Today on the podcast, I am excited to introduce you to Claire Hill. Claire is a self-belief and business coach, the founder of the Vivid Business Club and supports female online business owners to get out of their own way and make their dreams happen.

I invited Claire on the podcast to talk about all things mindset. So, procrastination, self doubt, imposter syndrome, all the things that crop up and stop us from doing the things we want to do in our businesses and in our lives. 

Claire is here to help us all get unstuck, work out what is holding us back, and what we can do to move forward. It’s such a great conversation, and so relatable as we have all been there!

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The Big Leap by Gay Hendricks

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Welcome to the bring your product idea to life podcast.

This is the podcast for you if you're getting started selling products or if you'd like to create your own product to sell.

I'm Vicki Weinberg, a product creation coach and Amazon expert.

Every week I share friendly practical advice as well as inspirational stories from small businesses.

Let's get started.

Hi.

So today on the podcast I am so excited to introduce you to Claire Hill.

Claire is a self belief and business coach and the founder of the VIVI Business Club.

I invited Claire on the podcast to talk all things mindset.

So procrastination, not getting as much done as we should, self doubt, imposter syndrome, all of these things that crop up and stop us from doing the things we want to do in our businesses and in our lives.

This was an amazing conversation.

You'll notice this episode is quite long.

Claire had lots and lots to say on the subject.

She has honestly so much energy and enthusiasm.

I think you're really going to love this conversation.

And don't worry, we didn't touch on half the things we were going to speak about today.

So Claire will be back for a part two that I hope to be able to share with you really soon.

But for now I really hope you enjoy this conversation with Claire as much as I did recording it.

So.

Hi Claire, thank you so much for being here.

More than welcome, Vicki.

I'm really excited.

So before I set up our chat for today, Clare, would you mind just telling everyone who you are, what your business is and what you do?

Yep.

I'm Claire Hill.

I'm a self belief and business coach.

I am the founder of Vivie Business Club and I support female online business owners to get out of their own way and make their dreams happen.

Amazing.

Thank you.

Oh and I'm from Kent, same as you, Garden.

We're very close actually.

So I wanted to bring you on Claire because I thought that lots of us struggle with, you know, for various reasons starting a business.

You know, it's something we always want to do and we just don't get around to it or we want to grow, grow our business or we want to make a change.

And sometimes there were just things often in our heads get in our way and so I thought this was a wonderful opportunity to have like a big group coaching session with you Claire and you can help us all get unstuck, stop holding back and maybe even, yeah, identify, help us identify why we're doing this in the first place because I'm sure that lots of us listening will be going, oh yeah, there is that thing I meant to do.

And yeah, I think it's hopefully it's really relatable to people I know very often there are things that on my to do list just get slid to the next week to the next week, you know, and probably need to look into that.

But before we get into all of this detail and before you start giving us a nice big kick and really helping us get going, I'd love to know a little bit if you're okay to share about your story and how you started doing what you're doing.

So I'll try and keep it a bridge because it's.

There are lots of weaves and waves and I think without all of those different things that have happened to me, I wouldn't be able to do what I do today.

I'm going to start at the beginning because I grew up not I didn't have a very good childhood.

There was quite a lot of traumatic experiences within that and it led me to being a young carer for my mum and my younger siblings.

And then I went into the world of health and social care, worked with adults, we've learned disabilities for a very long time.

Managing homes.

And then I went into working in the community with homeless families was made redundant.

So I became a teacher, taught health and social care.

But I really wanted to teach maths because I really love maths.

And so I became a maths teacher, was promoted up into assistant head teacher where I had overall responsibility for safeguarding and attendance and behavior and sort of the pastoral side of things.

And from there, and looking at my childhood and my other previous experience with health social care, I started a.

Well, I did complete a master's degree in leadership of inclusion with a specific focus on trauma informed education.

From that, from my dissertation and my research, I discovered warrior energy.

And through some research in my my sister's actually a head teacher now in her primary school.

I did some work with some teach us about how to increase the capacity of your well being in order to give a more all round sort of support for children that are experiencing trauma.

But while I was doing all of that, I had a baby.

I had two creative businesses.

I had first one I had Violet and May.

Actually that was well before Violet and May.

I did lots of accessories and jewelry and this was before Instagram, so there was no Instagram post.

It was literally me walking up and down the high street for Salem Intern and doing lots of fairs and markets.

And then I went into education.

So I stopped that.

And then I had My baby Jackson and through maternity leave discovered wire art.

So I started making wire art because I'd had Violet and May, I was really.

I didn't have to learn the failing the first bits.

So I had sort of like a little bit of a, a landing board to come off it, you know, like I had a head start.

That's what I was looking for, had a head start.

And that helped me to grow Vivid Wire in into a really good place.

It was enough for me to leave my role as an assistant head teacher and I was able to scale it.

I created semi passive income membership tool and then I started coaching because people are like, how do you do this?

The pivotal thing with all of that was I didn't have the same foundations as some of my peers did in terms of a solid background of people that believed in you.

You know, like the, the self worth, the confidence.

I just didn't have it.

But I had this real desire to be better.

And this is a really cheesy moment.

But do you know, do you like Disney, Vicky?

Yes.

Like scent.

Right.

So Cinderella, the song.

If your heart, no matter how your heart is grieving, if you keep on believing.

I used to sing that to myself all the time.

So I was thinking, no matter how much pain I'm in, if I just keep believing that something is possible and I'm hopeful things will turn out all right.

And I read the book Matilda as a very young age I thought there's hope.

I don't have to be.

My whole story doesn't have to be dictated by my childhood.

I can change the narrative of it, but I had to teach myself to believe in myself.

Because when you have been through the, the level of trauma that I've experienced, your doubt and your is very loud, you're very self critical, you don't have self worth.

How do you believe in yourself when you have so much against you?

So using my master's degree with the warrior energy and lots of trialing and failing, I was able to create a framework of and you know, processes in order to help people to believe themselves and overcome the doubts and imposter syndrome.

I tried to make that a bridge to Vicky.

But see what I mean?

I could.

I can't do it.

Let's talk for England.

But yeah, so that's in.

I think it's what's really important to know is that every single step that anyone takes is always going to lead you to somewhere that you should be.

And for me, when I look back, I think, oh God, I've had a Few careers, you know, but if I hadn't have had all of those things and run those two previous businesses, which at the time I thought, especially Violet and May, I thought, oh, it's such a failure.

Why can't I get the money to.

Because I did go self employed with that one as well.

Why can't I do better?

But I had so much against me that I didn't understand.

I didn't understand that 80% of what we do in our businesses and growing and especially scaling is all about mindset and how you see yourself and how you talk to yourself.

And if you don't have a way to master that, you're not going to be able to do the 20% that actually is the legwork to build the machine that grows your business.

Oh, thank you so much, Claire.

I think that is a great story and I'm glad you didn't give us an even more abridged version, because I think if that's the abridged version, I'm still wanting the long version, I think, because I think it's absolutely fascinating.

And thank you for sharing all of that.

And I think it's great because what you've shown us is that everything you're talking about works because you've done it yourself.

So I think you're coming to this from such a great place where your, your story ties in so well to what we're going to talk about because you have, like, lived examples of all the things you're going to share with us.

Yeah, absolutely.

I think it's really important to know that everybody has doubt, Everybody has some level of imposter syndrome and fear, and you wouldn't be a human being without that part of it.

It's really important to recognize this is a natural instinct that every single one of us has to keep us safe.

But what we need to sort of rewire is the fact that that doubt will try and keep us safe sometimes.

In Misery, there's a great book called the Big Leap by Gay Hendricks.

I actually interviewed him for my podcast and he talks about upper limit problems.

And if you have grown up or been surrounded by quite a lot of misery, and Trau is your.

That's your baseline.

So you.

To feel safe, you need to get back to your baseline unless you rewire it.

So for a lot of my 20s and DEF, you know, before I went, you know, once you're an adult and you can actually make your own decisions properly, I used to, you know, really sabotage my health, my mindset, my life, I suppose, because I Only knew misery.

So that's the only place I felt safe if I had chaos going on.

And it took a lot for me to rewire and say no, actually joy and love and having a wonderful day is actually okay.

I just didn't know that.

And I think it's just becoming aware.

So that book the Upper Limit Problem really taught me to appreciate that it's okay to have a good day.

And it sounds so strange as you say that, but I think anybody's listening that's had that kind of chaos growing up because you don't know any different.

You're actually wired for it.

So one of the really important things is to become aware of where you're at with your self worth and how you view the world and what your baseline is from there.

That makes sense because I guess that it can be scary to, I don't want to say improve, but to go beyond where you, what you have seen to be possible, experience to be possible is actually really scary.

Even if where it's taken you is a good place and where you want to be.

I think there is still a bit of fear about that because as you say, it's just not what you know.

Yeah, because it's not familiar.

We can.

Sometimes you might feel anxious going, you know, driving to a new place and you know, we get in our cars if we drive all the time, it's exactly the same situation, but it's because of the destination that it becomes.

It's unfamiliar and therefore we feel anxious.

But when you get there, say if you're going on holiday to somewhere new, it's obviously really great and you have a great time, everything's all right.

But you put that yourself in that fear state or that, that anxious nervousness state, because the evidence around you shows, well, if I go to a new place on holiday, I've looked at the hotel, I've looked at the way to get there, I've packed my suitcase.

I feel okay that I'm gonna feel confident, I'm gonna have a good time.

The problem with running a business is that usually our business, although somebody out there might be doing a similar product to us or service, it's the first time we're doing it.

And there's no evidence to surround us that says that if we do that thing, it's going to be okay.

And that's why running the business is so different to anything else.

Even if you're, if you're employed, you've got people in that office or in that workplace that are doing a similar job.

Or they're going through a similar, you know, ritual to you every day when you're running your business.

No one else is.

Like, we all start usually on our own.

It's just us.

What do you do?

Oh, I have no idea what I do in my day anymore.

Like, I went from a really busy secondary school with, you know, 200 odd staff, a thousand plus students to me in a room and my, my, my set, my.

The way that things were just crash.

I mean, what really was a bonus for me, the business was successful before COVID but the pandemic did increase myself.

So I didn't really have time to even think.

I had to just make, make just handmade all of the time.

But then when things start to quiet down again, I was like, oh my goodness.

Every single doubt, fear, critical word that I'd been pushing away with the amount of work that I had going on came up and hit me square in the face and almost derailed me.

But luckily, because I'd had my master's research, I was like, I wonder if that will work for me.

And I started to create this process to.

In order to believe that my success was actually going to happen.

I was inevitable instead of just possible and make me enjoy life a bit better as well.

That's so interesting.

And the one thing you said there that really resonated with me was when you said about how even if you surround yourself with people, perhaps that started a business, or you know, people who've started a business, or you, maybe you're in networking groups, maybe listen to podcasts or whatever it is to get advice, I didn't actually think about it.

And I know it's really obvious that even though all that's really, really good, you still haven't done that.

And yes, it will still be unfamiliar because I think I know.

When I started my business, my products business, I spent so much time listening to podcasts, watching YouTube, reading blog posts, thinking, I'll find out everything I need to know.

And then.

But I still felt really unsure of myself and I still questioned everything, even though I felt that I'd really prepared myself.

So it's really, I think that's just really good to know because I think that'd be really, really reassuring because I think sometimes we can do so much preparation.

We can do all of the groundwork, whatever you want to call it.

We can be doing like really good, positive things.

But then it raises up a little bit when we're like, I've done all of that, but why do I still feel really Anxious or why am I still second guessing everything or whatever the thing might be.

So I think that's just really good to know that.

I guess I don't want to use this word, but good to know that that's normal.

Oh, it is, yeah.

I, I don't like to use the word normal, but I think it is good to know that that is, you know, how you're feeling is how people feel in that situation.

Because that can be one of the big things, can't it be like, why am I feeling like this?

I, I should, I don't know if you find this, Claire, people say things like this to you, but I mean, I give myself quite a lot of self talk or I say you should be feeling like this, you should be feeling, etc.

Etc.

Like, I wonder, I guess what I'm saying is I wonder if there's some power in going, no, actually, no, you should be scared and it'll be okay.

But actually that is how you should be feeling.

Absolutely.

That's exactly what you have to do.

Fear and doubt and imposter syndrome don't go anywhere.

There's always going to be.

I mean I, I find that doubt is always rooted in either fear, self worth or imposter syndrome.

Imposter syndrome is obviously, am I good enough, worthy, Am I worth the success fear, you know, I'm scared of failure or more often than not, scared of success.

So you, when you think about your doubt, it's so complex and will hit you from different angles that if you didn't think, oh, this is what everyone feels, just add in another layer, another layer of critical self talk that's just gonna keep you stuck.

So by just saying hello, doubt, you're being a bit of a, bit of a nuisance today, aren't you?

You're making me feel pretty rubbish.

Just want to let you know, like I, we're safe, I've got this and thanks for letting me know that you're there trying to keep me safe from this really exciting dream that I'm trying to chase.

But I've got this.

Thank you very much.

I think acknowledging it and sort of giving it a little bit of love helps in a way.

I teach that we should name our doubt that critical voice.

So mine's called Clara and I always imagine her as somebody that, you know, she's, she's like a teenager, she's upset with the world.

She's like the girl from the ring when she climbs out of the tv, she's like greasy, lanky hair and she just Needs a cuddle.

She just needs to know she's safe.

And I think sometimes that critical voice can be formed in some really painful times that everybody experiences.

You know, trauma is diff.

You can have different levels of trauma, and everyone will go through some kind of level of trauma.

Even if it's like a really micro thing.

Somebody might have said something to you at school, or you might have lost your job or something like that.

There's lots of different levels to it.

And those form the evidence.

I doubt collects them up like a little, puts it in its suitcase, and then unleashes the suitcase as soon as you want to step out of your comfort zone.

And we like, I like to say that, like, comfort zone is familiar zone.

If we want to step out of that, we've got to do unfamiliar things.

But at that point, that suitcase is going to burst right open and tell you exactly why you should not be doing it again and again and again.

And it's about just becoming aware and saying, I can't get that, but I must be doing something right because you've only piped up now.

Because I'm doing the unfamiliar.

And I know that I will learn because I'm stepping into my unfamiliar.

So the fact that you're showing up right now in such an extreme way that is causing me a lot of discomfort, means I'm doing it right, means I'm being brave.

And I saw a lovely quote a couple of weeks ago that says that when you're doing brave right, it feels like fear.

So every time you're scared, but you take a deep breath, you regulate your nervous system.

And a way you can regulate your nervous system.

Go for a walk, like, take some deep breaths.

There's a really good breathing exercise called box breathing.

I urge everyone to go and Google that, just to just ground yourself into keeping yourself regulated as you face the fear.

Because then afterwards you just get used to.

It becomes familiar that I remember going like, I live on Instagram.

I don't obviously live there, but that's like my favorite platform.

And the first time I went live was so scary.

So scary because it was unfamiliar, not because anything bad was going to happen.

That what was the worst that's going to happen?

A few people might think, oh, who does she think she is?

Well, I don't care anymore what those people think.

If they think who just think she is.

I'm like, well, you're not my ideal client, so I'm not that bothered.

Thank you very much.

Another quote.

You're not going to be everybody's cup of champagne because you're no cup of tea.

I said it wrong.

You're not going to be everybody's cup of tea because you're champagne.

Like I'm not going to be everybody's cup of tea.

Thank goodness.

I haven't got enough time to support everybody in the world.

I'll support as many people as I can, but I think it's just allowing yourself to just push that away.

And I think what happens when you are starting a business is that your trajectory of self development is very steep and it goes, you know, like a rocket and our.

And it's such a steep curve.

People around you, if they don't run their own business, will not understand that.

They won't understand how much you've got to put yourself in front of people, be visible, try new ideas, you know, take risks, invest all of those things to get to where you are.

And it's a sort of a behind the scenes thing.

And like you said before, only I know how brave I am on a day to day basis.

Like my husband doesn't know.

I can't sit there and say I've done this, I've done this, I've done this, I've done this.

Like sometimes you have to be brave just to be disciplined.

But when you're surrounded by people that don't do that, it feels even more alien.

And then as you start talking about different things and seeing the world differently, it becomes even more alien because it's like no one else is talking about this.

I remember like you know, talking about being positive.

I went on a complaint diet a few years ago where I stopped whinging or just complaining and because my doubt wanted me to always be misery.

Like in misery, I would complain a lot about nothing.

It was literally just, just toxic behavior.

So I went on a complaint diet.

And then I.

The feeling of space in my head and the fact that I had energy because I wasn't getting dragged down by my negative.

Like the way that I spoke out loud was just so transformational.

I was like, oh my goodness, this is amazing.

Then I started practicing gratitude on a different level.

Like every single, like literally every minute I'm thinking about what I'm grateful for.

It just becomes part of it and it takes a while to get into it.

But then you think, oh my goodness, I feel really good.

Then you have more capacity to get to know yourself.

And when you start learning who you are as a business owner compared to the old you that might have been in employment, you can then have a Good foundation and something to anchor your self belief to so that the doubt doesn't get any louder or stop you and keep you stuck.

That's brilliant.

Thank you, Claire.

And something else that you said that I want to come back to just to highlight, is that all of these things that feel strange and scary, they.

It's funny how quickly they become normal.

Yeah.

Like give an example.

When I started this podcast, I was absolutely terrified every time I had to interview someone.

Even when I did a solo episode, just plugging in my microphone would make me get a bit shaky because I just.

I was really scared.

I.

I don't know what of now.

Like, looking back, it seems silly almost, but I just think it's good for people to know that.

That the thing that can seem so big and so scary and so overwhelming.

It's funny how quickly it can just become just part of who you are, what you do.

I don't think twice about it now.

It's just.

I'm a podcaster, this is what I do.

But it does take a while for that, like identity to bed in.

But, you know, it does.

It's funny how quickly something can go from being really unfamiliar to just being part of who you are.

Yeah, isn't it?

But it's up with anything.

I know.

You know, we all have gone through that, but expecting you not to feel fear, it's just like expecting a newborn baby to walk.

It's just impossible.

You just.

It's not going to happen that way.

But it's just getting comfortable.

I know a lot of people say this, but comfortable with being uncomfortable because you know you're winning.

When I feel really uncomfortable, I know I'm winning.

I'm being brave, I'm doing the unfamiliar.

And then I know that I'm growing.

Thank you.

I have got some really specific questions I'm going to ask you.

Claire.

That's okay.

I've been trying to love it.

What are the things that lots of us struggle with that you're going to be able to help us out with?

And I think the first thing I wanted to talk about is procrastination, because as I said, this is something that I know I do.

There's a thing, those things on my to do list that get pushed back and back and back.

I'll do it next week.

I'll do it next week.

Never do it.

And I think that lots of us can relate and sometimes it can be something we want to do.

So, for example, starting a business, starting a podcast, selling on a new platform, whatever it Is it can be something we genuinely want to do.

So why, Claire, do we still procrastinate, even if it's something positive?

Well, if it's something positive and you really want to do it, that's usually led by your heart and your gut instinct.

It's because you're probably scared of success.

A lot of the time when business owners are growing and scaling up.

Like I was saying, your.

Your attitude to life can change if you, you know, you're working on your mindset.

A lot of people around you may distance themselves from.

From you, because especially if, and unfortunately, you are holding a mirror up to say, look what I'm doing.

What are you not doing?

You're not doing that, you know, specifically.

But a lot of people may take that as a.

Oh, God, you know, if Claire's getting all this done and I can't even get me food shopping this week, you know, I must.

I just.

You just.

People just don't want to be around that all the time, especially if they're struggling themselves.

So a lot of fear of success comes from what are you going to lose as you become successful?

So that might be getting in the way.

Sorry to jump in, but do you think.

I'm just really interested to know what you think on this.

Do you think more people are scared of succeeding than they are of failing?

Yeah.

Yeah.

Because it's so unfamiliar.

We usually.

We failed in some way.

And if somebody.

I mean, there were conversations I would have with groups of friends, and it was always about, like, how's life?

How's things going?

And it would be like, oh, work's really tough at the moment, really busy.

I'm really tired.

Oh, I've had to row with so and so, you know, like, you would.

It's always about what's going wrong.

And so I switched it up, and I just refused to say that because actually, I might be finding things a challenge, but nothing's wrong in my life at the moment.

Touchwood, you know, life is really good because I choose to create a life, and I think that's, again, a very different level of empowerment.

Obviously, like, life happens, and that's okay.

Like, I had some things early in the year, but the way that I see how those things happen, you can, you know, and what.

What was going on for me in the beginning of the year, it was horrible, and I felt really sad, and I just allowed myself to feel the feelings and just move on from it.

But normally I will say, life is good.

And as I say that, the amount of people that don't say anything else.

Nothing.

Nothing is.

They don't say, oh, why is that, Claire?

What's going on?

Now, I'm not criticizing anyone for that because it's just human nature because you want to belong, which means that you need to follow the, the patterns of those people around you.

And I'm.

I was really bucking against that trend with the people I was hanging around with.

And as we become more successful, obviously we have a lot of wins.

We might have some really big challenges.

But I myself don't believe in failure because in my past, if I have failed, I've learned something really significant, which has actually opened up another door, which I'm really grateful for.

So how can I say that that challenge was a failure?

It was just a lesson.

So I see the world as I am either winning or I'm learning.

There's no failure.

It's impossible.

Just pick myself back up and get on with it to a point.

But the fear of success means that you are having more wins and it might be different to those people around you.

And you are choosing to alienate yourself because you choose to run your business.

And I think that can make yourself feel really uncomfortable and those around you feel really uncomfortable.

And life can change so much when you're successful as well as hiring more people.

Like, definition of CEO.

The identity that we have in our head is usually something that we actually aren't in ourselves.

So stepping into that identity can sometimes make us scared of success because we think, well, if I'm a CEO, that might mean I'm not going to see my children as much as I want to, or I'm going to have to hire a massive team.

I'm going to have to have a lot of expenses, moving offices or, you know, workspace.

I'm going to have to do this, this, this.

I'm going to have to be more visible.

I'm going to.

But that's only because you choose that, like, you can still be successful and have a level of success in scale in the business that you get to decide for yourself.

And I think it is just definitely the unknown and especially if no one else around you is running a successful business.

It goes back to what I was saying at the beginning.

Where's the evidence to support that it's going to be okay.

You just don't know.

That's really interesting.

Thank you.

And I definitely related to when you were talking about how it can, it can feel hard to relate to people when, if you, when you, if you, when you reach your level, success.

So the best way looks.

How can I explain this best.

I know I sometimes find it hard if something good has happened.

I sometimes find it harder to talk about something that's really good and really great.

If someone says, oh, how things have been for you?

What have you been up to?

It's.

It's actually sometimes can feel really awkward to go, oh, I'm really good actually.

This amazing thing happened.

Yeah.

And I don't know why that it.

Well, I sort of do know why that is.

But it's a shame, isn't it that because I feel like everyone is nodding their head now and relating to this.

I feel like 99 of us feel this way.

Yeah.

And it does take.

I went to one networking event a couple of years ago and I just had a quite a challenging thing with it with an old friend and it was really, really horrible and painful and I'd never been in another room with as many women that were saying I've been through something similar to that.

And I thought this just must be a business owner kind of thing that you are choosing to have a different look in life.

You are choosing to create something that doesn't exist.

You.

And that is not the norm.

It's.

That's why not everybody is an entrepreneur because of the, the grit that you've got to have to say, you know what, I'm gonna, I'm gonna create this product or this service, it doesn't exist currently or you know, my version of it doesn't exist, I'm going to go for it.

And that's where the self belief really comes in because you have got to know your purpose, your why, like why you're really doing it in order to move forward and make that success.

And I think that's why we procrastinate.

We procrastinate because we may not have that anchor in place as much as we want it to be.

So that's why getting to know yourself through, you know, spending time on your own, silent drives, silent walks, no podcasts or anything like that.

Journaling.

I try and write three a, four pages a day because I need to talk to myself.

I need to like sort out what's going on.

And I was actually talking to a client just earlier and she struggles to write and I told her about this app called Dictate and you just talking to it as you walk in or whatever and you can do like voice journaling.

That's another way to sort of get to know yourself so that you can feel your instincts in order to progress.

But when we Procrastinate.

We, we, what we choose is what we want right now instead of what we want most.

And if we haven't got that sat nav or that destination set to what we want most, do we want a business that is scalable?

Do we want a business that's sustainable?

Do we want to have capacity in our lives?

We don't burn out.

Yes.

So in that moment don't choose procrastination, choose to get it done.

But in those moments you will feel incredibly uncomfortable because you are, your doubt is making you procrastinate and it becomes this horrible cycle where you procrastinate, your doubt is loud so you procrastinate and try and avoid what you need to get done.

That leaks into a lack of self trust.

So you stop trusting yourself as much because you haven't got done what you said you wanted to get done.

That impacts self belief because if you can't believe you're going to get that to do list done, how are you going to believe you're going to get the big dreams which then makes our doubt louder which then makes us procrastinate more and it just goes round and round.

What we have to do is when we procrastinate and become aware of it as soon as possible and change everything up.

Now if you work from home like me, you do as well.

Vicky, don't you go and change your clothes is one of the best things I can.

I love, I love if I'm really stuck I will literally just go and change my outfit, stick my hair up, sometimes even just take all my makeup off, put my glasses on, get in some comfy clothes and go right, done that.

That phase of the day is finished.

I'm now into the new phase then I brain dump.

So I will write down until I don't want to write anymore a list of everything I'm worrying about that I want to do that I feel like I should be doing that.

I'm getting stuck on all of the things in the house as well, family, everything.

And then I just take like make sure I'm nice and regulated and then I go through that list and say but what really needs to get done today?

Now if we're product based business, you know, like myself and you used to be, you get orders, those orders come in and it's like a distraction of oh my goodness, I've got another order.

How can I get on with the stuff that's going to actually grow my business?

Do the CEO stuff if I've got orders sitting there one of the biggest things I would procrastinate over is, well, I can't really do my books right now and I can't really do my marketing strategy work and my content plan and stuff because I've got orders.

But if you're not working on the top of that funnel, the visibility side, for example, with marketing strategy, content coming in or checking that you're actually making a profit, you're not.

You haven't got a sustainable business.

You can't, you can't just do orders all the time.

And a lot of.

I know when I got into doing my wire art, I could very happily sit and watch Grey's Anatomy making wire art all day long, thank you very much.

But that didn't feed my soul in the same way this kind of stuff does.

But when we're in that zone, we need to really say, like, what is really important?

Highlight it.

Love a highlighter.

So I'll go through what's really important, what.

And important is always stuff that moves the needle.

Urgent is usually based on someone else's definition of urgent.

So it's, it's important to get that balance.

Important is about scaling, growing, CEO stuff.

Once I've got my list of pink things, I then order them in importance.

So there's a few steps to this, but it really does help.

So I will number them one to three or one to whatever.

And then I, then I say, well, I'm going to choose three of these now.

I'm going to do them all in the order of worst first.

So I put, I start with the, the one that I'm putting off the most.

And I put on a timer for 25 minutes, which is the Pomodoro technique.

Actually, I'm going to add in another element to this because sometimes 25 minutes on a job that we hate is too much.

So I introduced the 1% factor.

The 1% factor is based on Newton's law of motion, that you takes more energy to get something going than it does to keep it going.

So I put on a timer for two minutes and I get two minutes of work on that bit done.

But because I've got it started, my brain goes, well, we might as well finish it now or we might as well carry on.

Then I'll put a time on for 25 minutes, have a five minute break.

25 minutes, five minute break.

I only work in bursts of 25 minutes.

Unless I'm doing something like this and recording my podcast.

I only work in 25 minutes because I will lose concentration, I will lose focus.

And I used to beat myself up about it but I don't anymore.

I'm doing hard stuff.

It takes a lot of brain power and usually if I'm definitely doing CEO stuff I want to be doing something different.

So I'll do the worst things and then I reward myself by moving on to a job that is a little bit easier.

So you get a dopamine hit for the fact that you get a little five minute reward of break.

You get a dopamine hit.

When you check something off the list you get a dopamine hit because you're rewarding yourself with an easier task and that fuels your self belief.

Finding dopamine in your daily work will allow you to boost and like overcome the procrastination.

And I always find if I'm numbering things 1, 2, 3, I'm just focused on what is next.

I'm not thinking oh what shall I do?

That's wasting your energy.

You've got to think of all of these little like energy drains that can really impact your resistance to procrastination.

So I come in, I'm like what's number one?

Bang.

Well I'm going to do that.

Another thing I do, I have a massive whiteboard over here on the, on the left of me and I've got all of my to do list there.

I can't lose a massive A0 whiteboard.

I can't lose it.

So I've got no excuse not to get things done.

I plan my time on a Monday and I've got my whole week planned out of my jobs and I have to do the stuff that I hate first.

We all do it but it allows me to procrastinate less.

Procrastination will get everybody especially if you're in a really growth like you've got a lot of energy behind an area of scalability that you want to go into.

But these are the tips that help and I know some people are going God that's a lot, I understand.

But the amount of productivity you will get out of being that prepared or paying dividends, you're not going to waste time procrastinating.

You're going to get to the end of the day and feel so productive.

So that boosts your self trust, that boosts your self belief, that diminishes your voice, that the doubt.

Therefore you're going to procrastinate less the next day.

Oh that's so brilliant.

Thank you Claire.

I find it, I use slightly different techniques but I do find for the things I don't want to do.

I literally put them on the calendar.

So they're there and they're on my calendar and I'm going to do it at 10 o'clock on Wednesday or whatever.

And I find that even that for me really works because I'm like, okay, well, it's on the calendar.

Guess I'm doing it.

Oh, you're better than me.

That doesn't work for me.

I still go, yeah, I'll just do it later.

And actually in a moment I'm going to talk.

I'm going to ask you if there are any sort of signs of procrastination that we can talk about as well, Claire.

But before we do, to get to that, something else I wanted to ask about is what if someone is procrastinating and they know why they're doing it?

Because I think you're gonna have some great advice on this.

I can tell because you're very organized.

Let's say someone's procrastinating because they want to start a business, let's say.

But it just feels so overwhelming.

It just feels like such a massive, massive task.

Or maybe it's something else.

Maybe they want to, I don't know, renovate the house or anything at all.

That's a big, chunky thing that you're not going to get done in 25 minutes or even lots of 25 minutes.

How would you suggest you approach that?

I would start.

I would use the 1% factor and I would start with something that you really, you think that you're going to enjoy the most and just spend a little bit of time on that.

So in your example of starting a business, I love the renovation of the house because I did this with our kitchen.

We just done it all, all up.

And I didn't want to do it, but I did want to do it.

So we had this horrible laminate on the front of my kitchen doors and I thought, right, I can go and get the hair dryer and pull the laminate off of one door.

And that's all I just said to myself, because all I had to do was get the hairdryer.

Then the hairdryer in the kitchen means I'm going to start.

So by if you're starting a business, I would Google how to start a business and watch a YouTube video.

Or if you haven't already done that, I would just spend five minutes brain dumping.

What's that idea going to look like?

What value do you want to Bring to people.

How do you, what do you want to be known for with your business?

And just, just dream.

But I think it's important to say like having this idea that wouldn't it be fun if so it becomes less serious.

Wouldn't it be fun if I started a business so you have a bit more of a playful sort of energy about it?

And then I micro plan.

So when I've got a big project that I'm working on, post it notes on my best friend and I will write and sit again for just 25 minutes, not a long period of time and write on separate post it notes everything that I think that I might need to do for that project.

So if, again, if you're doing the business, it might be start thinking about a website, create a logo, create a name, start an Instagram handle, think about the value, et cetera, et cetera.

And you just write all of it down and then you leave it.

You come back to it a couple of days later, do the same process, look at what you've already got and see what else you come up with.

And then you want to order those post it notes in some kind of timeline.

I love like I use big paper and big things like with my whiteboard or I've got this big wall here that I use and I love the idea of putting it on a timeline in the shape of a mountain because that's what we're doing.

We're climbing a massive mountain that requires us to just take one step in front of the other.

So I draw, I get, I've got like flip chart paper or I've got my big whiteboard now and I draw the shape of a mountain and I add my post it notes in order along the timeline so that each day or each time I do it, if there's no deadline, I'm like, okay, I just need to do this, this point.

I get very overwhelmed by seeing lots of to dos in front of me.

So I try and really focus on that one thing that I need to do that day in order to feel like I'm making progress.

And one post it note a day, one tiny little movement can really help you to get the.

Because there's that period where it tilts from overwhelm to excitement to passion to addiction.

Really, isn't it when we start a business, you just become completely absorbed by it.

So it's just waiting for that, that energy to tilt into your favor and then the ball gets rolling and it's just being patient with yourself.

I don't think Anyone that's ever started a business just one day went, oh, my God, this is it.

I'm, I'm there, I'm ready.

You know, I'm going to do it all in one go.

It just doesn't happen like that.

But if you've got an idea, when that idea first starts, you've got to protect that idea and really like, protect it like it's a tiny little plant.

And it's your duty to protect that idea from your doubt because your doubt is going to tell you horrible things because it's unfamiliar.

But all that doubt, all of that fear, allies, basic lies, it's not telling you any truth because it's got no evidence to back it up.

Or if it's evidence, it's not back.

It's not related to you starting a business because maybe you have never done it before.

So it's about just listening to your instincts and if your excitement about that idea is still there day in, day out, just nurture it and protect it from your doubt as much as you can.

That's so helpful.

Thank you.

I really like what you're saying because I think once you get going, it's amazing, isn't it, how much just spending a tiny amount of time every day how much that builds.

Because I really think that the more you do, the more the momentum starts.

Build.

It's like that they say about snowball, don't they, that.

Yeah, it starts off really small and then it gets bigger and bigger.

And I do believe that.

Yeah, I'm a big fan as well of doing things in small.

I mean, I wrote a book doing like really small, small chunks, like some days, 10 minutes.

Yeah.

You do that for long enough and you do get somewhere.

Yeah.

So let's.

Before we move on from procrastination, we've talked about this a lot.

But what I would love is, are there any.

And we can do this super quickly.

Are there any little sort of signs of procrastination?

Because I'm just basically thinking people might not even know they're doing it.

I had an experience a while ago where I realized that I was procrastinating by working, but working on things other than the thing I was meant to be doing.

And I didn't really see that I was procrastinating because I was being busy.

Right.

I was being really productive.

I was just being productive and all the wrong things.

Are there any other little signs you can say if you're doing this?

Maybe have a think about.

Is there something you're trying to avoid?

Yeah, so busy work is number one.

How many times I've got that, that drawer that's been not sorted for over a year and suddenly I have a burning desire to sort it when I've got a massive thing that I'm supposed to be doing.

So you do that.

You can feel quite tired or yawning is a sign that your nervous systems unregulated.

So your, your doubt is sort of getting loud and therefore you're going to procrastinate.

Getting hungry again is a distraction.

Feeling like you like those.

Well, I mean Instagram or scrolling, Googling things that don't need to be Googled.

The other day I was thinking, oh, I really need to do something.

What was that actor in such and such.

I wonder if he's got any kids.

And I'm like going to Google whether this, this, this actor that I saw on something, whether he's got any kids.

Why do I need to know that in that moment?

No idea.

But my doubt was trying to distract me.

You will find that your procrastination starts to evolve.

So the basic sitting on Instagram and scrolling.

Everyone I think is familiar with that.

But there are different ways that you will procrastinate as you grow and because it starts to get sneaky.

So one thing that I will do is I had this.

Well, I've still got.

I'm creating.

It's so funny actually.

I'm creating a lead magnet, a free resource to help people when they're procrastinating.

But yesterday I procrastinated over it.

Isn't that just ridiculous?

Ironic, because I know it all up here.

But it's my doubt going, but do you know enough?

Now I'm sitting here, I was talking all this time, I know everything.

I know so much about procrastination.

I feel really confident in it.

I can help lots of people overcome it.

But.

And actually yesterday I was writing a client story and it was taking me ages.

And I've realized that a limiting belief of mine is that I don't.

Even though the evidence and the fact that I've helped hundreds of people grow their businesses and help them with their self belief and doubt, that part of my self worth that's, you know, from previous is still there and I still battle with it.

It was saying, oh, maybe you've got nothing to do with their success.

So I procrastinate over creating something because of that imposter syndrome that's coming in.

But it can come up and get us in so many different ways.

But primarily is if you have scheduled something that you are supposed to be doing that you know is going to grow and scale your business.

Even if it's boring and you are avoiding it, you are procrastinating.

That's so helpful, thank you.

That's really good because I think sometimes you just need someone to sort of say actually or yourself even just to be like actually you are going to do this thing and you've sort of like you said, reorganized all your drawers or whatever it is, anything but do it.

So let's move on for a little bit if that's okay because I'm conscious I'm taking up a lot of your time.

Although this is all brilliant, I feel like we could just keep going and going.

But I'm sure you've got somewhere else you need to be.

I think we've talked quite a lot about self doubts.

What I would really like to talk about now, if it's okay, is money.

Because I think money is can be such a big barrier.

Whether that's fear of making it, of not making enough of it, of making more of it.

Let's talk money.

What kind of things do people come to you with and what advice do you give them?

I always find that when you run in your own business, whatever you are selling you find quite easy to do.

So whether that is making or helping people because it's your superpower and because it's your magic that you use to do that, it's an.

It's actually quite easy and you get a lot of joy from it.

That is not how work is supposed to be for us in the 21st century.

Supposed to be hard and challenging work, long hours, so busy.

I hate work.

You know, no one's supposed to really enjoy their work, etc.

And because you find it easy, you will.

Then because of how society is made up, we will place more less worth on something that feels easy to do because that's just the way it is.

So I feel that a lot of people struggle with money, especially with charging because of that there's not enough effort in making the pound.

And I love to think of money as a type of energy.

So I've spoken about warrior energy which is like the capacity to be brave and grow your self belief and do the brave things and know who you are.

That's warrior energy.

You have joy, you have love, you have like physical energy, you have gratitude and you have money.

The only difference with money is there is a physical form in that transaction.

But other than that it's just energy.

So when I deliver My services or my products.

It's not just a transaction.

When I was doing wire art all the time, I wasn't just handing over a piece of art.

I was handing over somebody's like permission to step into a different identity because they had bespoke wire art on their walls or some really empowering words that gave them the confidence to show up as who they really are at work.

Or it reminded them of a loved one that passed away and they wanted to keep their memory alive.

That's not just a product like the same like the products that you used to do.

That's wrapping up your, your brand new baby in something gorgeous and wonderful and carefully made and gentle to their skin.

You just want to be the best mom ever.

You know, like that is not just the product the same as when I deliver my coaching.

I don't just support people to grow their business.

I support them to grow their life, their magic, their, their dreams.

You can't like when you then put a price on that.

It's about a commitment to how they show up.

And definitely if you don't charge your worth, you get less.

How can I say this nicely?

You don't get the same caliber of customers that understand the work that goes into a small business.

And because of that you then become burnt out.

And there is magic lost in what you're creating because of the energy that you have putting into it.

So if you understand that money is just a form of that energy, the more money energy that comes in, the more magic energy you can give out.

I know this sounds a little bit woo woo.

I wish there were better words, but it is that in transaction of just energy.

But then your, the ripple effect of that is that you can help more people.

Nobody out there is like, I want to work in.

I've decided the other day I want to start and like set up an animal hospital in Kent, right in a few years.

Because I keep watching all these wildlife programs with my son and I just love it.

So I want to do that.

And my husband, he's worked with homeless adults for most of his career and I would love for him to grow a homeless charity that's trauma informed from like the day dot that they come in.

The foundations are there.

If I don't become like create magic in my business to create that money, that those things aren't possible.

They won't help other people.

And I think we all have to recognize that, that our businesses help people.

They're not here to be horrible or take things away from people.

They're to give value and you should charge your worth so that you can live a life that creates more magic in you to give away.

That's such brilliant advice, Claire.

Thank you.

And I think as well, and I, because I'm totally with you for all of that because I think as well you have a really bad feel or I certainly do, you know, when like you know you're not charging your worth.

Yeah.

How you feel.

You do.

And then I do believe that whether you mean to or not, that feeling then kind of, I don't know the best way of saying I think it shows, I think it spills out.

It does, yeah.

And everyone is kind of affected by that.

Whereas if you feel that you're being paid fairly and you feel good about that, then the person you're working or people you're working with also feel good about that.

And I just think everyone just has a much nicer experience and I think.

It'S really important to stay here.

And this might be a bit of a Marmite comment, but I feel I get frustrated when I see business owners on their, say Instagram or something saying life is so difficult for a small business owner.

This, this and this.

Now there's no getting away that running a business is difficult.

But don't whinge about it because that is negative energy and you won't get sales by putting that energy out there.

It's just people are attracted to good vibes, good energy, being grateful.

I have had very challenging times in my business, but I get to do this.

I get to.

This is work.

Vicky, we're having a wonderful conversation on a podcast.

I get to.

Then I've got other podcasts today.

I get to sit and chat to amazing people all day.

I get to make what I did use with the wire art do that.

I help to help people make loads more money and be have a better life that ripples into their children.

I can't moan about that and I won't because self doubt is part of the package.

It is tough.

And if you need to have a cry, go and have a cry because that's a really good way to feel a bit better from it.

But don't show up on your social media saying things are really tough.

Show up with that energy of gratitude that you get to have a business and then watch the sales come in as a result of that.

Thank you so much, Claire.

So let's talk now.

We talked a bit about money and self doubt.

Let's talk a little bit about efficiency and actually getting things done.

You touched on this before with the Pomodoro method.

Yeah.

Do you have any other tips and hacks for getting things done?

Let's say we've released all of our mindset blocks.

We're ready to go.

What are your top tips?

I definitely think time in everything.

I think, especially if you're.

If you are making time yourself, creating those products and see how fast you can do them.

And I know that's like, specifically to handmade, but it's the same thing, making sure that you are disciplined with your time and putting in as many breaks as you can.

Like breaks are beneficial.

You'll be more productive in half the time.

The 1% factor, like I said, just doing two minutes of something so you can get started.

And first.

Worst.

Yeah, worst.

First.

Sorry, Worst first.

So numbering the list, like, the biggest thing that I do is numbering things so I don't have to look at the whole thing.

That's brilliant.

Thank you.

And thank you so much for everything that you share.

I honestly feel, Claire, if you didn't have other things to do, we could.

I know we could just keep this going.

You might have to come back, actually, if you.

Yeah, that's fine.

I'm very happy to come back and talk some more.

But before I let you go, I've got one final question for you.

So what would be your number one piece of advice for anyone who's struggling with any of the topics we've covered today, and I know we've covered a lot.

They're struggling.

They need a bit of a boost.

What would you say to them, Claire?

So I've got this great visualization that I think of when things.

I find things really, really challenging.

And I imagine myself at the beach with my feet in the sand and the waves are coming at me.

And, you know, when you stay in the shallow bit of the sea and you can feel the movement of the waves coming in, you've got to sort of find your core muscles and stand up straight.

I imagine that's happening and the waves are coming.

And just as I think that's it, I can't do it.

The tide starts to go out, and it's that grit and determination of just keeping going.

You will know if things aren't right.

Your intuition will tell you that.

But if your intuition is still saying but maybe, but what if.

Keep going.

Keep staying there till the tide goes out, because everything is happening exactly as it should.

You just need to hold your nerve and trust the process.

And in hindsight, when you look back, the lessons you learn in that period are going to open so many doors for you.

Well, that's brilliant.

Thank you so much, Claire.

You're very welcome.

Loved it.

Thank you so much for listening right to the end of this episode.

Do remember that you can get the full back catalogue and lots of free resources on my website, vickyweinberg.

Com.

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