Trying something new is often super tiring! I know all my business owners or aspiring business owners out there can relate.
And the tiring toll doesn’t necessarily happen from long hours trying to master this new offering.
Even if you’ve been in your business for a while, you know that offering a new service can be mentally taxing. This happens to me all the time. This is especially true in something like writing where you have limited hours of the day for maximum creative energy.
At the beginning of my business journey, I used to think that if something felt so taxing to me, maybe I wasn’t meant to be doing it. But I’ve learned that that’s not the case. Just because we don’t hit flow with something the first few times we try it, doesn’t mean we’re not meant to be doing it or adding significant value.
We all have to start somewhere. The starting points may be different based on our past experiences, but here’s why you should keep going if that new thing feels difficult.
Learning Something New
We’ll start with the most obvious. You’re learning something new. Learning something new takes a lot more brain power than just executing on the things you already know how to do.
Learning in and of itself takes up a fair amount of brain power, but when we’re running a business, we’re not just learning in a vacuum. We’re learning while trying to provide the service to clients while also trying to run the rest of our business. It makes sense that our brains are working in over drive.
And we also know that learning in real life isn’t a straight line. It can take some trial and error of finding out what works and what doesn’t work. What feels good and what doesn’t feel good. That’s a whole different type of learning.
So when you’re starting a new offer in your business, give yourself grace as you move up the learning curve.
Piecing Together Experiences
Our brains don’t operate in a silo. We naturally try to leverage and understand how our past experiences inform our current experiences or may inform our future experiences. When we pursue a new offering, we’re not learning something new, but we’re putting together the puzzle of how our past experiences fit in to support this new offer.
And our past experiences often don’t lead us in a straight line. For one thing, they are likely varied in nature. For example, my past experiences include being a student athletic trainer in college, dabbling in teaching and coaching, moving into the corporate world, and now starting my own business as a writer. Each of those experiences is valuable, and whether I realize it or not, I’m always integrating them into how I work.
Our past experiences are also varied in what we take away from them. Not all experiences are rainbows and butterflies. As we make new offers, we may need to work on releasing or overcoming mindsets we’ve developed from past experiences.
This all sounds like a lot of brain power to me…
Demonstrate Humility
To me, being more taxed when making a new offering demonstrates humility. If everything new that we ever tried seemed easy, we’re probably assuming that we know it all without having awareness of the true expertise entailed with a new skill.
Don’t get me wrong, there are definitely people with a gift that can jump in and immediately be good at something, but I have to believe that even for them, their craft gets easier over time.
Knowing you’re working at something new and that it should be a bit more challenging is a way of recognizing what you don’t know. So if you’re feeling down about being tired trying something new, remind yourself that you have an awareness of all there is to learn, but don’t let it stop you from stepping into action.
If writing a book is something new you’ve been wanting to try but you want someone to help relieve some of the mental load, I’ve got your back! Let’s chat in a free strategy session!
Disclaimer: This blog should not be construed as providing, or intending to provide professional financial, legal, psychological, or other professional advice. It is simply meant to share my experiences with those who may find them relatable and helpful.