“Everything you want to achieve lies on the other side of fear.”
That’s a quote by some great philosopher, and I can’t help but agree with them. Few months back, I started writing on LinkedIn, and I’ve published merely 5 posts since then. When you look at it from the surface, you may call it a lack of commitment or laziness.
But upon contemplating deeper on this issue, I found out I was scared. There were so many things holding me back from going full-on into this new venture. I’ve tried to explain them below.
1) Lack of Confidence
See, when you’re in a corporate setup, you get to work with professionals on multiple levels. They acknowledge your talents and skills. And you on your part, get to compare where you stand and take measures to level up. That’s one way your confidence skyrockets!
Whereas, when you’re working in a startup (like I am), there are very few people to interact with, much less ask for guidance from. You don’t have anyone to compete with or ask for feedback from. You are not tracking any KPIs. You are your boss.
And frankly, sometimes, the belief of just one person is not enough to boost your morale. You never figure out where you stand compared to the larger world.
This is a major reason I don’t feel confident enough to speak on any topics on LinkedIn. I feel like I don’t hold enough expertise or authority on a topic because I’ve never had the privilege to converse with other writers in my domain.
And now, because I’m unsure where I stand, I automatically feel like every other writer out there must be better than me. I may be wrong, but right now, that’s how I feel. This feeling just ties my hands and doesn’t let me express myself out there.
2) Ambiguity of Purpose
Whenever we do something, should there not be a solid purpose backing our attempts? Let’s assume I start writing on LinkedIn consistently. In the next 6 months, I build a community of 1000 followers who like to read my content.
What am I going to do with that kind of audience? Do I have something to offer? A course? A freelancing service? Consultation? A book? I have nothing to offer at the moment. Then what’s even the purpose of writing on LinkedIn? I’m in a huge dilemma.
3) Lack of Experiences
I’ve been on LinkedIn for many years now. As far as I’ve understood the platform, it’s all about sharing your wins and failures. The entire feed is just brimming with the same success and failure stories every single day.
I honestly feel like I don’t have enough of these life-changing experiences to talk about. I want to be authentic with my writing, so just bragging about something or exaggerating a normal experience doesn’t feel right to me.
Helpful Tips to Manage Your Fear
If you’re someone in the same boat as me, here are some tips that may help. I hope to slowly implement these into my routine, too.
1) You don’t need validation.
You don’t need anyone’s validation to boost your confidence. All you need is to listen to your inner voice that wants to express itself. Don’t have a success story? Write tips and hacks. No tips? Write your experiences. No experiences? Well, just write anything authentic.
Just keep writing and failing every day. That’s how you’ll not just be more accepting of failures but will know what works and if your opinions hold any value in the world.
2) Not all things have a purpose to fulfill
Sometimes, some things are done just to have some fun and build yourself along the way. Think of it as a writing practice session. All you’ve to do every single day is write religiously. Pick a topic. Write your thoughts about it. Edit a little. And publish. That’s it!
Don’t overthink it. LinkedIn ain’t rocket science. All we need to do is to train it like a muscle so writing goes on an autopilot mode and you don’t need to invest a tonne of effort into every single post. One day, these small and seemingly insignificant results will snowball into something you never imagined possible.
That’s all for today. Keep writing. Keep shining.
-Firefly 🐝