The book Launch by Jeff Walker just popped onto my radar via one of my internet mentors Jeff Goins and just looking at the cover gave me anxiety. Wait, isn’t the book meant to inspire me to get off my butt and actually take this online business thing seriously? Isn’t it supposed to teach me exactly how to make money from The Lifester instead of barely keeping it on life support and on the back burner as a “side project”? No, it’s actually giving me major anxiety because of the book’s subtitle: Sell Almost Anything Online, Build A Business You Love, And Live The Life Of Your Dreams. Why the panic? Let’s examine this.
The first thing the title promises that it will teach me to do is to Sell Almost Anything Online. The problem is that I don’t know what I want to sell online. Is it coaching that I should sell? Not really no, because I really want to give that away for free plus I’m not a certified coach. Is it ebooks that I should sell? Well, I do love to write but that would require writing one or two first which takes a tremendous amount of hard work and then I have the additional fear of what if no one buys it? Is it meditation that I should sell? Yes, but the most valuable meditation, which is the real life changing stuff that I teach can only be taught in person therefore it can’t be sold online. I just don’t know what I could sell or what I even want to sell! You can see the cause for panic starting here right?
The second part of the title is Build a Business You Love. The reality is that I have a massive fear of owning a business. I don’t understand business, I am not good with finances and forget about all the legal things you have to be aware of when you own and run businesses. How can I love my business when I don’t understand it at all?
The last thing on the subtitle is Live The Life Of Your Dreams. Hmm, the life of my dreams… It’s a dangerous game to plan the life of my dreams. I believe in going with the flow. I believe in the Universe, the higher power, the greater consciousness that’s I’m a small part of knowing what is best for me better than I could possibly know it myself. With these beliefs, it is hard to wish for a “dream life” that I think I should be living because it would require me to undermine the Universe and where it has put me and the reasons why I am where I am.
All this being said and all my fears now aired out, I do have one goal in this life and for that I do need to do a little lifestyle design. Sometimes fears are triggered for a reason and sometimes anxieties turn into full blown panic because the underlying trigger actually needs your attention. When you have a panicky reaction like I just had to a simple subtitle of a book, that means it’s a good time to look a little deeper within yourself. Start to get curious. Start asking yourself questions like “What am I hiding from here?” and “What about this is making me so scared?”, “Am I panicking because I think that I’m not good at this or ready for this or because I think people will disapprove?”. Dig deep, keep asking and be gentle with yourself.
I will be reading this book precisely because of the massive reaction I had just to the subtitle. If the root cause of my panic makes itself clear, I will let you know. Grab the book here if you want to read along with me.
