Has Your Marketing Become a Box?3 min read
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I recently started to do something different in my marketing.
On holidays (such as the 4th of July) and vacations, I don’t write this eZine/Blog anymore. I actually take a break and relax.
I used to think that I SHOULD write this thing every single week with no exceptions and that anything else was just weakness or poor planning.
Well, that was just stupid.
It’s all part of a distorted belief system that tells us, “I must be productive at all times or I will fail.”
We are all so hard on ourselves, but what does that get us?
Doesn’t it ultimately undermine our effectiveness and productivity?
After all, when it comes down to it, I find work to be a fun and rewarding pursuit. Why muck it all up with arbitrary rules about how hard I should work and how much I must get done?
Whenever I put that pressure on myself, then resistance builds as well and it becomes hard to just have fun in my work.
This image just sprang to mind:
What if I built a box of a certain size and shape and then told myself that I and my work had to conform to the size and shape of that box?
That box is all the rules, systems, and principles that I somehow determined would help me be successful and happy.
“Yes, I will do my work THAT way and that will lead to control in my business and my life and be happy!”
You know, rules, systems, and principles are cool when used as tools to pick up and use when they are useful and appropriate, but not so great when we become their slaves.
What does your box look like?
Here some common boxes we build to fit our marketing inside. Which ones sound familiar to you?
I can only write if it’s perfect. And I need huge blocks of time to write. And if people don’t like what I write, my reputation will be ruined.
I need to have every part of my marketing system completely planned out before I start. I need more than a good plan, I need a perfect plan.
I need at least 5,000 likes on my Facebook business page and I need to post at least 4 valuable pieces of content each day.
I need a few years training in speaking before I can get any talks booked. And, of course, I need a book before I can get any talks – and it must be published by a major publisher.
It never works to call someone if you don’t know them. No, I have to arrange my marketing so that people call me. Anything else is unprofessional.
All of this is obviously delusional (or perhaps, not so obvious)
We all start with imperfect knowledge, underdeveloped skills and not enough time to do it all.
When you break out of your box of “I needs”, “I shoulds” and “I musts” we can simply work on what is right in front of us.
And we can do things imperfectly because that’s the only way anything gets done.
And outside of your constrictive box, you just may have some fun. Imagine that!
What’s up for me right now is to have fun in my marketing and business and let it be a natural expression of what I am inspired to do in this moment.
But I’d better not make that a rule, or before you know it I’ll have a list of bogus rules on how to have fun!
Yes, this may sound and feel a little chaotic, but at the same time, I trust myself to do what works.
Off to another project, and see you next week.
Cheers, Robert
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