It’s first-world problem I know, but what do you do if you suck at social media?
I hate social media: well, that’s what I tell myself. The reality is I’m just not very good at it. that’s because of two reasons: I haven’t done a lot of it, so I need practice and I’m actually a little bit scared of it.
When you run a small business, social media is important. You can grow a business without it, but it is harder and takes longer when no one knows you are there.
On the social side, I can be a little bit shy until I get to know people. I think I’ve got a dry sense of humour but I’m never sure if other people will get it. On the media side, well, let’s just say I’m of the age where I am quite glad mobile phones weren’t around to capture my horrendous hairstyles when I was growing up. That means social media is not really in my comfort zone and that is why I haven’t got a lot of practice.
Practice, as they say, makes perfect or, at least in my case, better.
Practice changes your comfort zone. Comfort zones are really familiarity zones. The first time we do anything is going to be hard, outside of our comfort zone and unless we’ve got a lot of natural talent, we are unlikely to be amazing at it. No one working at a high level, whether they are a professional pianist, athlete, or David Beckham, gets to be at the top of their game without a lot of repetition and practice.
Every time we have a go at that something, we become more familiar with it and in doing so, we stretch our comfort zone until it is no longer so uncomfortable. We may never love that something, but it’s bearable.
The thing is, I know this. I’m a coach right, so I say this to my clients all the time, so why haven’t I “stretched” my social media comfort zone?
I saw what other people were doing, which was pretty awesome, and I compared. Guess what? I didn’t measure up and I let my fear get in the way and I procrastinated.
If posting on social media is not something that I do a lot of and I’m comparing myself to somebody, who does it every day and who has been doing it for years, there’s no contest, is there? It’s like comparing apples with bananas or a professional concert pianist with a six-year-old beginner.
Comparisons can be very unfair. If you are feeling nervous or have any fear then it’s easy to look over at what someone else is doing and compare how you feel, with the way they appear outwardly, but you have no way of knowing if they are also quaking in their boots.
Let me know in the comments what you are NOT doing, what is stopping you from doing that, and to what or whom are you comparing yourself?
#firstworldproblem #practicemakesperfect #practice
#socialmediafail #socialmedia
#procrastination #feelthefear