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Hey there, I'm Marie Forleo and for the last 20 years, I've helped millions of people
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transform their businesses and lives.
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If you're ready to make the difference you were born to make, get ready because this is
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the Marie Forleo podcast.
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This is Q&A Tuesday.
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That means Q's and A's and today's question comes from Malia and she writes,
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How do you deal with the daily battles of fear and self-doubt in business?
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How do you ultimately channel that energy into selling yourself your product or your service
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even though you may not fully be confident in yourself?
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Malia, great question.
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I especially love that you didn't ask, how do I become constantly confident?
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You asked something way better, which is how to work through that lack of confidence
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and continue to move your business ahead.
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One of the biggest myths out there is that you have to be confident to be successful.
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That is so not true.
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Every creator who consistently takes risks and shares their ideas and produces work feels
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fear and self-doubt.
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I feel fear and self-doubt on a daily basis and a little reality check here.
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Those daily battles do not go away with time, experience, or even massive fame.
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Grammy award-winning artist Adele has talked publicly about projectile vomiting on someone
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in Brussels and then another time in Amsterdam, she got so scared, she escaped out the fire
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If you're an artist or an entrepreneur, fear and self-doubt are going to be your life
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So the question remains, how do you move ahead?
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Here's one trick that has always worked for me.
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I want you to think about your attention, your mental and emotional and spiritual energy
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as a flashlight and that flashlight can only shine in one direction.
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So in any given moment, that flashlight is shining in on you and how scared and insecure
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and fearful you are or it's shining out on your customer or the work that you're producing.
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When you shine that flashlight on you, all of your focus goes to your thoughts, which
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probably sound something like this.
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Oh my god, I suck so bad, everybody's going to hate it, I'm going to look like an idiot,
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I am not good enough yet, who do I think I am?
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And this flashlight is really unflattering.
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Now when it's shining out, all your attention is on your customer, what your customer feels
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and needs and wants and most importantly, how you can help them.
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Now here's the cool part, when your flashlight is 100% focused on them, you've got zero
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light on you and your fears and yourself doubt, which means they recede gently into the
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Obviously, this isn't a one time event, it's a practice and something that you have to
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come back to every day and often on a moment-to-moment basis.
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If you're ever feeling so much fear and self-doubt that you too might projectile vomit,
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you've got to ask yourself, in this moment, where am I shining the light?
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Because it's either on you or the customer, you or the work, you are making a difference.
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Me, them, me, them, me, them.
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Keep it as simple as that and if you want a little reminder to make this habit use this
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Your attention's like a flashlight.
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Shine it out on others and you lose sight of your own fear.
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Hey, if you want to write faster and make more sales, you got to grab my free seven-day
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writing class from the link in the description.
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Every lesson covers a simple but powerful technique to help you write words that make people
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want to whip out their credit cards and give you money.
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Go to MarieLivesU.com slash free writing class and get instant access to lesson one.
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Or if you're watching this episode on video, just scan the on-screen QR code right now.
