I had almost forgotten this technique until today.  Two different people on two different coaching calls seemed to be struggling with the same complaint….

“Help!  I know what I should be doing, but for some reason I can’t motivate myself to do it.  I am procrastinating and can’t stop.”

Then it came back to me.  Hearing these two similar stories, I asked them each my $64,000 question that shifted them instantly.  Here’s what I said…

Okay, I hear that you aren’t able for some reason to pick up the phone or get into action.  You just can’t make yourself do it.

Do you have a loved one? (They answered yes)

If someone held a gun to your head and told you they’d shoot your loved one, do you think you’d be able to do this thing you have been struggling with?

In both cases they instantly shifted, giggled a bit, but then ‘got’ that they needed a gun to their own head. Now why would I ask the crazy question about if they could do these things if the stakes were higher?  To prove that it wasn’t the thing that caused the breakdown, but the mindset they were approaching it with.

We get in trouble as business owners because we create internal deadlines for our work that can be slippery.  One of the clients today was an attorney who stated that what got her in gear was when she had a trial.  Meaning = a hard deadline where someone else was counting on her work to get done.  I helped her to see that she needs to set her own deadlines and then create accountability via a coach or a mastermind partner/group so she has that external motivation that works better for her.

The other client was able to come up with her own ‘gun to her head’ which was the sense that if she did her work, she’s be able to provide for her family in a much bigger way.  She’s going to get pictures, words, or statements about how specifically she’ll leave a legacy and what that means.

Do you see the shift?  If you are stuck, as yourself my question?  If your answer is yes, then find a way to come up with something that is more motivating to do and more painful NOT to do.

I gave a couple of examples, but here are a few more….

Give yourself a negative consequence.  Example – if you don’t get your newsletter written you could ‘penalize’ yourself by having to donate $$ to a candidate that you can’t stand.  This works well for those who are motivated by a bit of punishment.  (I used this for keeping on the exercise path a few years ago and it really motivated me…until I slipped and then had to go through the website of the candidate that disgusted me and find where to send $ to him.  Yuck!  Great motivator if you are passionate about certain causes.)

Those who like rewards, you could set it up that if you do the activities you are putting off, get a massage, go to the bookstore, buy a new book, etc.  The ‘gun to your head’ becomes the good thing you’ll do to yourself.

Have a visual reminder in your office.  Years ago I was coaching a financial planner who had to do tons and tons of cold calls.  When I asked him how the heck he did that, he told me that he wanted to marry his girlfriend and she wanted a huge ring that he would love to buy for her.  To keep him moving forward, he had cut out a photo of the ring and put it on the phone.  So the calls were no longer about the quota, but about his love and the possibility of pleasing his girl.  That was the gun to his head that kept him moving forward.

So the next time you hear yourself say in your head, “Well, I can just make those calls tomorrow…they can wait,”  I want you to take some new action.  Procrastination breeds procrastination, and then it’s ugly cousins of self doubt and discouragement move it, so you have to stay on top of it. Do this experiment and let me know how it’s going for you.  And if overwhelm is causing you some challenges, check out my “How to Manage Your Entrepreneurial Overwhelm Without Losing Your Entrepreneurial Creativity” product.

Blessings,

Therese

In the first two posts of this series, we talked about how your mindset can create stress for you, and how you need to tell yourself the truth at times about where you are and what’s real.  This post wraps up the series of my 5-step process for how to navigate and be victorious when it feels like stress wants to kick your butt.  Click on the links above to read the earlier posts to refresh your memory of the 5 steps.

After we stop spinning around a bit, we look to our environment and places that we can make a change in to immediately shift the energy.  The first is outside of us, and the second technique is about refueling.

Take away Tolerations – Okay, raise your hand if you have just a bit of clutter around or if your desk is sometimes too messy to work at.  Tolerations are the things in our environments that zap our energy.  What I find is that even though we don’t think about it, this adds to our stress level.  I have one client where every quarter when she’s having a bit of an overwhelm breakdown, I check in and find that the clutter has crept back which makes her unable to focus or find her work.  A simple solution of going back and addressing this will always allow her to move forward.

• Relationships that hold you back
• Technology that is outdated or slow
• Health issues that take away your energy
• Conversations not completed
• Clients that don’t resonate with you
• Old commitments you are keeping because of guilt

Find your Fuel – So far you have identified your unique way of being stressed, made a decision to stop it, reoriented to your goals and then worked on not tolerating things that drained your energy.  But a car isn’t going anywhere if it’s out of gas! The final stage is super critical and that’s the place where you get to recharge.  This is very individual, and one of the main things you must learn is what it is that allows you to refuel.  These are some ideas:

There ya go…one of my formula’s for keep you in the zone and loving the business you have.  Shoot me an email and let me know what your favorite stress busters are!