It’s very easy to make a silly mistake! One, that when you look back at it, you just shake your head at yourself. The negative chatter comes in as you berate yourself for not being ‘on it’, for forgetting something, not seeing the obvious or noticing something amiss.
How much energy and time do we waste giving ourselves a hard time?
My wonderful coach – Helena Holrick – gifted me this question – ‘What is the opportunity in this?’ And now I use it whenever something goes a bit wrong or not how I would have liked it to turn out.
This morning I woke up full of energy and inspiration, after architecting my day the evening before (read my blog – How to Prioritise to Beat Overwhelm, to find out more about this productivity technique – https://medium.com/@ginadallison/how-to-prioritise-to-beat-overwhelm-6ea8a20fe7e4?source=friends_link&sk=88e631372c2af8cb91c35305c320c7fc)
I looked at my carefully prioritised To-Do list and set about my first task, by constructing a Facebook post to inform people about my new programme, directing them to my website for further information. At just a couple of paragraphs, it was not too onerous.
Anyone out there who is travelling the entrepreneurial path will understand the challenges of doing everything yourself. One day I hope to have a team of people doing the tasks that don’t totally fill me with joy, but at the moment I am wearing lots of hats!
So after writing the post, I then proof-read it myself, which is not an easy task, as your brain thinks it knows what you wanted to write, so doesn’t always see what is actually there. I did everything I could think of to ensure that there weren’t any typos or words missing. I took a little break, went back to it. Read it out loud mindfully, carefully considering the language I was using.
I was happy with the result.
I had checked that my website was in order and entered the domain address at the end of the post.
I made sure the settings were on ‘Public’ and pressed ‘Post’. I then whizzed off to my exercise class, feeling very proud of myself.
I went to turn my phone to silent just before the class started and noticed I had a FB message from a friend, telling me that she had tried to follow the link to my website and it wasn’t working!
I was puzzled. I quickly checked my website again – all good! So I sent her the website link.
She then spotted the one thing I hadn’t checked! My website is ginadallison.com, and I had written on my post ginadallison.co.uk!!
Doh! I don’t even know my own website name! Even though I had sourced and purchased it myself!
NO!!! I was not going to indulge in a beating-myself-up session – What is the opportunity in this?
A blog post of course!
As an avid listener to Esther Hicks, I have heard her say many many times – ‘you can’t get it wrong’. Consider this thought. What if we really can’t get it wrong and everything (yes – everything) is actually an opportunity waiting to be taken?
Instead of condemning myself, I congratulated myself, and wrote this blog in my fastest time yet!
I will now take a break, get some fresh air and do a short meditation before checking this again, however if anyone spots a glaring error in this blog – feel free to let me know!
If you are interested in knowing more about how to incorporate short meditations into your day which both calms and grounds you – check out my Magical Mindful Moments live from Facebook every Monday at 6.40am BST – https://www.facebook.com/GinaDallisonCoaching/videos/2580552828644313/?eid=ARDQao8QE_1hmXDmOYN3-vooosac2IokfQdKZVbwnpgAGLIiVkckBT486LED07KXvBDeTk9XN4GPLaH7&timeline_context_item_type=intro_card_work&timeline_context_item_source=528024936&fref=tag
This question – What is the opportunity in this? – immediately shifts my mind-set which, instead of stopping me in my tracks, energises and motivates me to inspired action.
This was such a silly mistake, not the end of the world, but very annoying. Sometimes the smallest thing can send us falling back down that rabbit hole of self-loathing and negative talk.
The next time you notice that you are chastising yourself for some daft oversight or error, remind yourself that ‘you can’t get it wrong’, in which case ‘what is the opportunity in this?’
By the way, if you are feeling unhappy about one or more areas of your life, it could be worth your while to have a look at my brand new programme which is starting on 1st July – I am looking for 4 more people to take part in the pilot group. Find out more at https://ginadallison.com/