How to avoid feeling guilty
Social media is not the only culprit when it comes to making us feel anxious, inadequate and more than a little bit guilty. Let’s face it as business owners, we are all capable of putting ourselves under too much pressure to work longer and harder and as a result we spend more time at our desks and less time enjoying ourselves.
How it happens
It’s not hard to see how it happens. You read people’s posts or hear others talking about where they’ve been, who they’ve seen networking, how many new leads they have, who they’re connected to, what new clients they have won and suddenly you feel like you could be doing so much more.
So instead of feeling that you are doing ok, you start to doubt yourself and rethink everything. This might result in increased working hours, speaking to too many different people, procrastination, changing your working patterns and reducing your ‘me’ time.
Don’t give away your power
If so now ‘s the time to stop and think. Comparing yourself to others isn’t healthy. If you’re too busy trying to keep up with everyone else, or waste time comparing yourself to other people, you might be overlooking and devaluing your own strengths and talents. Or as someone said to me recently, “Whenever you focus on what other people have that you don’t, you give away your power.”
But perhaps the biggest benefits are when you can finally let go of guilt. You will then find you have more energy, focus, positivity and generally feel much happier. This will have a knock-on effect in building your confidence, increasing your productivity and improving your mental health.
Celebrate you
Here’s my checklist to help you embrace and celebrate the brilliance and uniqueness that is you:
Ignore stuff – you don’t have to read, listen to or take to heart everything that people do, think, imply or say.
Be thankful - write down all the things you’re grateful for and put them in a jar. When you are experiencing moments of guilt or self-doubt, read a few to remind yourself about everything that you have.
Focus on your own achievements and goals. Where are you compared to where you were at this time last year? Or five years ago? Go through diaries, planners or journals to remind yourself what you have learnt, created, improved and accomplished.
Improve your inner communications– change the language that you use when faced with these feelings. Instead of being self-critical, be your own best friend and learn to big yourself up.
Take control of your attitude – be happy and satisfied with where you are in life and stop worrying about what other people are doing. When you are content you won’t want more than you need and already have.
If you’d like some help to change your thinking and behaviours, so you can ditch the guilt, please get in touch. I can support you through bespoke one-to-one coaching, or development programmes, enabling you to become happier, more confident and productive.