The Mountain Is You: Have you Self-Sabotaged?

[Pesso]

Hey Square Readers,

Welcome to another round of the Square Readers Book Club! Today we’re starting our next book, The Mountain is You by Brianna Wiest!

This book is all about self-sabotage: the big and little ways that we prevent ourselves from doing and getting what we want. It dives into uncovering the reasons why, and working to change so we can break through them, in order to live a better life and run a better business.

While not all of the book is directly about running a business, it is very applicable to business owners and can help improve our relationships with our businesses. Self-sabotage can happen very often in business, when you as a business owner are often the only person responsible for getting things done. When it’s all on your shoulders, it’s easy to subconsciously stop yourself from doing the things that need to get done. 

As we start reading the book, let’s kick off our conversations with a baseline of your experiences with self-sabotage and what the impact of it was for you.

We’re gonna get into some pretty deep territory with this book, so thanks for being open to getting vulnerable! 

So let’s talk:

• Have you ever self-sabotaged? If you’d like, share a business or personal situation. 
• How did it affect you or your business?
• How do you break through situations like this?

For some extra fun, share a selfie of you with the book here in the comments! 

Don’t forget to:

• View and Subscribe to all threads about this book
• RSVP to our Live Discussion

Happy reading,

Pesso

[bonny]

I grew up in a time when things like videos were not a thing.  They didn't exist.  I see them now everywhere on social media and have heard the rumors they are game changers.  My fix to explore that possibility is to take a class to understand what makes a good snippet. I'll evaluate if it's a good tool for my business or not after I finish it.  When I think about what I'd highlight or talk about, I draw a complete blank at this point so we'll see where this goes.  I'm the one always asking why or why not.  I'll find out. 

[CareyJo]

Not only did we not have videos, we didn't have cell phones or tablets and personal computers were brand new and gigantic.  Only uber rich people had cell phones and only in cars.  Beepers came after I graduated from high school.  We still had to pay for phone bills by the minute for local AND long distance calls....  I see nothing wrong with waiting until after the class to make a decision but what I would do is look on social media for someone else who does what you do in another part of the country, to get a sense of what kind of content customers are looking for.

[Pesso]

For sure, @CareyJo ! That's a massive thing to get used to and can absolutely be a big source of trepidation as a result. I definitely agree that waiting until after a class or finding some lil tips on social media would be huge! Thanks for jumping in and sharing your perspective on this-

[Pesso]

That's a great point, @bonny ! If it's new to you it can be very intimidating and just a big unknown. Taking a course or even just watching a bunch of things on YouTube about it can be super helpful! 

In terms of what to highlight, there are so many different ways you can go. You can post pictures of the art itself, you can focus on your high quality materials, you can talk to camera about your process -- like the things you tell your customers at your booths, absolutely anything and everything! It's all about experimenting and seeing what resonates with your customers. 

Rooting for ya and happy to answer any questions.
For the next round of book voting I'm putting in a book on social media, so maybe that'll help too! 

[CareyJo]

Sorry I've been out of the loop y'all... my niece got married last weekend and I had a whole week of things going on for that.  I did all of her flowers and had to be there for two days for set up and teardown and of course the day of.  I also had another emergency that took me away from the office, on top of trying to get work done.

[Pesso]

Welcome back, @CareyJo !

Congrats on the niece's wedding -- that's so wonderful that you were able to be so involved and help out. 

I'm sorry about the emergency taking you away -- I hope everything is ok! 

[CareyJo]

Now that I'm half-way through chapter 4... I feel like I can finally answer these questions better.  I hadn't started reading yet.  I got into the preface after my book came and then got sidelined.

After reading what the different forms of self-sabotage are, I can definitely say that I have/do and in relation to business.  There are a few things I've noticed and can definitely identify which ones I'm not.  I've allowed a couple of these things to stall me from moving forward with things that I want do, mostly from fear.

It has stopped me in business by keeping me from figuring out how to still get what I want while working around the limitations that I have.

I've never had to break though this stuff before, even after decades of therapy for various reasons.  I'm now questioning why therapists aren't talking about this stuff.

This book is very interesting and really helps me to understand people, myself and our brains so much.  It make so much sense and I wish I'd heard this all before.  It also begs the question - if these things are all true, then why do we have mental illness at all?  Why can't most of our defined mental illnesses be best controlled through these ideas?  If you put some of these traits together, you can literally craft a narcissist.  If these things can be changed through behavior modification and emotional intelligence, then why can't we retrain narcissist to stop being narcissists?

Definitely some deep food for thought in this one.

[Pesso]

Thanks for jumping in, @CareyJo !

That's so wonderful that this has been helping you identify it -- fear is absolutely a big driver of it! Knowing our limiting beliefs and factors is a huge first step to working through it and overcoming. 

Right? This stuff should totally be talked about more often, especially in therapy. So glad we're going through it ourselves! 

Looking forward to reading & responding the answers you've posted on the other threads next!