When faced with an unfamiliar challenge, our default reaction can often be to go with what we assume to be the safest path – our existing knowledge and skills. But playing it safe is not always your safest bet. This is often the case for new business owners and freelancers, when you don’t yet know what you don’t know (you know?).
Unfortunately, this can result in unnecessary stress and a lot of wasted time, potentially sabotaging your chances of achieving your goals. Sometimes, by taking a step back to rationally look at the bigger picture, you can give yourself the best chance of success and minimise stress.
Before we get underway, though, you’ll need a little more context. I created this lesson for a new creative freelancer I’ve been mentoring this past year. Let’s call her Billie. Billie was unsure about how to move forward on a significant part of a project. So she called me for some advice. This article summarises the events that took place and the lessons that followed. I hope the lessons learnt are as helpful for you as they were for her (and me, for that matter).
1. The plan
I outlined a plan of attack with Billie for a direct route to help her overcome creative and technical challenges in order to achieve her goals for the project. The plan was simple enough – if she already possessed the skills and knowledge to execute. But it wasn’t that straight forward for Billie. Regardless of how clear the plan of action was, we both knew that she would still have to invest time in acquiring necessary new skills and knowledge to overcome the challenges at hand.
2. Fear takes hold
Acquiring new skills and knowledge of your craft is certainly not a bad thing, as they can serve you for many years to come. Nevertheless, the fear of multiple deadlines encroaching, the sheer scope of the project, and the stress of not knowing what lay ahead started to get to Billie. And eventually forced her hand… but not for the better.
She panicked. And did something that we are all guilty of at some stage in our career. She tried to move ahead with just her existing knowledge, knowing full well that it was not enough, but hoping desperately that somehow it would work out.
This resulted in going around in circles without actually achieving her goals. As you could imagine, stress levels were getting pretty high by this point. Her fear lead her to take what she had hoped was a safe route. Her fear led her astray…
(Remember that Billie is early career. Cut her some slack. At least she’s out there doing it. And she’s now kicking some serious goals!)
3. Backtracking to move forward
Stressed out and unable to proceed any further, Billie ended up back at square one. Eventually, she realised that there was no choice but to acquire the necessary skills and knowledge to move forward if she was to complete the project and keep the client happy.
We went back to the original plan, she powered through like a trooper (sans sleep) and the project outcome was awesome. Now that’s resilience in action! Love it.
4. A valuable lesson
It may seem like a lot of time was wasted and unnecessary stress created as a result, but I don’t see it that way. Let me explain.
You see, it was only through making these mistakes that Billie realised that her fear of the unknown was sabotaging her ability to move forward. Sometimes you need to make a conscious decision to conquer that fear and take a new and unfamiliar path in order to move forward.
It’s easy to feel overwhelmed and default to what we assume to be a safer path. But at the end of the day, taking a new, unfamiliar approach can actually be the path of least resistance in an unfamiliar situation. Furthermore, every new skill and learning acquired to overcome immediate challenges will better equip you for what lies ahead.
Remember, there’s no need to sabotage yourself. It’s just fear. It can be overcome. And you are just the person to do it. Good luck!
On a really positive note, pushing through these challenges was undoubtedly difficult, but actually resulted in repeat work for Billie with that particularly company, and the confidence to successfully pursue other leads. Win!
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