a sense of empowerment; and also, every action, word and thought becomes an intentional choice, creating a more conscious outcome, over time.
Once one has gained mastery over their state, they can become a cause for others’ transformation.
4. Unable to see ‘horizontal time’
Angela described horizontal time as one that is accumulative, rather than purely sequential. For instance, if you do tiny steps everyday, you will achieve what you wanted to achive over time. Having a daily practice to do even tiny activities that ultimately lead us to our desired outcome, is the discipline we must incorporate. She recommends 10 steps per day – such as, creating a blog post, finishing a logo design, taking a course – whatever it is that is slowly leading you in the right direction!
I am reminded of this famous Buddhist quote, “If we are facing in the right direction, all we have to do is keep on walking” – it is one that I have to remind myself of everyday.
5. Money comes from Facebook or Google
Money comes from People, not multimedia platforms 🙂 Angela reinforced the need to understand the psychology of one’s customers – to understand their hopes, dreams and goals, and to inspire them to work with us.
See more about how entrepreneurs sabotage themselves, in Part II.
