How to Overcome your Natural Resistance

How to Overcome your Natural Resistance

Derived from…
Seth Godin, Linchpin: Are You Indispensable
Previously
How Gifting is Similar and Different to Freemium

RAP8 : Your Resistance
PROFIT : Faced with a new challenge, it’s likely you’re going to come face to face with your lizard brain. It’s going to jump to attention and try to talk you out of doing anything new or different. To create your art you’re going to need to address this. Here’s some clues…

Your Lizard Brain
Our brain is like a modern city built over the top of a medieval one.
The leftovers of the past continue to shape our current actions.
In particular our lizard brain is programmed to keep us safe, alive and fed.
Whereas the rest of our brain is designed to keep us happy, successful and part of society.
At times they’re competing forces.
And, to be a Linchpin requires you to quieten the cries of anxiety from our lizard brains.

Quietening The Lizard
There are two clear methods for managing your resistance to being an artist.

The first way is to seek reassurance.
If you fear you have left the oven turned on and your house is going to burn down, then go and check the oven.
By rewarding your anxiety it will quieten down – at least for now.
Unfortunately, you just trained it to show up again next time.

The second way is to sit with it.
That’s right, just notice it, acknowledge it, say ‘hello anxiety’ and become it’s friend.
At first, this may make it worse. However, if you can be with it long enough it will burn itself out and quietly disappear.
Eventually, the anxiety will diminish and run out of steam.

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