Not enough time. Not enough money. I don’t have enough in every aspect of my life.
And so I adopt a scarcity attitude, justifying my rude behavior towards others.
After all, if there isn’t enough to go around, it’s a dog eat dog world, right?
There are only so many client dollars, so I must outmuscle my competition.
I’ll growl when any other dog comes near my food dish when I’m eating.
Zero-sum game, red ocean– I need to be tough and distrustful, as life is nasty, brutish, and short.
That’s what other people say as an excuse to not share their expertise, which guarantees failure in their attempts to do content marketing.
So content marketing becomes illogical– why would you give away your food in a famine?
For some, the hot sand evokes a barren desert, but to others, a tropical beach
If you want to be the “best” at something, you have to surround yourself with others at the best.
Crawl out from the “safety” of your Platonic Cave and into the illumination of the brightest stars.
Those who you once thought were enemies now become allies you seek for reciprocal value.
I’m not threatened by folks like Larry Kim, who can probably run circles around me in PPC.
Or Mat Morrison, who can mine social data deeper than I can imagine.
These folks I respect, but am not afraid of and definitely don’t see as competition.
Who are the Larrys and Mat’s that you’ve avoided because of the fear of not having enough?
Fear is the silent killer
I might think that I don’t have fear, but disguise via my busyness, call it irrelevant, or deflect it with excuses.
Like an alcoholic, I’ll be in denial– cover it up, be defensive, and then hide.
When there is love, fear cannot exist.
Love is focusing on the needs of others, while fear is a self-centered concern.
When others are being mean to us, look beyond their immediate behavior to see a heart in pain.
They are in pain like a bear with her paw in a trap or a friend who has suffered a physical injury.
You can reframe anger, rude behavior, and criticism into a cry for love like our friend Will Franco talks about.
And usually, their situation is caused by a mentality of not enough and zero-sum, which is what’s causing them to barely get by.
What they view as the problem is actually the symptom and vice-versa.
If you believe strongly in your business’s mission, where is your love manifested?
How are you giving of your knowledge and time freely, knowing it will come back to you one hundredfold?
If not, how will you transform your mentality of being a sole provider fending off the world, unable to come out to receive love?
Who are the folks you view as enemies and competitors, whose strength they’d gladly apply in your favor?
I’d argue that you believe you have any direct competitors, you’ve not thought through your mission deeply enough.
The exception is if you operate in a regulated or commodity environment– but then consider how to not differentiate further.
