Business IS stressful. There’s no doubt about it! It can fuel our anxiety - but anxiety also makes our whole experience so much harder. When I was running my previous multi 6-figure business, I didn’t FEEL successful despite everything looking great on paper. I didn’t feel like I had anxiety, either - but I did feel trapped, driven to work all the time and overwhelmed by pressure and problems. Today we’ll explore just how anxiety might be impacting your business, too, and giving you some great insights to help you see things a little differently!
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This is a topic that’s really close to my heart because the whole reason I got into doing what I do now is because of anxiety.
Now the funny thing is, I didn’t even really realise I had anxiety at the time and I didn’t get help for anxiety - because I thought I was fine. I never thought I had a problem mental health-wise but I sought help from a hypnotherapist for my fear of public speaking and performing and lack of confidence. It turned out to be an eye-opening experience, during which I realised I had raging anxiety and was just doing a bloody good job of being ‘fine’ and operating as a super-competent human being, juggling all manner of things including my previous multi 6-figure business - which was causing me enormous stress.
I was like the proverbial duck, gliding along effortlessly on the surface but paddling away frantically to keep going. Appearing - and telling myself - I was absolutely in control and competent on the surface - but having panic attacks between clients, suffering palpitations and random undiagnosable illnesses, and crying on the way to work. But I thought I was fine. I was, in fact, suffering with what we call high-functioning anxiety.
Now I wanted to talk to you about this because it’s something that comes up a LOT with my coaching clients and it’s come up in my Mastermind this week. So many business owners at ALL levels are struggling with anxiety - and I wanted to tell you straight up that it’s not something that’s fixed by hitting your goals.
We have this idea that if we do a bit of money mindset work and hit our £10k a month, or whatever it is we’re aiming for, all our problems will fade away and life will be easy.
But the anxiety that we feel around money, or not having enough clients, or not being a success in our businesses isn’t a problem that’s just solved as soon as those things are taken care of. Those worries are a symptom of our anxiety, not the cause. The anxiety just makes them seem louder and larger than they are, so they occupy our thoughts every waking moment.
So what very often happens is that people hit their income goal and then find they don’t feel any different. That anxiety finds another focus. Suddenly the focus shifts from ‘I’m not earning enough’ to ‘I’ve got to keep earning more’, or ‘What if I lose it all’, or to creating drama and crises elsewhere in their lives - and very often those thoughts end up sabotaging everything they’ve created, or stop people being able to progress any further. You may have heard the saying ‘new level, new devil’.
So it can easily become this never-ending cycle of stress and struggle and never feeling like you have enough… which is why so many footballers, celebrities and lottery winners end up far from happy, spending like their lives depend on it and getting lost in courting MORE fame and fortune, or taking ever greater risks with their health.
This is why I absolutely believe that you’ve GOT to tackle anxiety and self-worth along with any money mindset work you do - because it’s so much more complex than just believing you can achieve a certain income and hey presto your life is fixed! Unless you deal with that anxiety it will just find another problem to give you.
Now I actually believe entrepreneurship is a bit of a double whammy because 1) it tends to attract high-functioning people who are driven, often perfectionists and out to prove themselves… just like me! And 2) the entrepreneurial journey is rife with things that fuel anxiety even more. Obviously the fact you have to make this work for your very survival is a pretty big potential worry, right? But then there are people telling you you have to follow eleventy billion different strategies and do things that feel very uncomfortable and unnatural in your marketing and sales process. There’s a heightened sense of competition and fighting for survival, because we’re fed this unrealistic picture by the algorithms and our brains. There’s the pressure to show up, to perform, to be GOOD all the time. The pressure to price your services correctly, to get your messaging right, to make decisions about what to do for the best each day…
All of these things feel so much harder when we’re under the influence of anxiety, but they also FEED the anxiety as well and make it way worse. And, of course, if you’re a natural born workaholic then you never really switch off, either.
Anxiety is like a snowball, it’s a real vicious cycle because it convinces you that you don’t have time to do the very things that will help you feel better - like taking proper care of yourself - and it convinces you that doing things you need to do for your own good - like setting proper boundaries or dropping some of your crazy workload - will be the end of your business. I know because that’s EXACTLY where I was trapped when I ran that mutli 6-figure business. I didn’t feel successful, I felt utterly trapped. So, I think one of the most important things you can do for your business is to deal with that anxiety. Because when you do, all of a sudden you start to see options that you didn’t believe you had before. The pressure reduces. You can think more clearly. You feel more decisive, confident, and like you have so much more time and control over what you do with it. And you get to actually ENJOY running your business rather than it feeling like this incredibly draining, absolutely overwhelming thing that’s running you.
That’s what I’m working on right now with the ladies in my Mastermind, The Limitless Mind Business Accelerator, which is open for applications for the next round right now. I’m also really excited to be launching a 1:1 programme next year for women who know that they were made for more and have big dreams for their business but right now are feeling that no matter how much they work on their mindset, they still seem to come up against invisible barriers around charging, selling or generating income easily - such as imposter syndrome, perfectionism, procrastination or self-doubt. Outwardly you may be successful in your business - maybe you’re already earning £5-£20k a month - but maybe still struggling to feel like you’ve reached your true potential and frequently doubt yourself and feel dissatisfied. This is a very special high touch Money & Mindset Mentoring programme which I’ll be offering to just 5 women, where we work together for a whole year to keep your mindset absolutely optimised for success beyond your wildest dreams. It starts with 6 intensive sessions where we put in place all the building blocks to help you access your highest level insight and maintain focus, confidence and motivation all your round - so you can show up consistently as your most empowered self and make 2022 your most successful year ever - personally and professionally. We then work together twice a month to build on everything we’ve done and have you breezing through the year with absolute confidence, clarity and alignment - and free from anxiety and limiting beliefs. Next week I want to give you some tips for quickly calming an anxious mind in the moment because sometimes we need a little S.O.S. routine to just turn things around quickly and allow us to get on with things. This is NOT a substitute for doing the deep subconscious work that will help you reduce anxiety in the long term - to do that you need to work on a much deeper level and all sorts of things like sorting out your sleep and building confidence come into play. There really is no substitute for learning how to overcome anxiety long-term and having the right strategies built into your life and your thought processes to help you get to the point where it’s no longer an issue. But it will help in the moment if you’re feeling a little anxious and just need something to calm you down. So I’ll look forward to seeing you then, and in the meantime if you’re serious about making an incredible mindset part of your business next year and you want to have a chat about my new programme and see whether you might be one of my lucky 5, just drop me an email via the link in the shownotes!
Here are the current ways to Work With Me
Join my FREE 21 day e-course Worthy, Wealthy & Wise - and learn MORE secrets of self-mastery, ease and abundance!
If you’d like to get in touch email abi@abigail-rogers.com
Listen & subscribe on Apple, Google podcasts, Spotify, YouTube - or search ‘Align & Arise’ on your favourite podcast platform!