“Don’t wait until everything is just right. It will never be perfect. There will always be challenges, obstacles and less than perfect conditions. So what. Get started now. With each step you take, you will grow stronger and stronger, more and more skilled, more and more self-confident and more and more successful.”
– Mark Victor Hansen, was co-author of “Chicken Soup for the Soul”.
I spend a lot of time with a lot of people that have a litany of things they say they want to do, accomplish, get to, learn, start doing, stop doing etc. It’s the environment of the coaching business. I’m no exception to this and have my own lists I keep. This list often includes products I want to create, classes I want to teach, and workshops I have ideas about.
Recently on my list was to become physically more fit. Not only losing a few pounds, but becoming more physically fit. I’ve been thinking about this for a while, and for a variety of reasons have been putting it off and putting it off. Intellectually, I knew for me, it was about smaller portions, more exercise and less wine and cheese, but I wasn’t able to start making the changes I knew I needed.
I realize this is a pretty common goal for people, but for me, as a coach and motivator for people to get to where they want to be-I was frustrated with myself, for not being able to get myself unstuck! I spent endless amounts of energy thinking about it, planning for just the right time to start, and figuring out how I was going to do it.
Then duh! The business coach finally realized what she needed to do.
Take one action-just one action. Take that first step. So I hired a health coach to help get me on the right track. This included reading a book and using an app called Lose It! (Note: I have absolutely nothing to gain from promoting this book and app). This app requires listing all of the food you eat and the exercise you do each and every day. This felt like a lot of work to me and I had a hundred excuses in my head about why this wouldn’t work for me. But then I said to myself, “Take one action, just start it and do it for one day”. One day turned into two days, which turned into three days!
Then for my birthday, my husband gave me a Fitbit. I was even surer I wasn’t going to be into this new gadget and was ready to return it, when I said to myself, “Take one action, and just start using it for today.” Now, I must admit, I love seeing how many miles I walk a day, how many steps I take, the quality of my sleep, etc. (Note: I have absolutely nothing to gain by promoting this product) I realized that by turning off the “can’t learn this, can’t do this, it’s too hard,” tapes in my head and just taking the first step in trying it-makes ALL the difference. I’m now totally into it!
Here’s the learnings.
-Taking one action towards your goal, no matter how small the step is the ONLY place to start in moving forward.
-Don’t expect to be good at it or an expert in the first day, or even in the first week or month.
-Shut off the negative tapes in your head and just keep taking one step a day and moving forward on whatever it you are wanting to achieve.
Assignment: What’s the one thing you really want to accomplish between now and the end of 2013? What’s the first step you can take towards that goal TODAY? What’s the second step you’ll take tomorrow?
I guarantee, if you take 15-20 minutes to do this assignment, you will be well on your way to accomplishing great things in 2013! And for extra credit, list in the comment section below, the step you will be taking today to move you forward. Because putting your intention out there for others to see, gives you a 50% increase in the likelihood that you will actually do it!
What’s yours?
 Mandy works with talented, high energy self employed professionals and very small businesses who struggle to market their business effectively, stretch their capacity and play a bigger game. Mandy’s client’s receive proven, specific information on what they need to do to get more clients and grow their business. As a result, those who coach with Mandy increase their business, get more clients and make more money, faster and easier than they ever would have on their own. Sign up for her free Cd “7 Productivity Secrets of Successful Entrepreneurs” right down below. |
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