There a message that’s been coming to me in a lot of forms lately and it’s that sometimes you gotta shut it all out. Having been on maternity leave really helped me do that simply because I had to! and you know what? It felt good. It felt freeing. It feels refreshing.

Listen we get “good” advice sent our way all day every day. Some we want, some we don’t, some we pay for either literally or figuratively. After a while, it’s all overwhelming.

Have you noticed the trend of people taking social media breaks or getting off it all together? We are all feeling this constant bombardment and it can be stifling, particularly creatively.

That’s what I’ve been feeling lately as I get back into my business. The overwhelm of “what is the right thing to do next.” In fact, to put a fine point on it, for the last year or so I’ve been following everyone else’s advice on how to grow a business. Now some has been great advice, some not so much but truth bomb: None of it has gotten me where I want to be with my business or creatively.

It took me a bit to figure out why because I was doing “all the right things” according to everyone. This includes coaches whose opinions I highly value and who were genuinely giving great advice! But here’s the thing I realized in the last few months of tuning everything out on maternity leave, I lost myself in all the advice. I lost MY voice in my own business. I lost sight of my personal reasons for doing what I do by trying to do all the “right” things.  I lost my own intuition on what was right FOR. ME. and I lost the freedom to just try something by trying to be perfect. Which meant just sitting down to write a blog became such a chore! Every time I’d sit down to write, I’d be bombarded with thoughts of what I should or shouldn’t do! All the advice, tips and tricks were getting to my head and stopping me in my tracks.

Now please know this is not anyone else’s fault but my own. I learned a hell of a lot from all the advice but it seems I forgot 2 big lessons.

1. It’s not about perfect. It’s about accepting not everything will work and keeping going anyway. It’s about the resilience to get back up and try again.

2. All the advice in the world is great but at the end of the day, you have to choose what’s right for you.

When I’m trying to do something new, I tend to be an information gatherer. I read and absorb as much info as I can on the topic. Cue the “nerd alert!” (seriously though, I love learning new stuff and no joke loved school, major nerd alert!) Anyway, I forgot the golden rule of info gathering, at some point you have to sift through it all and figure what works for you.

So in case you too need permission to shut it all out today, this is me reminding you that it’s okay! Do it! It doesn’t have to be perfect and it can be your way. This is also me saying, you may see some new things here on Beginning Good. I’m calling this my Year of trying it out. I may run a program once and never again simply because it didn’t work or I didn’t like doing it. You’re going to see some more of my design life on here because I am a designer and a coach. That’s part of what makes me good at coaching is my designer brain. Plus I love it and it makes me who I am.

I hope you will stick with me on this journey while I figure out where my voice is again and what I want this business to look like! Hopefully, my stumbles and mis-steps will help you with yours and we can do it together! Strap on your seat belt folks, this will at least be interesting to watch!

Also, If you aren’t on the newsletter yet, get on it because that’s where I will be sending out the first notifications on new programs and when I open up coaching spots again!

Alright now go get back to work or just shut it all out!

xo

Kristen