« Monetize your shitty customers | Main | Don’t give a blind person a book to read »

Screw your reputation

Every time I want to hit the publish button for one of my blog posts thousands of thoughts flash through my head at the same time. Will people like what I wrote? Will they hate it? Will they talk bad about me? Will they think I’ve gone crazy?

What about that one particular guy? Will he read it and then never ever answer my calls, my mails or even ignore me the next time we bump into each other? I get scared and want to delete it. But I can’t. I have to keep pushing…

That’s the moment when I usually sit back for a while, relax and tell myself that most of the things might happen or they might not. But at the end of the day it doesn’t really matter anyways, because I remind myself that I don’t have anything to lose. I can only win.

Whatever I do, I can only win.

If I do nothing at all, no one will ever hear about that one awesome idea I had, that one cool product I built or that cool service I just launched. If I don’t get my shit straight and get my stuff out there I will die old and lonely reflecting about all the cool things I could have done.

And I know that this will drive me crazy.  Nevertheless, I have to constantly fight that small beast in the back of my head that makes me hesitate and question the things I do over and over again.

It's a nasty little creature. A creature that wants to slow me down all the time. A creature that holds me back from doing and creating things.

I’d like to call that nasty creature reputation.

It comes out when you least expect it and it crawls up your skin, up your neck and gets into your head and starts to screw up your thinking. It makes you blind. It somehow makes you stop thinking clearly and it forces you to focus on this one single thing only:

But what about my reputation?

And the moment it gets into your head all these thoughts keep popping up again. And that’s the moment you start to get stuck. You start to get stuck in your doubts and your tremendous fear of losing your reputation. You’re stuck, just like that expert is stuck.

The worst thing that can happen to you is to believe that you even have a reputation to begin with. That people do really care about what you say, feel or do. But the truth is people generally don’t care about you at all. I know it's hard to accept it, but that's the sad truth.

And the only way to get unstuck and get out of this vicious circle of believing that you have a reputation is to remind and tell yourself this one thing over and over again:

Screw this. Screw my reputation. Believing that I have a reputation will only hold me back from doing great things, from creating cool things.

That's at least what helps me every time I'm scared to hit the publish button (just like right now)...

Twitter | | Pinterest | Facebook

+++++++++++++++++++++

++ YANN'S DAILY BLOG ++


  • Ideas on entrepreneurship, seeing & believing. Established 2013. Daily since 2015. Start here...
Email subscription form header
Please enter all required fields Click to hide
Correct invalid entries Click to hide

Search

Archives

More...

Quote Box


  • "97% of the people out there won't care about what you do. Act accordingly."

     

  • "Money is not for buying things. Things don’t make us happy. Money is for buying ourselves some freedom to do the things that make us happy."

     

  • "Being unrealistic is the most realistic thing you could do."

     

  • "You just need one person who cares about what you do. And that person is you. And no one else. It all starts with you."

     

  • "We always think we have enough time. Until we realize there's no more time left."

     

  • "The only way to stay ahead of the curve is to create your own curve."

     

  • "Be the dealer. Don't be the junkie. The dealer always wins. And the junkie always dies."

     

  • "The only person you should try to please is your 80 year old self."

     

  • "It's hard to see the light at the end of the tunnel when you keep your eyes closed.."

     

  • "Most advice doesn’t work. Because most advice comes from people who’ve never even done the things they're taking about. And that's dangerous."

     

  • "Being able to build something out of nothing is the most important skill. For what? For everything!"

     

  • "Why are people who write about millionaire habits not millionaires?"

     

  • "No one will magically find out about you."

     

  • "The things you don't want to do are usually the things you should be doing. They're almost always the things that will get you where you want to be."

     

  • "Don't let other people's reality be your reality.."

     

  • "Today it's easier to get started than ever before. That's why most people give up so easily. Because it was so easy to begin with."

     

  • "When you hate your job you'll never be able to do more than just mediocre work."

     

  • "Don't listen too all the life advice out there. It's all B.S. Just like this right here."

     

  • "No one starts as an expert. We all start from the bottom. And have to work our way to the top."

     

  • "The only thing that will ever lead to quality is quantity. To do it over and over again. That’s the only way."

     

  • "Be a Warrior, not a Worrier!"

     

  • "New ways of doing things never work. Until they do. Just like old ways of doing things always work. Until they dont."

     

  • "Constantly thinking about things won’t get you anywhere. You'll never find a solution just by thinking about it. You've gotta start doing."

     

  • "Not getting it right is part of the process of getting it right."

     

  • "How long does it take to change the world? As long as it takes to change yourself. So probably your whole life."

     

  • "Focusing on results won't get you results. Focusing on the actions that produce results will get you results."

     

  • "It's easy to forget all the things you have when all you do is to focus on the things you don't have."

     

  • "Perfection will only hold you back"

     

  • "Never listen to anyone who has never done what you're doing or want to do. Ignore your parents, your friends and pretty much everybody else."

     

  • "Trading time for money is not freedom. It’s a prison. The only way you’ll ever be able to make more money is to trade more of your time."

     

  • "The only way to beat the system is to know the system. Inside out."

     

  • "It's not what you do on your good days that will make you. It's almost always what you do on your bad days that will either make you or break you."