What is it that connects yoga and confident marketing? This is a question I had to answer just recently. When an organizer of a Meetup group asked me what could they do to bring more movement and play into their regular lecture type sessions, I blurted out – how about yoga and marketing? A week later, I was contacted and asked to put a session together.
When we brainstormed with my yoga teacher (Anton Edwards), we actually came out with quite many connections. We ended up focusing on finding confidence in yourself and unlocking your potential.
How does yoga help you find confidence in yourself?
When you practice yoga, you need to be patient with yourself and respect your body, otherwise you will end up with injuries or aches and pains where you least want them. Meanwhile, the chatter in your head is telling you to get into that shape, be better than your neighbor or that you really do not need to try today because you are already tired anyway.
When you listen to your body, though, you know that the last thing you need is to get into that shape. Your will be much better served if you stretch yourself in a way that helps you release the office chair from your back. As a consequence and over time, you will start getting into the shapes you originally were not able to. In addition, you will have more stamina and be able to shake off that tiredness from the long day.
Yoga and confident marketing?
The same applies to confident marketing – you might want to push yourself into doing what does not feel natural to you, just because someone else does it or you read that this is the secret to success. You might end up with some short term wins, yet, it could be detrimental to your brand. E.g. if I launched a cold calling campaign and tried to win people over by trying to talk them into working with me, I might end up with some new clients. But it will not be authentic for me and will undermine my marketing message of connecting with clients first and letting them make the choice.
What enables you to know your limits in yoga and your own confident marketing style?
It is connecting with your own core and realizing what drives you and what your own saboteurs are like. When you are pushing yourself just enough to develop your ablilities, but not break yourself, then you will inch forward and this will give you confidence in your capabilities. You are making progress every time rather than huge jump one day and then a backlash that leaves you worse off than before.
Practicing yoga will teach you to separate the chatter of your mind and focus on what your body needs. You can then apply the same skill of differentiation on understanding what the right marketing style is for you.
