You know how it goes: You’ve got an important project to get done where the deadline’s coming up on the horizon. That’s OK though because you’ve a plan; you know what you’re doing and when you’re doing it.
Right?
All is well with the world!
This was me when preparing for the maiden launch of my online course Curbing Chocolate Cravings.
All was going swimmingly; I knew what I wanted to include and how to present that, how much to charge, when to launch and how I would promote it. All was well…..
That was until I needed the technology to play nicely when recording the last 4 videos.
You guessed, it didn’t!
My best laid plans fast deteriorated into the thing of nightmares, aaaargh!!!
And because of this, experienced the worst 2 professional days I’ve had in a very long time, filled with stress, anxiety and a whole host of problems that needed solutions, and fast!
Now these videos were only 5 – 15 minutes long, which I’d planned to record on my smart phone as usual, easy peasy; I now know how to do this quickly and easily.
Alas, my usual method of uploading the video files to my laptop using a USB cable just wouldn’t work this time, no matter how many times and ways I tried to MAKE my phone and laptop play nicely together. Sadly, my phone and laptop had decided they were no longer compatible friends!
Since I’m in polite company I’ll call that sods bloomin’ law.
So after about 2 hours at trying to figure this out and my frustration levels rising…….
I gave up.
I knew the tech had beaten me, so admitted defeat.
I was down, but not out.
I had to get this done, sharing this course with health-conscious women is too important to me.
So had to figure out a plan B.
This ended up being a dash to the shop at 5pm to buy a HD webcam.
Happy days they had one in stock, I’m back in business!
So I returned home with a sense of calm that, although I may be working a little later than planned, I now had what I needed to get myself back on track.
Alas, this warm fuzzy feeling was short lived…..
From here a whole catalogue of issues presented themselves. The camera and mic wouldn’t work together properly in my laptop software. Then the solution to that meant that every single one of those short videos I’d recorded each took nearly 2 hours to be exported as MP4 files.
After which I needed to edit the video duration sound quality. So in all each 15 minute video was taking around 3 hours to get to the final version, compared with the usual 45 minutes or so.
This meant I was up ‘til 2 am on the launch day morning and still hadn’t finished them all. Bleary eyed and exhausted, I admitted defeat and popped an apology on my website, explaining the launch would be delayed for 24 hours.
So there I was, back up at 7am and straight back on it. I spent the day exporting and editing the other videos I needed. All was going well, all be it at a much, much slower pace than usual.
When I was done with the videos and happy they were uploaded to my member’s website correctly (yes I triple checked), I then turned my attention to ensuring the payment system and access to the member site and course was working correctly.
Yip, you guessed it, the tech gremlins were out to get me once again.
Actually, hands up, I need to take responsibility for this one; I’d not connected PayPal correctly to my website. You see the thing is, I’m new to all of this website building stuff which, at times, has been a steep, steep learning curve.
My heart sunk, would there be someone available at my website hosting company to dig me out of this one, as it was 10pm?
Thankfully the company I use for website hosting is truly awesome and they’re based in Canada so the time difference was a huge bonus! The awesome owner spent the next 2 hours supporting me figure out how to resolve the issue.
Phew!
So it was at 3am on the Saturday morning, after triple checking everything (again!!!), I headed off to bed exhausted, but with a smile on my face as I knew all was well and ready to go.
Needless to say, at times, I was stressed to the max!
Have you found yourself in a similar situation where your best laid plans were going belly up!
Those familiar signs and symptoms; a knot in my stomach, a dull ache in my head, a heaviness in my heart which at one point, for a split second, spilled over into a loud scream, that was quickly followed by me telling my laptop to go away in very unladylike language! And with the camera rolling I could see myself screaming back at me on the laptop screen; yes this was getting a little out of hand and not a pretty sight!!!
In days gone by, at this point, I would’ve normally turned to chocolate and likely eaten somewhere close to my own body weight in chocolate; looking for something delicious and yummy to soothe my emotional angst and distress!
You know, that burning craving that just WILL NOT relent until it’s satisfied; or was that just me?
These 2 days were different in the way I responded.
Did I feel like giving up, defeated by the tech?
Hell yeah!
My stress was most definitely peaked when the mic and webcam wouldn’t work together.
The truth of the matter is that the sight of my own frustration being reflected back at me from my laptop screen was not a pretty sight and my cue to take a step back.
I had to find a way to keep calm and carry on.
I’ve since reflected and can’t recall a time professionally when I’ve been more grateful for being an expert in the use of Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT/Tapping).
Instead of saying “why me?” and becoming more frustrated and upset, I took 20 minutes time out; to pause and use EFT to calm down:
Clear the frustration,
Clear the upset,
Clear the brain fog,
Clear space in my thinking to find solutions and the way forward,
Remembering the reasons why it was important that I get this done, get in finished:
- I want to share my expertise and the great results that gets with as many health-conscious woman as possible. So they too can manage their stress and anxiety in a way that doesn’t involve eating their own body weight in chocolate, like my clients and I used to.
- I want to make a difference, being of service to the world.
- I want to support woman transform their relationship with food and their bodies.
- I want woman to achieve their health and emotional wellbeing goals with ease.
So, after my 20 minutes out using EFT my frustrations and upset were resolved, where I was able to make plan B work.
And, importantly I kept doing a few minutes of EFT every time I felt any small twinge of anxiety building in my mind or body.
You see what’s going on here is that because I was keeping on top of my stress and anxiety using EFT I was able to get the job done. Find solutions to what felt like a never ending conveyor belt of technical obstacles.
Those few moments of time out, clearing the upset meant I kept going; yes I was tired and boy was I learning lessons as each hour passed, but I had a clear head that meant the job was actually completed.
It was when I reflected on what I’d learned from this experience that I realised that not a single piece of chocolate or junk food passed my lips over those 2 days. Nope, not one!!
Woop, Woop!
Yet more proof that EFT’s a really simple and powerful tool that works.
So what were the important realisations my reflection provided me?
Well……
- I’m grateful that the work I’ve completed using EFT in resolving my past unhelpful relationship with chocolate has worked perfectly. A stark contrast with times gone by, where on days like this, I would’ve eaten something close to my own body weight in chocolate!!! The relevance of which isn’t lost on me given this online course is about Curbing Chocolate Cravings in these very situations!!!
- Emotional Freedom Techniques (EFT/tapping) is much more efficient and helpful at managing stress than screaming and swearing at your laptop, deep breathing and meditation. Yes I did have that moment (all be it very briefly) where I told my laptop to go away using very unladylike language, but I pulled that around and not another expletive passed my lips!
- I love what I do and I’m dedicated to making a difference, even when the obstacles sometimes feel insurmountable.
Although this was a difficult 2 days I’m glad they happened as I’ve learned more about my strengths and areas for development.
But the most important thing I took from this was a reminder of the absolute power of EFT in getting me through the emotional ups and down life throws at me. Because before I had EFT in my life, and during the periods that I’ve lapsed in using it, those life stressors frequently escalated with very different outcomes.
So if this sounds familiar and you’re ready to invest in your fabulous future self, free of chocolate cravings and the solution to managing your stress, literally at your fingertips…….
Then you might want to consider signing up for this online course that’s available until 5th October 2018 for the discounted price of £45.
You can find more details here
And, as ever, if you think this article may be useful to someone else please do feel free to share it with them. And maybe come over and join the conversation by joining my email list, you’ll be most welcome. I do hope that this has been useful for you. Do you think you’re health would benefit from a tool that can both help manage your stress and how much chocolate you eat? Please do share in the comments below as I always love to hear from you.
Dedicated to your nourishment; body, mind and spirit.
Jennifer x