Seth Godin discusses his ideas about the sabotaging influence of the lizard brain. The lizard brain is the oldest part of our brains and is responsible for basic, instinctual reactions such as revenge, fear, and the desire to escape danger.

We still carry these instincts into our online marketing efforts and projects. And if we let it affect us, the resistance produced by this ancient neural hardware can derail our success.

Our business objective should be to get something out the door. If we don’t ship a product or service, we’re not in business and won’t make any money.

There’s a common problem with creating and shipping a product, however. Somewhere along the way, we think about what we’re working on and we begin to critique it toward the end of the process. We chisel at it…add to it, take away from it, change it in some way. Some of this can be helpful, but if you’re not careful you’ll use this to delay shipping and therefore delay success.

Our lizard brain smells the completion of a project and it becomes fearful. The closer we get to shipping the more it panics. It’s afraid of ridicule, complaints, critics, getting into trouble, and it’s simply afraid of change.

Now, the lizard brain is just fine with repetitive, safe, non-creative, and status quo work.

But when you work at producing something beyond your comfort level, this brain starts to panic. When panic sets in, it creates resistance. It’s fearful of project completion because it’s unsure that what you’re doing is safe. Since it’s fearful of a bad outcome, it generates resistance to short circuit your efforts.

And it’s a master at coming up with a million excuses to derail your goal to ship your project. It will remind you of all your shortcomings and will give you precise reasons why you can’t accomplish what you want to accomplish.

To achieve success, we need to ship. So we need to silence this part of our brain. Watch the video to hear what Seth has to say about dealing with the lizard brain’s sabotage and how to break through to success.

Seth Godin: Quieting the Lizard Brain

Also check out an interview between Seth Godin and 43Folders.

And here’s an article by Seth Godin on 99% about beating the resistance: The Truth About Shipping

But imagine if you had 1,000 raving fans waiting for your next piece.

Do you think it would be easier to write, knowing a group of loyal readers are there waiting for you?

But you don’t have 1,000 readers, yet. Don’t let that stand in your way.

Instead, consider it to be true and see these people in your mind’s eye.

Write as though there are 1,000 people just waiting to hear from you right now.

Hold this in your mind everyday, month in and month out until it becomes a reality.

You may be sitting there objecting to this whole idea.

Fine.

Have it your way.

But perhaps you’re sitting in your chair, trying to write. You find no motivation because you imagine you have no one who wants to read your work.

And so you find every reason to avoid writing. When you finally try to force yourself to write, you even feel physically uncomfortable. So you don’t write.

And since you end up writing nothing, you ensure your audience stays at zero.

If you’re desperate for change, try something different. As long as you’re imagining that no one is reading your work, you may as well imagine a thousand people are reading it.

As loony as it sounds, pretend you have some readers.

Imagine there are at least 1,000 people out there who love your writing.

And that’s another thing you must come to believe. That they really enjoy and look forward to your writing.

When you believe there are 1,000 people in the world who love your writing, you will write. Your output will increase and the quality of your writing will improve.

Keep this up and one day you really will have 1,000 loyal readers. And that number will grow.

But first, you have to believe you have those people right now.