Out of hiding…

I’ve been thinking a lot this week about hiding. Or, perhaps more correctly, about why I should make sure that I’m not always doing it.

 

Yet, it’s easy to hide. To find something safe and somewhat comfortable and even if it’s not where you actually want to be – you know that where you want to get to, means being out there in the big bad world.

Maybe, you don’t even know where you want to get to. But you know that too means casting off the safety net and taking steps into the unknown.

Through my work and through my hobbies, I am absolutely privileged beyond doubt to meet amazing people every single day.

Often, I get to tell the stories of these real-life, genuine heroes and heroines and I’m truly in awe of them.

I think they’d laugh at the idea of that. And yet, I hear their stories or in many cases see their story unfold and I know these are truly outstanding people.

Ordinary folk for sure, but they are brilliant people doing fantastic things.

Yet, some of them I would say are hiding.

Some of them have a safe place now and the 100 reasons why they should not leave is pouring cold water on the one burning a hole in them every day telling them why they should.

And I get that. I get the idea of safety and security and I also get that it is also not easy to put yourself out front and centre, if that is far from your comfort zone.

Trust me. I am an introvert by nature, sneaking into the corner away from the spotlight is my default setting.

But I’ve also learned that when you are in that corner, your head can easily fill with doubts and before you know it, you somehow think that you are less.

And then the excuses sneak in and all of a sudden the world and its mother are to blame for all of your woes.

I was thinking on this during the week, when I heard photographer Jay Doherty talk of how he had gone about setting up his business.

If it failed, he said, it was down to him. Nobody else would be to blame, but it didn’t stop him from going for it anyway.

As I drove home that night, my head started processing some of the stories I had written, heard and witnessed of the people around me in recent weeks and months.

When I thought on something else Jay had said that night: embrace every new experience as part of the adventure, I remembered that one of my own poems had suggested you need to get beyond the edge of the comfort zone for the magic to happen.

Another poem sprung to mind then, a reminder to forget comparisons and remember what a brilliant person you really are.

For me, all of that was a reminder to stop hiding behind excuses and to make a start on getting on with stuff I’d procrastinated over.

Who knows where any of that’s going to lead me, but sure isn’t that all part of the adventure?

Once upon a time….

 

In recent weeks two things that came up in conversation struck a chord with me. On one occasion someone wondered about my upcoming talk at Donegal Business Week on how to help businesses tell their story.

“But if you go in and tell them how to do it, will that not mean you are giving away all the information and then you’ll lose out on work for yourself?

The second conversation had a friend ask me how he could write about himself without ‘sounding like a pompous git.’

Let’s take that second one first.

A lot of people struggle to write about themselves.

It seems unnatural to some – not everybody – to be so self promotional.

And yet, we are told time and time again that we should “tell our story.”

Now, take that back to the talk on March 10th when I’ll speak to, what I hear, may well be a packed house – and will share some of my ‘secrets.’

The thing is, these secrets are not really all that secret. I have been telling stories in one form or another for years upon years now. From that experience I have packaged up some things that I hope will make sense to these business owners and will make them want to stop and think.

When you open up like this, when you invite people to listen, to join in, to collaborate, it becomes a shared learning experience that benefits everyone. And everyone loves it anyway when you share some of your secrets with them, even if they are not all that secret.

Think on someone like Jamie Oliver or any of the now famous television chefs. They regularly share their ‘secrets’ for millions of viewers. It doesn’t suddenly mean that everyone rushes out to cook all the time for themselves.

On another post on this blog you’ll find that I did write about the benefits of hiring an expert, but that’s not to say that you can’t or shouldn’t have the knowledge to be able to speak to that expert about what it is you actually want from them.

I’m hoping that those who attend on March 10 will take away lots to ponder and work on when it comes to telling their story.

There’s a few weeks yet until that happens, giving me just enough time to get busy cooking up some super content.

Not to mention trying to find a way to let everyone know how good it’s going to be…without sounding like a pompous git 😉