Overcoming Anxiety Around Posting on Social Media (with Alicia Wood)

Do you feel anxiety when you tap "Publish" on your social media content? Today's guest, Alicia Wood did too. But now she creates daily content and has actually fallen in love with content creation. So what changed?

How did she go from anxious, uncomfortable and experiencing stage fright... To excited to make content? She'll tell you.

In this episode, Alicia Wood (Mindset Coach and Intuitive Healer) shares the 2 biggest shifts that took her from scared to show up on social media for her business, to a content creator.

1) Completely changing her outlook on content creation by recognizing that her content helps her ideal client, and it's not about her.

2) Showing up online even on the days she doesn't wanna, so she can get her reps in, practise, and get faster and better at it with every click.

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Music by Jordan Wood

Hosted by Jenna Warriner, Creator of Magic Marketing Machine

Transcript

 You're here because you want to post more you're here because you want to start making more content or you're on a journey where you are making more content, but we all feel it. Knees weak palms are sweaty.  Domino's sweat already. It's nerve-wracking and for some of us it's more nerve wracking than others. Now some of you have reached out to me and you've said, Jenna, you're so extroverted. This is so natural to you. Yes. I've been on stage since I was, but a wee lass. And maybe it is easier for me to show up than it is for you. 

So as always, if I can provide to you, I will bring you someone who can I have here a really special guest with me today. This is Alicia wood. She is a mindset coach. She is an intuitive healer. She is a really good marketer and a magic marketing machine graduate. My Instagram marketing program. We're going to talk about some ways that you can break through the anxiety of showing up  and we're going to give you in today's episode, some tactics that you can use to fight through that anxiety, to fight through the icky feelings and show up anyways. 

Hi, Alicia.  This is exciting  we get to do it in person. Normally I'm doing things via zoom, even though this is an audible platform, they don't know that I can see into your eyes directly. I know. No, it's weird that we're in the same room.  You know what else is weird? Hearing the, you were once uncomfortable in front of a crowd because I have seen you command a room. Your podcast commands the room, you show up and make content daily, right? If not more than daily. Oh yeah. So I think it's pretty inspiring to hear that you are someone who's experienced anxiety. Yeah, and I feel like I used to be somebody who would be super uncomfortable showing up online. To somebody who's now like,  I love it. Like it's not even like, I feel comfortable with it. I'm like, I love creating content. It's fun for me. And I just get to keep getting better and better at it. So it's not even just like a little bit, like, it's fine. Like I can do it. It's bearable. It's like one of my favorite things you love that sweet, sweet dopamine hit. 

Yeah. It's well, it feels good to help people and. I'm proud of myself every single time. I'm like, oh, this actually it's pretty good. Sometimes I'll watch it back. You must do this to you wash back your stuff. And you're like,  I'm really good at this. Uh, so I think it's, I get the anxiety. Part of it, because that was part of my journey very much so, but there's ways to move through it. Okay. So bring us back. We're going to back to when you're starting to show up online. And can you think of a time where it felt like impossible? Like, no, no, that's not for me. I'm not her. I'm not that person whose face is all over Instagram.  I feel like I'm going to take it back to a time. Where my face, it was pre Instagram where I had to get comfortable. Through the anxiety. So I wanted to take you to. When I was socially anxious and I really wanted to be a fitness instructor, but I was like, how am I going to do this? Like I have to show up in front of a room full of people for an hour and do an hour long presentation for them. Like often it made no sense to me. I was too anxious to do it. I never even thought of that. Like teaching a fitness class is equivalent to an hour long presentation. Yeah. That they give you a rating for at the end of every single presentation. It's like, if you were to do a presentation at work and then everybody at work were to give you one to five stars. Anonymously. Yeah, I actually,  I've been doing a lot of corporate speaking lately and my father-in-law was like, how long are those presentations you do? And I was like, oh, you know, 60, 75 minutes. And he went, wow. But man, a yoga instructor or like a hit instructor is doing that every day. 

Yeah. And so for me, I had anxiety. I was so terrified to teach my first class.  But I had to do it because it was something I wanted to do in order for me to do the thin I had to do the thing. And so was I scared to show up? Hell. Yeah. I was probably visibly and audibly shaking throughout the entire hour.  And did I get great reviews after? No. People did not like. The class, because I was obviously I'm uncomfortable because it was new to me and I was anxious about it. So I'm not going to be great at the beginning of it. It's going to take me a bit of time.  T of doing it over and over again, to get comfortable with it. So it sounds like. At that time you had you had your eye on the prize, you knew the goal. And the goal was really clear, which is a big part of this. What's the outcome that we're looking for. And can we keep our eye on that prize, but it sounds like you had to have a certain level of acceptance for maybe sucking for a minute.  A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Nobody is good at something. Immediately.  Although we like to be good at things immediately. And I feel like you were just like, I'm pretty good at a lot of things immediately. And those are the things that we do, but the things that we really want to do, sometimes they're out of our comfort zone and we won't go for them because we're not immediately good at them. 

I am. Yeah. And how limiting for ourselves in our lives. And I also want to point out that maybe. Sure. Okay. I trust you. I trust that some people came and they didn't like the class. Maybe you got a negative review, but there's probably Susan in the back who was just like, oh, another great day. Another great class. And she wasn't judging you as harshly as you were judging you. Oh, totally. And the people who were judging. Where people who went to that gym all the time knew I was a substitute teacher. Like there was a lot of variables where we all have our mental blocks going into it. We expected it to be a certain way and things are different. But yeah, I mean, did everybody get a great workout? Yeah.  Did everybody get out of there without any injuries? Yeah. Was there music playing. Yeah. Like it, it all flowed. It was fine. But it got better over time. And again, like, it's crazy to me because when you were still a fitness instructor that like we've known each other for years and I've gone to your classes and it's just like this tiny woman with all the energy in the world and all the confidence in the world. And that's, that's the person I saw.  And that's like that is by doing it over and over and over again, , I went from a person who would literally in high school, I would change classes. If I found out there was a presentation. If I had to do a presentation at work,  I would do absolutely everything to pass it off to somebody else or do it a different way. Like I did not want to do presentations. I was never going to raise my hand in class. I was never going to. Speak up in a meeting. Like these were not things that I did. And so to get in front of a room. And go from that person who was very uncomfortable doing it. To then. Being the person who literally, every time I see somebody with a microphone now, I'm like, I want that job. Like I just lend me the mic. Yeah. There's a microphone. Amazing. This is my favorite. Of course. I'll do it. And so. 

Uh, camera's just a little microphone. Like there's a little microphone in it and my voice can sometimes be quiet and it gets to get amplified easily by social media, because I don't need to scream. I don't need to go overboard. I can be me and just show up online. So, do you remember some of the pivotal moments in this. Getting from point a to where we are now, which I can only assume is point Q R S T V. Yes. Um, some of the pivotal moments would have been. Doing it when I didn't feel like it.  Hm. Like if I don't want to go, I don't really, really don't feel like teaching a class today. Like, I really don't feel like showing up on social media today.  Well, I'm just going to do it anyways, because what's the worst thing that can happen.  Being consistent with it. Like showing up all the time.  Because the more you do something it's like anything.  The more you do it, the more comfortable you get with it. They're just, there is a point where you start off going.  This is really uncomfortable. I don't know if I can do this, but you're staying focused on that desired outcome on that end goal. And then you're like, okay, well I guess I have to do it to get to that point. And just showing up consistently, consistently, consistently at some point a shift happens and you're like, , I'm actually really good at this. Oh, I actually really enjoy this. Oh. And when that shift happens, then you get to get into like the exciting territory of, I love showing up on camera. I feel like some people who are listening right now that feels insane. Like they will, they feel like they would never. Love it. And I mean, I've seen this transformation in people. There was someone that joined magic marketing machine. Once  this is back when I first launched it. And she came every week and barely spoke up in our group. Calls was really quiet. Didn't post a single thing. I don't think for the entire time she was in the program. And then she finished the program and then she finally, I don't know what happened in her. And she was like, okay, I'm ready. And then she started showing up like crazy making videos, making all these reels and getting clients from her content, but it took her time to like build herself up to do it. Okay. You know, another thing I'm always making people anchor the result, anchor the win. Like every week at the beginning of magic marketing machine group calls, I asked the class, tell me something good that happened in your marketing this week. 

Tell me something that you're proud of. And we anchor those wins. But  in a journey like this, where you're trying to show up more. I wonder if it's almost important to anchor the fact that the world didn't fall apart when you post it, like by doing that repetition you're then reminding yourself. Okay. I did it. It didn't feel good. I thought it would go horribly. And my house didn't burn down. I did it and I didn't get any negative comments. I did it. And I was a little bit faster than last time. And, you know, nobody. Sent me a scathing DM,  yeah. The more that you acknowledge yourself for showing up, the more you acknowledge yourself for it getting better, the more you acknowledge yourself in general, like, yay me.  The more, you're going to do things that you gave me about. It's like somebody told you that you were crappy at something. Why would you want to do it again? You wouldn't tell somebody else that they were crappy at something. So why would you tell yourself that you're crappy at something? And yet we do it every day, every day. Absolutely every day. So yeah. Congratulate yourself. Celebrate yourself. Anchor in those wins. Everything is a win. It doesn't have to be the number of views you get or external results. It's congratulating yourself on you showing up. That's how you shift as a person and things get easier for you. 

So I got into a, I promise I'm getting somewhere with this, but I got into a car accident when I was driving when I was 17. And then I became a very nervous driver. And now,  I am actively and have been for years trying to become a confident driver. And so much of this that you and I are talking about is about what we're saying to ourselves inside our head. And what I say to myself inside my head while I'm driving genuinely makes me better on the road. Like the other day, I was fully driving on the shoulder thinking it was a lane. Like I'm not exaggerating.  I'm not great out there. But.  But I'll say things out loud to myself in the car. Like everyone on the road wants me to be safe .   Everyone is looking out for me. We're all trying to get where we're going safe safely. I am a safe driver. Another thing that happens in my head all the time when I'm driving. Is, I will evade something like a near miss say.  And then all I can think about was how horrible that could have gone wrong. And then I remind myself, no, you did what you were supposed to do. You evaded the danger. That's what driving is. Good job. You're a good driver. I'm a good driver. I like I'm getting there safely and I haven't gotten like a fender bender or anything.  Like since then. Like since when I was 17 and yet still I have all these lies that I need to like unprogrammed out of my brain. And just by saying those silly, maybe affirmations out loud. I think it makes me a better driver because I become less nervous because I start trying to, like, I like trust that voice that is coming out of my mouth whole. Yeah. Well, you saying that to yourself, ends up shifting the narrative in your subconscious. So your subconscious. You can hear two things like, well, can hear a lot of things, but your subconscious can either hear. You're bad at this. You were on the shoulder. You, that could have been dangerous and then it just consistently makes you uncomfortable with the driving or when it hears you saying. I did the right thing. Everybody wants me to be safe. I'm a good driver. Then your subconscious is like, oh, she's a good driver. And not just helps you. Be a good driver. You're just.  Reprogramming your subconscious, when the accident happened, your subconscious like driving is dangerous and it's been uncomfortable for you ever since. And now you're rewriting the narrative and rerouting your subconscious to believe that you are safe. And so in these situations with social media, everybody gets the opportunity to go. I am. Getting better and better at this.  I am showing up. I am helping people. Whatever's going to help you show up, feed that to your subconscious so that you can become that. And it gets so much easier.  And we all have examples of this. Like, as you're listening right now, I want you to look back in your memory bank and find a time or a way of being or something in your life where at one point it was hard, challenging. You hated it uncomfortable, and now it is easy. You love it. You can't believe you hated it in the past. 

You've already made this shift in one area of your life and you get to make that shift. Now in this area of. Your life. Honestly the first day of school.  Yeah. Yeah. You're like, how am I supposed to come back here tomorrow? I couldn't find my class. How embarrassing? Oh, yes. The first time you flew alone.  Oh, my gosh, you're so uncomfortable. You don't know what to do. And now you're like, You can navigate airports. Like there are, there are so many spots in our life where it was uncomfortable. The first few days of, of college, like it's all we've done this before we were anxious. At one point we were uncomfortable and now that thing that was uncomfortable and made us anxious. Is something we do habitually and with ease because we've done it over and over again.  The first time you farted in front of your husband was awkward.  

Super awkward. But now you're used to it.  Absolutely. I think we can all really resonate with that one.  



Every time I go to create any piece of content, I'm never creating it, thinking. How many people are going to like this, I'm thinking, how can I help people? And then I'm also just really proud of myself for creating the content. I'm not getting proud of myself because X amount of people watched it. I really don't care about the number of people that are watching it. I care about I showed up. This is really good. This is really going to help people. And then sales end up happening. Which is amazing, but I'm not so focused on numbers and letting the external numbers validate me. That's another good reminder that you have, like, do you know how many followers you have on Instagram right now? Like 1200 or 1200 or something. And you get sales from that. So you show up and you help people and you get sales from that. 

It doesn't matter if you're having content go viral because the ultimate goal is . You help people, you grow your business, you're achieving your goal. Every time you step in front of the camera. Another thing is you really helped me mindset wise with sales at one point, because I was feeling really nervous to jump on camera and do a live webinar. And you told me before you go in, and then you texted me this reminder, I don't remember the words. And they were probably a lot more eloquent, but you were like, remember that even though this is like a situation where I'm going to sell, because that's the nature of webinars, you were like show up and help people. 

And I remember that in your brain, you're here to teach your here to help them people. They're going to attend and learn from this. And that made me feel so much more at ease because the stress wasn't, oh, I better hit my sales numbers or what if they judge me when I sell, because I just focused on how the content serves my audience and I packed my webinars full of a ton of value. And so I truly believe that the contents are some, which is a whole nother story. 

You have to believe that your content is helping people.  But that was one of the things that relieved nervousness before I got on camera that day. Yeah, the thing I said to you was this isn't about you.  Yeah, this isn't about you. And you can remind yourself. And I remind myself of that consistently. This isn't about me. This is about the person that I'm helping. I'm making it about me when I'm nervous of what they're going to think about me. It's like this isn't about me. This is about helping them. And I need to show up in order to help them. Or else, what am I doing? Leaving them behind. Yeah, we there's another episode, um, of shiny new clients. Uh, about how one of our program members increased a reach by a thousand percent and the whole spoiler alert, you can go listen to it. I'll link to it in the show notes, but the whole big shift that she made was making content that her followers wanted to see, not what she wanted to make. And that might sound like a little bit cold, but essentially it's this isn't about you make content for people. 

Remember to help them remember your consumer who are consuming your content. And  it makes it easier. Yeah. If you're not focused on you and you're focused on them. Then. You're. Not going to be as uncomfortable or nervous or anxious about showing up. Because it's not about you. This isn't, I mean, you take yourself out of the equation or like, this is just about helping them. You can release a lot of the anxiety because it you're making it about you when you're fearing about what they're going to think about. You. 

And. It's not about you. It's about the people that you want to help.  So, like I said, Alicia is a mindset coach and she has candid conversations like this all the time over on her show.  Yeah, you can come and join me on the fuel, your fire podcast with me, Alicia wood. And, uh, it is all about mindset spirituality. We're getting into like the nitty gritty of your subconscious getting into how the mind works. I think that we as humans limit ourselves in a whole lot of ways, and my goal is to help you. Essentially enjoy your life more often. And if that in this case means being able to post without feeling anxious. That's what we're going to talk about today. Yeah. And you work with a lot of entrepreneurs. I mean, this work is for everyone. But especially important, I think for service-based entrepreneurs like us, because your face is so much of your business and showing up is such an asset to a service-based  📍 business. When you can show up with your face and your story and your voice. So,  this work is really important. Yeah, it absolutely is. It absolutely is. Again you can find alicia and links to all her stuff down in the show notes and that other episode if you want to keep the bingeing and that's all for today i will see you next time