Stepping Forward from Your Core — Three Ways to Move Past Your Need for Approval
You are certain your idea will become a booming business. But you are getting nothing but sideways looks from your friends and families. How can you beat your need for approval and move forward? My best advice is to focus on your core, the nucleus of your passion. First — approve of yourself. Have the courage to approve your own idea. I recently spoke on what I call the Approval Aperitif — our desire to gain approval before we move forward. When I published my book, Nucleus: Power Women Lead from the Core, this is what I hoped to address for women entrepreneurs and all small business owners alike — what it means to work from the core, from the nucleus of your passion, regardless of the response or pressure from the outside.
Second, once you have your own seal of approval, find a mantra to use when negativity comes your way. Know how you will combat the complainers. Find one thing to say that blocks the naysayers, before their negativity can block your next steps.
Finally, take a step and watch for the results. Whatever the actual results are, use as those are the energy to propel you forward. If two things produce a yield, then know you’ve been approved to move forward! Appreciation has been known to be a motivator for people, but stopping yourself from moving forward because you are not getting the approval you hoped for is a block. Women especially can internalize and wait to find out how their behaviors are received, judged or understood before they move on an idea.
O Magazine’s primary Life Coach, Martha Beck, published an article this month on breaking the approval addiction, and I couldn’t agree more. The need for approval is an addiction. To take your idea from idea to action, you must break your addiction for approval and step forward into your future. Step forward from the core of your passion and you will succeed.
