Has this ever happened to you?
You sit down with an idea for this week’s blog post. Let’s say you’re a life coach and you want to talk about worthiness. You had a good idea the other day in the dentist office, and now, as the blank page is in front of you, the cursor blinking, you’re gripped with the thought:
I have nothing new to say.
You start to think about all the other coaches you know who are talking about this very same topic: Brooke Castillo, Esther Hicks, Gabby Bernstein. They’re ALL talking about it, because it’s so essential.
And, obvious, you think, darkly.
Before you know it, every sentence you write on the page is being compared, consciously or subconsciously, to what’s already out there, to what’s already been said.
Your words sputter, start, and stop. A half an hour later and you’ve barely written a paragraph.
It’s so frustrating.
First of all, if this has happened to you, you are not alone. It’s such a common phenomenon, in part because it touches on one of the three fundamental fears human beings have – the fear of abandonment, failure and death.
And while marketing is not a life or death endeavor (although some things you read about it might try to convince you otherwise!) for business owners it can bring up fear of abandonment (aka rejection) and failure.
What’s really going on here?
You’ve gotten caught in a lie.
A lie that’s convincing you that you have nothing special to say. That whatever you have to say on this topic has already been said before and by someone that is much more ____________ (fill in the blank; educated, experienced, talented, successful) than you.
This is something would-be authors worry about all the time, yet according to IFOD I found this from Stephen Hawking in his recent book Brief Answers to the Big Questions, where we shares “if you stacked the new books being published next to each other, at the present rate of production you would have to move at ninety miles an hour just to keep up with the end of the line.” Wow.
We need all these voices AND the world need your voice, too.
There may be other coaches, healers or creative entrepreneurs saying much the same thing as you are, but they are saying it through the lens of their own singular divine essence, their own life experience that’s unique to them alone. Your message told in your own voice is incomparable. It’s authentic to you, and you alone.
So how can you help bring more ‘you’ into your content consistently and talking about things through your own lens?
Use Reflective Writing
In many of my writing workshops I teach a technique called reflective writing. It’s a powerful technique that’s helped many writers and marketers find deeper connections to their writing. In short, you use reflection before you come to the page; you’re not forcing the words to appear but rather waiting for them to be revealed. This helps you tap directly into your own portal for creativity.
Consciously Choose a Filter
Just like filters on smart phones help people keep their Instagram feeds looking consistent, consciously choosing your own filters to sprinkle throughout your marketing can help you make sure it has your own personal touch. A couple of ideas for doing so include:
Bring in your own personal stories as illustrative examples
Offer examples, with permission, from your clients, friends or family members experiences
Find inspiration in nature
Talk about your passions or the things you love to nerd out about
Neil Gaiman says “The one thing that you have that nobody else has is you. Your voice, your mind, your story, your vision. So, write and draw and build and play and dance and live as only you can.”
The world needs your voice. More than that, your potential clients need to hear your message in your voice, with all its singular beauty, so they can finally see that you’re the one to help them.
Photo by Ine Carriquiry on Unsplash