You Can’t Afford To Wallow In Head Trash

Before we get to the strategies that are going to help you finally grow your business to the level of success that you are striving for, first a word on head trash.

Head trash is the negative junk that floats around in our heads, limiting our growth.

It is the enormous collection of feelings, thoughts, beliefs and experiences that you’ve been accumulating since you were born.

As an entrepreneur who presumably wants to achieve great success, you must DECIDE to deal with your own head trash.

Left unchecked, paralyzing fear will often be the result of letting your head trash fester.

So, if you have not achieved the level of success that you want, but you feel like you’re doing all the right things, you probably have some trash that’s keeping you from performing at a higher level.

Let’s explore 10 strategies that you can use to deal with your head trash and finally grow your Dream Business.

Strategy 1 – Take An Honest Look Inside Yourself

First, you need to look at what is going on in your head all day long.  This is a real truth moment.

You have to ask yourself how much time you spend worrying about what might happen.

Are you polluting your energy by having negative thoughts that you are sorting through all the time?

When our brains are running in those negative programs, they are sending out negative thought patterns that influence our actions.

Those negative thought patterns are almost always destructive.

If you spend more than 40 percent of your time in fear of some kind, worry or anxiety, then you really do have some stuff going on that needs to get cleaned up.

This can be difficult to do on your own, which is why the next strategy is so vital for your growth.

Strategy 2 – Utilize Coaches and Mastermind Groups

Highly successful people work with coaches.

Yet, many entrepreneurs have head trash around working with a coach.  I know I did.

Thankfully I DECIDED to do what I knew would help me grow fastest, and I’ve been in mastermind groups and working with coaches ever since.

And guess what?  As with most fears, it’s never as bad as you think… and the upside is huge!

Not only will coaches and mastermind groups help you become aware of the head trash that may be limiting you, they will help you work through it and assure you that you are not the only one struggling with the issue.

This is an important element of your success, so once you have finished reading this article, I invite you to have a listen to this recent interview I gave on the Solopreneur Hour podcast.

Strategy 3 – Decide To Take Action

Head trash can be paralyzing, especially if you have it around fully committing to growing your business.

Are you playing the victim in your own story?

There is no shortage of excuses for why you might not be doing everything you possibly can to build your own business.

The fact of the matter is, you cannot expect your business to give you what you are not willing to give to your business.

Focus on the fundamentals and take action.

If you’re not fully, totally, and truly committed to creating wealth, chances are you won’t.

So, roll up your sleeves and get to work.

Strategy 4 – Stop Holding On To Your Trash

Consider this story from Brad Szollose, consultant and best-selling author of Liquid Leadership.

“Most of us have a template hammered into us from our family background, and what our mothers and fathers led us to believe.  For me, I grew up in a small town with a farming community and a working class.

There were two beliefs:  One, you must work hard for every single penny, and two, there was a poverty consciousness with some religious overtones.

This was my head trash throughout the years.  My father suggested that as an artist, I’d never make a dime.

This head trash isn’t really conscious, but it becomes a gut feeling.  You feel stymied or that you can’t move forward.

I remember there was one night at 1:00 in the morning when I was in my backyard, looking up with tears in my eyes asking, ‘Why me?  Why am I struggling and can’t make money?’

Then a garbage truck went by with a giant ‘Z’ spray painted on it.  The Z typically represents the end of something, so it made me laugh.

It was a real metaphor for all the trash in my head being carted away.

Right after that, I started to really analyze why things were going wrong.  One of the profound things that came out of that was that I was trying to prove my father wrong my whole life.

Once I let that go and decided what was truly driving me, that’s when everything shifted.”

The lesson here is to take control of your own motivation.  Take out the trash!

Strategy 5 – Face Your Fears Head On

This proved very effective in my own battles with head trash.

For as long as I can remember, I was terrified to speak in public – so much so that when it came to reading aloud in high school, I was prepared to skip class and take an F rather than face my classmates and read to them.

You see, head trash can strike at any age!

As my career started advancing, I remember feeling that I could either accept this limitation or I could fix it – take out the trash – and continue to advance.

I had to face my fears.

I joined a local group where speaking every month was a requirement… not an option.

Soon after, I received an invitation to speak to a group of successful entrepreneurs.

This was a huge opportunity for me, and as soon as I got the invitation, my heart raced and all the public speaking head trash came rushing back.

Thankfully, with everything I had done to “take out this trash,” I DECIDED to accept the invitation.

It was a big moment and now I’m comfortable speaking anywhere to any group, because I went head-to-head with my own fears.

Fear is part of the human existence.  Learn to get rid of it when it pops up.  You may need to take some big steps and make some tough    choices to do so.

Just do it… or accept slow-to-no growth.

Strategy 6 –  Positive Affirmations

Susie Miller, speaker, author, and The Better Relationship Coach shared her perspective on positive affirmations.

“I’m a firm believer in affirmations, but not the Polly Anna, pie-in-the-sky statements, because our subconscious mind can actually work against that.

I believe in framing it as being in the process of becoming that which we want to become.”

For example, ‘I’m in the process of becoming disciplined and consistent to grow my business and move it forward.’

Or ‘I’m in the process of building my savings account to buy a boat or invest in a vacation.’

These types of affirmations don’t create an argument with our subconscious brain but challenges it to reach those goals and move beyond.

Strategy 7 – Grow A Thick Skin

What we believe and think about takes root.

“What will other people think about me?” is a big question we all have.  In fact, it’s a driving force in a lot of our lives.

What I tell clients as a coach and counsellor, is that first of all, most people aren’t thinking about you.

They’re thinking about their own insecurities and their own head trash.

Worrying about what other people think of you is allowing them to dictate your future. You are allowing them into the driver’s seat instead of you sitting there.

DECIDE that you will no longer let your insecurities about being liked or accepted, or sounding silly and potentially made fun of get in the way of creating your Dream Business.

Strategy 8 – Visualization

This is an important strategy, but many of us tend to only visualize the end goal.

I teach people to visualize the process, because visualizing the end isn’t enough.  You have to visualize yourself doing the things that will get you to your goal.

Remember, success is built on the daily actions that you perform consistently over time.

So, close your eyes and actively see yourself hosting that live event, or writing that book, and all the other steps that are going to build your success.

Your actions will follow your vision.

Strategy 9 – Embed Yourself In Positive Material

If you are struggling with a lack of confidence, a great strategy for dealing with this kind of head trash is to marinate yourself in positive material.

Personally,  I learned a lot about the strategies and techniques of affirmations and self-hypnosis from books like, Think and Grow Rich and The New Psycho-Cybernetics.

I also read and listened to countless other success-oriented books from names you no doubt have heard of.

Take heed, applying the lessons and strategies of the books I just mentioned took time and effort.

It was not simply a matter of reading success books.  It was a matter of understanding the principles, adopting the strategies, and doing the exercises suggested.

There was no trickery involved and results are not instantaneous.

So, the sooner you take action, the sooner you will reap the fruits of your efforts.

Strategy 10 – Combat Perfectionism

For the perfectionism head trash trap, I recommend you set a deadline and make it public.

This is because ‘someday’ simply never comes along.

When I’ve taken the leap, not worried about perfection, I have more gratitudes than regrets.

Perfection, except in gymnastics or similar sports, doesn’t pay.  In business, perfection is the enemy of progress.

Final Words

Head trash is real, and left unchecked, it can be a real business crippler… or killer.

It most likely affects a majority of people, and entrepreneurs are no exception.

In fact, I would argue that because of the risky nature of launching a business, entrepreneurs may be more susceptible than the average person.

The remedy is the same as if your kitchen trash can were overflowing with garbage and “smelling up the joint.”

The solution?  Easy, take out the trash!

Applying the strategies that we’ve discussed today and working with your coaches are going to let you do just that.

The results?

The growth and realization of your Dream Business.