Episode #26: When It Feels Hard: How to Lead Yourself Through Uncertainty, Fear & Pivot with Power

This podcast episode delves into the complexities of navigating the inherent challenges present in both business and life. I reflect on the widespread sentiment that many individuals are grappling with overwhelming difficulties and uncertainty, particularly in their entrepreneurial endeavors. It is imperative to recognize that these hardships are a universal experience, and a resilient mindset can significantly influence our capacity to persevere. I emphasize the necessity of self-reflection and the importance of seeking internal guidance before resorting to external solutions, including artificial intelligence. Ultimately, this discourse champions the notion that continuous evolution, both personally and professionally, is fundamental to achieving success and fulfillment.

The discourse presented herein delves into the intricate challenges faced by entrepreneurs as they navigate the tumultuous waters of business and life amidst a backdrop of uncertainty. The speaker articulates a profound sentiment that resonates with many: the pervasive feeling that both business and life can often be arduous. This episode serves as a poignant reminder that such struggles are not isolated phenomena; rather, they are universal experiences encountered by all who dare to venture into the entrepreneurial realm. Through a heartfelt and candid exploration, the speaker emphasizes the importance of resilience and the necessity of maintaining a positive mindset, even when confronted with adversities.

As the narrative unfolds, it becomes evident that the speaker possesses a keen awareness of the cyclical nature of business. They assert that every entrepreneur will inevitably encounter seasons of difficulty, where traditional strategies may falter, and familiar pathways may seem obstructed. This recognition of the impermanence of hardship encourages listeners to cultivate a mindset that embraces adaptability and innovation. The speaker provocatively challenges their audience to consider their own responses to adversity, positing that the only two viable paths are to persist or to cease efforts altogether. This binary choice serves as a catalyst for deeper introspection, urging listeners to engage in self-reflection and proactive problem-solving.

In a particularly enlightening segment, the speaker introduces the concept of utilizing artificial intelligence as a tool for brainstorming and problem-solving. They advocate for a symbiotic relationship with AI, encouraging listeners to harness its capabilities while also emphasizing the irreplaceable value of one's own intuition. This dual approach fosters a balanced perspective on personal and technological resources, promoting a holistic method for overcoming obstacles. As the episode draws to a close, the speaker reiterates the significance of gratitude, suggesting that even in the midst of struggle, recognizing and appreciating the positive aspects of life can serve as a powerful antidote to negativity. Ultimately, this episode is a clarion call to embrace resilience, cultivate gratitude, and remain steadfast in the pursuit of one's dreams, regardless of the challenges that may arise.

Takeaways:

• Navigating through difficult times in business requires a resilient mindset and proactive problem-solving.

• Acknowledging the challenges of entrepreneurship is essential, as they are inherent to the journey of personal and business growth.

• Utilizing artificial intelligence can provide valuable insights and suggestions, but it is paramount to trust one's own intuition first.

• Creating space for reflection and stillness is crucial for effective problem-solving and personal clarity in challenging situations.

• Gratitude plays a significant role in maintaining a positive mindset, even amidst adversity and uncertainty in life and business.

• It is important to reassess and pivot when necessary, ensuring that one's actions align with personal goals and values.

Link notes: https://cart.kreativedigitalmediainc.com/ai-work-week-slayer/

TRANSCRIPT:
Hello, my friends, and welcome to another episode of the Design youn Dream Life podcast. My name is Kara. I am your host. I am so excited that you're here today. Today, again, another off cuff and I just wanted to. I. I didn't map it out.

I was just thinking about conversations lately I've been having with people and I'm like, you know what?

I want to do just a heart to heart podcast episode on the things that have been coming to my attention lately, which is a lot of people just saying that things seem really hard, business seems hard, life seems hard, the world seems unstable and not knowing how to navigate this uncertainty and still feel positive about it. And so I want to talk a little bit about that today. And I don't know how long this episode might be. It might be super short. I might ramble on.

So grab a cup of your favorite beverage or if you're walking, like I love to do is walk and listen to podcasts. Buckle up, friends, and let's dive into how do we navigate through times when. When it's hard. So let's first talk about business hard.

So business hard is like, maybe your sales are down. Maybe you are having a harder time just even showing up in your business.

Or not only just sales are down, but you're just finding, like, maybe you're spending money on ads. It's not converting. It's like it used to work or things feel like they've just broken and things that used to work aren't working anymore.

And I want you to know that, like, this happens to everybody. And I feel like all businesses go through seasons.

And I think one of the things that sets you apart, honestly, is your mindset and your outlook on life. So I think one of the reasons why I have always been successful with ads and funnels and all of that stuff is because I am a very resilient person.

But not only am I very resilient, I am just like, I really have it in my mindset. Like, I only have two options, right? Just like you do in your own business, right? When things get hard, you can keep going or you can stop.

Like, to me, those are just the two options. Those. Those are always the two options that you have available to you. And I always want to keep going.

And so if I always want to keep going, I am always asking myself, like, what can I do now? What can I test now? How can I look at this in a different way if something isn't working?

And now that we even have AI, it's so much easier if Things aren't working to have someone to problem solve with you. Like, you definitely do not need to go through this journey alone or feel like, you know, you don't even have an idea where to start.

Because I feel like that is one thing that AI has done for us. It's. It's kind of like your bestie in your pocket all the time for anything that you need that you can brainstorm with, that you can chat with.

And yes, you have to train it because it can give you shit. I'm not going to lie. I mean, I've really dug into AI so much so where I create custom GPTs and they have been amazing.

And I know people have said to me, even before I started creating custom GPTs, like, how are you getting this copy out of here? How are you? And it honestly is all of the prompts, right? It definitely is the prompts.

So if you are going through something honestly, I would first of all journal about it. Like, what is so hard for you right now? Like, let's narrow it in. In business. And what is so hard?

And then also too, like, your internal intuition also is something that is far more powerful than AI. My friends and I think sometimes we forget about that. We're like, oh, like, let me go to AI.

But I would encourage you, before you go to AI, go inside first.

Because a lot of the times if you get still and quiet and you ask yourself the right questions, just like asking AI the right questions, you will get better responses and they may not be instant.

And I wanna also say that, like, there are so many times where I'll ask myself questions over and over again and it might take a little while before my brain actually starts delivering what I, I would think is a good quality solution. So again, on yourself, don't give up. Keep asking yourself the question. And I think, most importantly, give yourself space.

I think, you know, one of the things for me too, I'm sorry, I'm bouncing all around, so just stay with me on my journey, is that I have so much space in my calendar and it allows me to thrive as a creative human. And even if you're not creative, I think having space in your life, stillness allows you to problem solve at such a level that is so good.

And so if something is hard right now, ask yourself, okay, why is this feeling hard? What am I resisting? Where's the opportunity in this? Like, ask yourself these questions like, how can I turn this around?

Like, there has to be options. Like, what, what are the. The options? And get really quiet and get really still with yourself and focus on how you can turn it around.

What are the possibilities? What's your next step?

Like what, what can you do today with a little micro thing you can do today that you can test, that you can try, that you can implement in a way that is gonna at least try and move the needle some?

Because I think when people are saying it's hard, they're also sometimes feeling too like, Kara, I'm trying this and I'm trying this and I'm trying this. And it's like, I. I would like to remind people in a loving, a bold way, this is what you signed up for. If you are an entrepreneur, this is the work.

The work is you sign up for continuing to always be evolving in your business and in your personal life. And those two go hand in hand. The more that you grow personally, the more you grow in your business.

And yes, if this was so easy, everybody would do it.

The reason why we get paid so amazing and why we get to live this dream life is that we're willing to do the things that most ordinary people are not willing to do. And they would rather go sit in a cubicle and clock in and clock out. Right? But I feel like freedom is so worth fighting for.

And this is, to me, again, a mindset shift.

This is part of my amazing job that I am always creating, that I'm always coming up with new ideas, that I'm always figuring out a way to grow and scale not only myself, but, but my business.

So yes, yes, you are going to have to be a person that is resilient and embrace resilient, embrace change and embrace the fact that you have to be your own strategist.

And I feel like not a lot of people really talk about the fact that when you become a business owner, yes, you wear all the hats, but most importantly, you need to follow your own intuition. And it gets so clouded so many times. We follow and we morph into whoever we're following their advice.

You know, I know I've done that with super high ticket stuff and all of that. Like, and I'm like, ooh, you know, it's, it's not like it's a bad thing because you have to go on your own path to really discover who you are.

And at the beginning, you have no idea. But you always need to be asking yourself the questions and check in and also identify how you're feeling.

So, for example, you know, I went down the high ticket path. I had a high ticket coaching program. I hated it. It literally was not My vibe, not my thing.

And I completely took it away after the one year commitment. And I was like, whoop, this is someone else's dream. Like, I bought into it. Like, I bought into their dream.

But when I put it through my lens and I tried on the outfit, I sent it back. And that's also part of business.

And I think sometimes, too, that comes in with the frustration of some people when they're like, oh, this isn't working, or, oh, I feel like. I feel like it's falling apart, or I'm just not happy. You're not happy because part of being business is trying on all these outfits. And you have to.

You have to like what feels good to you. And that's also a part of this experiment. And you don't know until you try, until you do. And then you get to readjust.

And in through all of this, you need to give yourself grace. And I know that's so hard.

Like, it is easy for me to give anyone else grace but myself, and it is something that I have continuously tried to work on, is to not be so damn hard on myself and to lighten up and to be like, Cara, you are allowed to make mistakes. You are allowed to be uncertain. You are allowed to pivot. You are allowed to say, this doesn't really feel good to me anymore. I don't want to do this.

And you are allowed to rewrite your story at any moment in time. But there is a difference between rewriting your story out of fear and rewriting your story out of, like, not being in alignment.

And I want you to understand that there is a huge difference there.

Sometimes life gets super hard, and then we want to throw in the towel, but we are really loving what we do, and we're just so mortified that it's not working. That is completely different than you trying something. It not working. And. But it's also like, I don't. Like, I don't know what I'm doing here.

I'm working, I'm trying this thing, or I'm. I'm, you know, changing, and I. I don't like it, you know? So I think you have to get really clear on where you want your path to be.

And no one can answer this but you only you can have these hard conversations with yourself. And I want to encourage you to never look outside of yourself for any of these answers.

So if business is hard, if life is hard, I want you to go inside and I want you to ask yourself, why does it feel so hard? Maybe you already know the Answers of why it feels so hard, Then your next step is, what can I do to make it not feel so hard?

What are the steps that I can do to turn this around? What is my next step going to be? Like, how do I move past this? Because I'm not gonna just lay down and die. So I need to go in and I need to explore.

I need to ask myself, like, how am I gonna pull myself out of here? What is the thing that I wanna try next? So example in business, like, okay, do I have any low hanging fruit? Do I have anything?

Example, if you're struggling for revenue, like, do I have anything that I can recreate or repackage or come out and recreate? Or is there a service that I can offer? Or like, what is it that you need to do to create the stability and turnaround for you? Right?

And I feel like for me, like, if you have to get scrappy, there is no shame in getting scrappy.

You know, if you are a digital course person and you have the ability to have to do service, you know, and you need to get a couple clients to get you through, go and do that. Like you have to.

I also feel like for me, my baseline, I need to meet a certain level of financial comfort and I need to establish that so that my brain can free up and I can just be the next level better person of myself.

Because when you are trying to figure something out in scarcity or in fear or in lack, 99.99% of the time you will make decisions not based on the right thing. Because that lack, that scarcity, that fear mindset is overriding your regular intuition, right?

So if you're going through a hard time, I guess the first thing I would say is, are you at your baseline? Like, are you comfortable financially? And if you're not, go fix that first. Because there's no point in diving into anything deeper.

If, if there's a minimum financial goal that you have to meet to survive, because survival is number one. So meet your survival goal. And if you are at your survival goal and you're just like, Cara, business is so hard.

And my next question is, what can you do different? What is something that you can do different? How can you reinvent something? How can you bring something back to life?

What is so hard for you specifically? And what do you think is the answer?

And then also go in and start asking AI for some suggestions and feedback and just see where the conversation goes. You know, sometimes you can even journal some stuff, then go into ChatGPT and be like, hey, here's these are my problems.

This is what I've been personally journaling. Can you act like a ninja life coach slash amazing business coach and help me figure through, like, what could be my next steps to turn this around?

And you might be amazed at what it comes back with, but don't just blindlessly ask AI questions without you putting in your input and what you're feeling and what you're thinking and, you know, putting it all together. So I feel like this is.

I always try and keep my podcast short and sweet, and I feel like I could ramble on about this forever, but I hope that that has helped somebody here today. If you are having a rough go and just know, just keep going, right? Everything is a season, and eventually the seasons change.

And the only way that this stops is if you decide to stop.

So just know that the more that you keep going, the more that you keep trying things, the more that you keep reinventing and being the superstar that you are, the more that the magic will continue to happen in your life. And I will also say this too, before I go is gratitude is huge, you guys. Gratitude is so huge.

You know, in the midst of all of this, there are things that you are definitely grateful for. And let's also bring attention to the fact that you can focus on those things every day as well and making sure that, like, gratitude centers you.

It's like, okay, yes, I'm having a rough time, but you know what? There's still all of this awesome stuff that I'm super grateful for.

I'm going to shift into gratitude because I know that that shifts my energy and my mindset, also helping me become a better problem solver. So with that, my friend, be grateful today.

What is it that is just so amazing in your life right now that you can focus on that can help shift your vibes into the amazing problem solver that you are? I'll see you on the next episode.