We’ve all heard stories about the nightmare boss who is never satisfied, is continually changing what they ask for and is overly critical about everything.
Luckily I never had a boss like that in the corporate world.
But I did encounter that boss when I started my journey in entrepreneurship.
It was me.
I was always respectful of my direct reports in a corporate setting. But when I became my own manager, I treated myself completely differently.
I had unreasonable expectations. I was over-critical. If I achieved a goal I changed my expectation because obviously I had set my sights too low.
And the way I spoke to myself inside my head…
A manager would be fired for abusing their employees if they spoke like that.
I was being hard on myself to guarantee my success. But it backfired.
Because I couldn’t trust myself to be kind, forgiving, respectful and loving, I started having a lot of fear related to taking risks or doing anything that would lead to discomfort.
Everything you do when starting a business leads to discomfort. The first time we set a goal we often fail to achieve it. That is the growth process of an entrepreneur.
Now I know that the self-inflicted shame & judgement will never lead to success. I trust myself to be compassionate as I go through the iterative process of achieving goals. I am resilient enough to stick with the process when I’m not talking crap about myself.
Are there risks you’re not taking because you don’t trust how you’ll treat yourself if you fail? That’s something I help my coaching clients with. Message me if you’d like my help too.
