Overcoming resistance when beginner's luck stops working

Continuing our exploration into what beginner's luck is actually all about & what to do when fear finally catches up with you

Psst: This is part 2 in a mini series. If you haven't read part 1 (aka the context!), you can find it here then circle back to this one.

"Ok Kat, so how do I get my beginner's luck back?!"

If you relate to being someone who once seemed to have a good dose of beginner's luck – or at least managed to achieve something(s) meaningful with relative ease in the past, despite your lack of experience, knowledge & resources, you might be wondering why you can't recreate that ease this time around.

…Why is it that despite knowing more today than you knew then, you feel less qualified than you ever have?

…Why is it that despite having more experience - potentially even evidence of your expertise - you've never felt more imposter-y?

…Why is that despite being someone who used to throw themselves in the deep end, you now seem to second-guess your every idea or plan?

Well, there's one extra concept I didn't touch on in part 1 that's worth mentioning before we talk about how we can recover from this apparent regression:

Good ol' Dunning Krueger.

No, you're not imagining it. Things were easier when you started. Because back then, you were living in (almost) blissful ignorance. You didn't know what you didn't know. So there were far less questions to be answered.

Then time passed and your awareness expanded. It started to realise just how much there was to know, and how little you actually did know. And suddenly it didn't feel like a fun ride down a slippery slide, but a perilous trek up Mt Everest.

Like I said in part 1, you've changed. And no matter how much you want to be able to "go back to the good old days", you can't. You are a different person.

But before you despair, please hear me out.

You are a better person.

You're wiser. More knowledgable. Stronger. More mature (on your good days, anyway).

Why would you want to undo all that good stuff?? (No judgement—I've found myself wishing that on more than one occasion, especially when it comes to my physical fitness 🥲)

While it may feel like things have gotten way more difficult, I need you to trust me that for all the perceived difficulty, challenge & resistance, you have 10X more good stuff to offset it. IF you know how to access it.

The key? Hone in on what worked back then, and elevate it! Like, that was how you rocked it then, here's how you rock it today.

Then: Throwing spaghetti at the wall

Now: Intuitive guidance

It's pretty common to take a "let's give it a go and see what happens" approach when you're early on in your journey. And thanks to beginner's luck (see also: the universe doing its best to support you) it may have worked quite well.

But it can often create a lot of mess as well as result in a ton of wasted time & energy. In fact, your mind may have conveniently blocked out the memories of your less successful spaghetti throwing attempts from the past (selective memory and excessive optimism is a handy - and common - trait for entrepreneurs & creatives!)

A better option for today? Develop your intuition and become more mindful and intentional about decision making.

Rather than taking an "Ah, f*ck it, let's try it" approach - which can often be accompanied by disassociation (see also: you cutting yourself off from your emotions and body's signals), pause, tune into your body, and ask it for a consult when considering any new pathway, project or tactic.

💡 Hot tip: If you've been cut off from your inner compass for so long, you don't know how to "hear" it, start practicing with smaller things. For instance, tuning in to your body when you make smaller decisions (i.e. what to eat for dinner, whether or not to go out to a party etc) and playing a mental movie, first with you saying "yes" to something, then with you saying "no" to something. Can you feel the difference in the yes vs the no? Can you identify where the signal is coming from?

Then: blissful ignorance

Now: Strategic tunnel vision

Knowing very little can be such a gift. Especially knowing very little about your competition. (My audition story from part 1 being an example of this!)

Now, we can't just "un-know" things. (Wouldn't that be lovely??)

...But we can limit how much information is coming at us on a daily basis.

Sooo many of my clients find themselves spiralling when what started as "market research" quickly evolves into a comparisonitis fuelled scroll-hole.

"Omg there are already SO many people doing this - why would someone choose me?!"

"So and so has WAY more experience -- how can I ever compete?!"

Sound familiar?

And while I do believe that there comes a time when we're able to allow all of this information to be in our field and not knock us off course, when we're already battling a number of personal demons, I don't think we should be making things harder for ourselves by adding external triggers to the mix.

The solution? Minimise the noise while you're in your creative bubble.

If you need to do genuine research, do so using incognito searches and/or secondary logins so your primary algorithm doesn't flood you with more of what you've been searching for.

Also, really question whether the research is necessary to begin with. IMHO, often it's not. Because the most powerful research comes from speaking directly to potential clients/audience members, not by looking at what others in the industry are doing.

(Yes, there's a time and place to do a tiny bit of competitor research, but that's also something someone else can help you with. This is something I love helping my clients with because it's easier for me to spot patterns & identify gaps with my zoomed out perspective - and I've had my own mentors do the same for me.)

Then: "Nothing to lose" urgency

Now: "Everything to gain" motivation

Now this may not apply to everyone reading it, but I've noticed a pattern when it comes to how often our leaps of faith are connected to us being in a period of our lives where things feel so bad, we don't think they could get much worse. So we throw ourselves into our new project/endeavour with relatively little fear.

This is great. But what can also be lurking under the surface is a need to run away from whatever situation is causing a lot of pain. And depending on how bad it is, it may push us to leap sooner than is healthy for our nervous systems (and bank accounts).

What's more, is that often when we're onto a later quest, we actually have far more to lose than what we did back then. So there's literally no way we can recreate that motivation. This means we gotta find something else. Something even better.

Rather than seeing this as an opportunity to leave something crappy behind, I'd love you to instead, start visualising all you're moving towards. Really allow yourself to feel into the potential of it.

Who could this lead to you becoming?

How could this transform your life?

What kind of impact could this create around you?

💡 Hot tip: A simple exercise I like to give clients (who are often very focused on all that could go wrong) is the Best Case Scenario visualisation. In a nutshell, you'll open up a blank page in your notepad or note-taking doc, and start with the heading "What is the best case scenario I can imagine right now?" ...Then start free-writing and see where it takes you. Don’t stop with the basics. Keep adding, “And THAT could then lead to…” to allow more to unfold!

Then: Going aaaall in

Now: Minimum Viable Magnetism

I love past me's enthusiasm and optimism. She was truly unstoppable. AND she wasted huge chunks of time & money because she jumped straight in the deep end with some endeavours that weren't aligned.

I don't want you ditching that enthusiasm. It's so precious. What I do want is you adopting a process that allows you to hone it, meaningfully, without needing to over-commit to something that could cost you unnecessarily in the long run.

Again, the messaging we tend to receive about starting new things makes us believe that going ALL IN is essential. "Go hard or go home" and all that. But this just isn't true. Successful businesses spend plenty of time validating their ideas and ensuring there's a market for them before committing to bringing them to life. And as solopreneurs & creatives, there's a second type of validation we need: confirmation that WE actually feel that this offering is sustainable.

I learned this one the hard way. After giving up client work for 3 months and pouring HUNDREDS of hours and thousands of dollars into developing my second online course, Makeup Made Easy, I launched it only to realise that... “Oh sh*t. I don't want to talk about makeup all day every day. I'm not actually passionate about this topic AT ALL.”

Cue my existential (and financial) crisis as I figured out what the hell to do with my life and business now I was apparently starting from scratch... again.

If ONLY someone had told me that there was a way of testing ideas out without needing to go aaaall in.

Oh well, today me is happy to pay that knowledge forward to you and say that, there is in fact a way. I call it Minimum Viable Magnetism. It's simple: You figure out what the lightest version of the plan would involve for you to test this idea out for yourself. For instance, you want to create an online course, have you tried running it live with a group first? Want to do a group program, have you tried offering it 1:1 yet?

Then, you map out a Magnetism Experiment which is a set period of time you'll use to run this minimum viable project while gathering feedback and tracking results so you can then reassess the idea and decide if it has long-term legs.

Then: Make it all about your project

Now: Make it all about personal growth

Real talk time. The above guidance is still tip of the iceberg stuff. Because while tactics, strategies & quick reframes can be helpful, the real work required is a layer deeper. It's what's going on inside you.

The resistance and fear that's been coming up? It's real. And it's highly likely that it's rooted in past experiences (even going back to childhood) not just what's happening in the now.

So while past you might have been very focused on the project or endeavour itself, know that the internal blocks that have revealed themselves this time around are a clue that you're ready to do the real work. Ready to use this next project as an opportunity to become someone new.

And there is - once again - so much I have to share on this topic that will have to wait until what's turned out to be a necessary part 3. However, I have something for you that'll help prepare you for it.

I created a free assessment designed to help you get clear on what specifically is most blocking your magnetism right now (and of course, where you're already doing well!) "The Magnetic Magnitude Assessment".

It takes about 15 minutes to complete and afterwards, you'll get personalised results that break down how you're tracking with each of your 5 sources of Magnetism (Makeup, Mythology, Moxie, M.O. & Material).

Take the assessment for free here then be sure to do some free-writing on what stood out to you and where you think you need to do the most work.

– Kat x

PS Things get even more practical in part 3/3 here ⤵️