Welcome to Shop Talk! While we love providing you with jam-packed, actionable posts, we also wanted to share quick, thought-provoking snippets here and there — from our brains to yours.
Have you ever had an idea that you were really jazzed about? The drop-everything-and-make-this-happen idea that wakes you up at 3am; makes you (gasp) forget you need coffee; finds you telling your pets about it because you've already chewed the ear off anyone else who will listen?
We love those ideas.
A lot of times, those ideas relight the fire and lead to breakthroughs in our businesses. They give us direction and purpose. They turn into the product, the service, or the platform that helps us grow.
But we're not here to talk about those times. We're here to talk about what happens when that idea you had just isn't working out.
You know, the not-so-glamorous side of things. The times when:
- You've put your all into it (time, money, energy), and it just didn't work...
- Your idea is made up of a lot of "shoulds" and not a lot of "wants"...
- The fire's burnt out and you're no longer excited...
When you're a solopreneur with endless ideas, this is bound to happen. And you're bound to be plagued by the shame and the "shoulds" that keep you holding on.
Today, we're granting you permission to let it go.
One of our favorite leading ladies, Arianna Huffington, wisely wrote in Thrive: "You can complete a project by dropping it."
For her, it was about learning to play the violin and speak German. She wasn't taking action, but, in her words, "Any project that you’ve started in your mind drains energy."
You might be a lot further in. You might've spent hours on plans and outreach. Hundreds (or thousands) of dollars on bringing it to life. Endless amounts of energy truly trying to make it work.
Again: It's okay to let it go. No amount of time, money, or energy invested is worth carrying on with something that isn't going to get you closer to where you want to be or how you want to live, solopreneur. It's oh-so-simple, but we know it's not easy.
So we remind you of these two things:
1. Nearly everything we do as solopreneurs is a learning opportunity. In working on this idea, you've undoubtedly learned something new; met new people; did things you didn't think you could.
2. Dropping a project now doesn't mean dropping a project forever. (The "Hold" section of our to-do list is solid.)
And, finally...This is not a case study for taking the easy way out; for walking away from something just because it's hard. This isn't about sloughing off and making progress on your Netflix queues. (Okay, well, it's not just about that.)
Simply put, this isn't advice for the lazy -- they don't need it. (And we know that's not you.) This is advice for the overachievers who want to do.it.all, all.the.time.
To you, we ask: What can you cross off your to-do list by dropping it?
(Even if it's just for now...)
leave a comment