OK, so you are probably wondering what the heck I”m talking about and why do I have a picture of Morgan Freeman for this post.
I don’t blame ya. I was thinking the same thing when I got the idea. Ok, let me explain.
The picture is from the movie “Bruce Almighty” starring Jim Carey. Morgan Freeman played the character of “God” in the movie.
( movie “Bruce Almighty” )
If you’ve seen it then you know the whole story . Now you’re probably wondering what does this have to do with marketing? Cool, check this out.
I am currently listening to an audio version of a seminar by Wayne Dyer entitled “Excuses Begone” after his book with the same title.
In a nutshell, Wayne says that we really don’t know how things will turn out in any given situation unless we have the full truth.
If this is the case, then we should choose the thought process that will take us toward our goals and not away from them.
Example of This Situation
You have a goal to write an article or shoot a video. You think you have a good idea but you don’t know if people will like it.
You decide not to do it because you don’ think it will be popular.
This is prime example of your “God Complex” kicking in.
So just what is the “God Complex”?
Without getting into religion or beliefs, the “God Complex” is this, according to the bible, one of the attributes of God is that he is omniscient.
This means that he knows all things for a fact. He knows everything there is to know and he knows the truth of those things.
Now how does that relate to us having a “God Complex”? Thought you’d never ask.
Most of the decisions we make are based on generalizations at best. This means that we make the best decision that we can based on the information we have or from past experiences.
Now this information is not always correct. Sometimes we perceive things to be true but they are really not. I’m just being honest. Wayne Dyer exposed this truth with a very interesting question.
The question is “Are you 100% certain?”
So let’s go back to our example above. You want to do a video or write an article but you don’t know if people will like it so you don’t do it.
One question you might want to ask yourself is, “Are you 100% certain that people won’t like it?”
If you were honest with yourself the answer would be no. You don’t know for sure if people won’t like it. They just might love it! OK, are you 100% certain that people will like it?
Again, if you are honest, the answer is no. You could not be 100% certain that people would like it. They just might hate it.
There is no way you could be 100% certain on either answer unless you were God because he is the only one who KNOWS everything and he knows the truth of those things.
All we could do at best is speculate.
This is when you must put your “God Complex” in check. Between the two thoughts that you could have, would you choose, they will like the article or they will not like the article?
Which of those thoughts moves you closer to your goal of writing the article?
Obviously, the thought that says they will like the article. Now you may say, but Karina, how do I know they will like it?
You don’t but you don’t know if they won’t like it either. That’s the whole point! Since you really don’t know either way, choose the thought that will move you closer to your goal.
Here are 2 major benefits of doing this:
1. You will be empowered to actually get the task at hand done.
2. You will become more creative in what you do since you are not worried about how people will respond or how it will turn out.
Now remember, this only applies to issues that you don’t have factual answers to.
If you wrote an article about bald headed dogs sucking on lollipops and people didn’t like it the first time, you may not want to do that again……. Just sayin’.
But ultimately, we will become more empowered and more confident if we stop thinking that we know how things will turn out before hand and just let the results speak for themselves.
Once you put your “God Complex” in check or get rid of it all together, the creative juices that you need to flow into your marketing will begin to manifest and ultimately you will become a much better marketer.