4 Emotions In the Way of Your Black Woman Millionaire Status
Emotion #1: Fear.
Successful entrepreneurs take risks. They are typically calculated risks, but risks nonetheless. Sometimes you have got to trust the God-sent intuition that sits in your gut. Of course risk-taking alone won’t get you to where you want to be, but speaking up, stepping up, going against the grain, doing things differently, being unpopular and misunderstood, failure, blazing a new trail – these are all things that the world’s greatest achievers have endured and faced. Most didn’t reach the mountaintop without overcoming fear. So make sure the delays and procrastination of starting your business aren’t rooted in fear. Make sure you’re not sabotaging your success with silly moves and missed deadlines because deep down yo u are afraid to fail. Examine and list all of your fears and then make it a point to do something scary every day that conquers those fears.
Emotion #2: Self-Doubt.
When I think about self-doubt, I think about the power in the lesson of the Wizard of Oz. Often our self-doubt comes from society’s definitions and our mistaken perceptions about who success is reserved for, and our inability to see ourselves as just as capable and worthy of that success. The reality is, when you look behind the curtain, we’re all just trying to find our way and walk in our purpose. We all get scared. We all fail and fall short, but also we all can be great. It starts with a decision to be great, then the follow-through on the decision and then the persistence and courage to get up when we fall. Repeat. So don’t talk yourself out of seeing the millionaire in you. Don’t listen to the narrative that tells you you’re not ready, worthy, capable, or strong enough.
Emotion #3: Overwhelm.
We’ve all been there, but you’ve got to pull it together and get on track when the overwhelming feeling attempt to take over. Map out the list that seems scary – no matter how long, the items on it CAN be tackled, whether it’s one week, day, hour at a time. Commit to focusing on things in order of priority. Say no and learn to recognize when an “urgent matter” isn’t really urgent enough to disrupt your schedule and system. Figure out where your distractions and fires come from – meaning track them. The ones that show themselves most probably can be fixed with an automated system, delegation, or outside help. Read my blog, You’re On Track If Your Daily Focus Is In These 4 Areas, and learn to release or at least block time more strategically for your work on the things that don’t fall in these areas. If you want to reduce feelings of overwhelm, name and visually map everything that keeps you up at night, putting those items in priority order, and find ways to eliminate some of them from your plate. Learning to focus more relentlessly on prioritized outputs and over time things will fall into place and chaos will seize.
Emotion #4: Distrust.
Trust yourself. Trust God. Trust the universe. Trust your intuition. When your spiritual, physical, and emotional house is in order, and you trust these things. When you do, it makes it easier to trust relationships, people, opportunities, and risks as well. Why? It’s because you’ll have clarity and focus, and because you can sense and screen better. When I meditate and pray, work out, eat healthy and read, I’m better-positioned to make the right decisions about business relationships, opportunities, risks, pivots, and other major decisions. My discernment is sharp and on point. Don’t sleep on the value of your state of mind, body and spirit and its impact on your business success.
Sistahs, the best thing about these types of destructive emotions is that you can manage them with self-care, and with a powerful decision to eliminate them and a ritual to work them out of your system when they are triggered. You can also combat them by surrounding yourself with people who have little tolerance for fear, self-doubt, overwhelm, and distrust. These people can model for you what it looks like to live life without such negative emotions, and encourage you to do the same. Cheers to your joy and success, Sis! Go get em’!