The Night Demons Got Me!

Although I’m a light sleeper, I usually manage to fall asleep fairly quickly. But last night my mind was racing. So many thoughts were running through my head that although I dropped off easily, I awoke in the early hours, my brain whizzing, working overtime.

I awoke at around 3.30am and it took me over two hours before I finally got back to sleep. When my alarm clock went off at 7am, I felt like I had only shut my eyes for a couple of minutes!

I was thinking about my work, which I adore, but a long list of things to do was forming, swirling around in my mind, and before I knew it, I felt a sense of crippling uncertainty overwhelm me that I just couldn’t shake.

The night demons had got me! 

And wow! It’s so easy for them to take over isn’t it?

The thoughts kept coming.

What if people don’t like my content?

What if I don’t get everything done that needs to be done?

What if, what if, what if….

What if people don’t like me and prefer my competitors?

Oh…but what if they do like me?

Now, don’t get me wrong, I am usually confident. I work every day to try and evoke a positive change in estate and lettings agents, introducing you to the power of good content.

I know where my passion lies – that’s in helping estate and lettings agents become the go-to, most knowledgeable, well thought of, expert agents their area.

But sometimes, that little monster called fear starts whispering in my ear… telling me I’m not good enough or I’ll never achieve my next goal.

Put simply, this is self-sabotage!

And it happens to us all. Particularly when we start to see some consistent success.

I’m sure this has happened to you!

Has your mind ever told you;

“Whoa! Don’t get too big for your boots now. Who do you think you are, with all these new instructions and respect in the community? Pipe down and get back in your box.”

Or have you ever lost an instruction and started to spiral down that path of taking it all too personally, thinking of all the things you could have done better. Was it something you said? Should have said? 

Doubts set in and that’s when you are in danger of losing your nerve and your self-belief. But it’s just your mind playing tricks on you.

So, something I regularly do that helps with managing my night demons is to actually acknowledge the fear. Then I try and focus on an imaginary scenario instead. One which is usually so far removed from what the demons are trying to make me think about, it’s ridiculous, but which successfully diverts my attention.

I also regularly do what I call a ‘brain-dump’. This is where I literally write down everything that’s in my head so that it’s no longer swishing around. Even at night – yes, I keep a pen and paper next to the bed.

I find it calms me, stops me panicking about things and, bonus, it helps me remember stuff too!

So, in the early hours of this morning, I finally managed to get back to sleep by thinking about…pizza!

I know. That’s just weird. But I love pizza.

The pizza thoughts led me to think about a post I’d seen on Facebook recently involving a poll of ‘pineapple on pizza – or not’ (always!)

In turn, this reminded me of a conversation I had recently with a client who had kindly offered to write a testimonial for me and who was in the very process of devouring a pizza whilst we were chatting!

Don’t judge – it was a Friday office treat!

And this brought me to the understanding that for every fearful night-time demon that sneaks into my sub-conscious there is a reason why I should not be fearful. In this case, my many reviews and testimonials from happy clients.

And for that I am grateful. It keeps me going!

All types of businesses, including estate and lettings agents have had a super tough time this year. So many agencies have been fearful of what the future holds and reluctant to commit to new things, but it’s been amazing to also see so many who have not allowed their night demons to terrorise them into submission.

2021 holds a massive opportunity for you to break-out and step ahead of your competition as long as you understand that when those night demons come to visit you have the power to ignore them!

Here’s to a peaceful, uninterrupted sleep tonight.

If you have any questions about content and how you can use it to become the go-to expert agent in your area, you can book a call with me here