Overwhelmed Creatives is a multi-part series that teaches you the causes of overwhelm, and exactly what you can do to get out of overwhelm and into your creative power. Check out the series here.
Let’s talk about the difference between math (data) and everything else. Because there is data and then there is everything else — all the drama and stories that we tell ourselves, believe, and buy into without realizing that it is totally, completely optional. If you buy into all the stories that your brain tells you, I promise that you are underperforming and not making the contribution that you are capable of. And I bet you know that.
Scientific Process
First, let’s talk about the Scientific Process, which is the action of the scientific method we all learned in grade school. The scientific process is a great lens to view your business and will help clarify the data from the drama.
Here is the Scientific Process viewed through a business lens:
Ask a question
Do research
Construct a hypothesis
Test with an experiment
Is the procedure working?
If yes, keep doing
No?
Change one variable in the experiment
Still not working?
Analyze data and draw conclusions
Create a new hypothesis
Repeat until you get the result you want
Building your business (or achieving your goal) is one big experiment. You will continue to tweak, adjust, and try new things until you get the result you want.
IF YOU USE THE SCIENTIFIC PROCESS IN YOUR BUSINESS, YOU WILL ACHIEVE YOUR DESIRED AND EVEN IMPOSSIBLE RESULTS.
Why? Because you will view everything in your business through the lens of data vs. drama. You won’t buy into your brain’s story that you’re a failure because no one bought your new painting or signed up for your course so obviously you should just quit now and spare yourself from future failure because you’re never going to ‘make it’ anyway.
Instead, you might question why no one bought your newly launched painting or course — you might look at your marketing and your positioning, maybe the copy that you used, your ads, did you make enough offers, and even drill down into your newsletter headlines, etc. You will be an investigator from your client/customer’s perspective — why didn’t they buy? [You might even ask them!]. You will get curious and seek understanding and awareness. You will not dive head first into the pit of compare and despair, and then get stuck there for eternity.
You have all the answers within you. You have all the inner wisdom you need, you just need to give yourself permission to tune in and act on your ideas. Your unique brilliance combined with the scientific process will allow you to test, experiment, and most importantly keep going until you nail it. Until you try all the lock combinations that lead you to your unique combination, everything clicks, and your lock clicks open. Like a gymnast who nails their last flip and knows it. That’s what it feels like when you’ve tried all the combinations, don’t buy into the story that you’ll never figure it out, and then it works. Then you know you’ve got it.
Thought Work:
- What is a question you have about your business?
- If you knew how to solve this challenge, what would you do?
- What other experiments could you try?
- What is one thing you want to try within the next week? (Put it on your calendar!)
A Note on Math vs. Drama
Working for yourself, creating a business, achieving a goal all requires lots of testing and experimentation. The best way to gauge progress is through measurement and numbers.
You’ll need to decide how to measure your progress. It might be the number of pages written, number of products designed, how many photography sessions booked, how many offers you’ve extended, how many teachings you’ve recorded in your course, etc.
As you keep track of your stats, you’ll know which part of your goal or business to improve. Some things will work right away, and some might take 20-30 iterations until it’s successful.
Math is just numbers, and your brain will want to have opinions about what the numbers mean. This is where you can practice having your own back. You get to choose what the numbers mean — does five planter prototypes that are too heavy mean that you’re a terrible designer and should probably quit and move onto something else? Or does it mean that you are all in, learning exactly what makes an amazing planter, deepening your design skills, and creating the perfect product for your ideal customer? You can choose to keep your opinion on the backburner (and choose to believe a supportive one) and use the numbers to guide your testing.
Thought Work:
- If you’re just getting started and don’t have measurable progress yet: What are you making it mean if you don’t have anything to show for your goal yet?
- If you do have measurable progress: What are you making it mean that variables of your scientific process aren’t all working or complete yet?
- What areas of your goal or business do you want to begin measuring?
READY TO SUPERCHARGE YOUR CREATIVE CONFIDENCE?
If fear and doubt are holding you back, apply to my coaching program where I give you the tools you need to show up with unshakeable self-belief and confidence so you can create and contribute in ways you KNOW you are capable of.
