Did that question hurt? The ‘What are you AVOIDING today?‘ question?!
I have a list of topics on my desk to talk to you about, and this was one of them. Avoidance and inaction.
Ewwwww!!! A bit of a sensitive question, I reckon. I mean, I know what I’ve been avoiding, what about you?
I have conversations regularly with a close friend of mine most weeks (and sometimes daily) in different ways and one of the things that OFTEN comes up is the topic of what we’re avoiding.
This can look like:
Procrastination.
Anxiety.
Overwhelm.
Stress.
Being ‘BUSY’ doing EVERYTHING else that’s on your list EXCEPT that thing that should have been done yesterday, or the day before yesterday, or the day before that day or a week ago.. or a fortnight ago…….
There’s usually something UNDERLYING when you present with a symptom like this, and if you done some personal growth or been on the receiving end of some coaching and healing, it’s USUALLY not just a ‘top level’ thing that you’re avoiding or not dealing with.
It’s usually something deeper.
So WHAT is that thing that’s deeper?
What my discussions and inquisitions have found, is that for me, it usually comes when I’m about to level up. When I’m about to embark on something DIFFERENT (not always NEW, but always DIFFERENT).
Some people will tell you to FOCUS ON YOUR WHY… I think this is relevant in SOME instances… but not for most, in my experience.
My ‘why’ isn’t always enough to get me MOVING.
My ‘why’ isn’t always enough to get me IN ACTION and doing the thing that I need to do. Whatever that may be.
For me, I’m more motivated by getting OUT of pain.
And UNFORTUNATELY, that usually means that I need to be SO uncomfortable for me to move.
Others are motivated by moving towards their goals. By moving towards pleasure. And that’s also awesome… but sometimes, again, it’s not enough to get one’s ASS MOVING!
Here’s what I’ve found:
If I just do ONE thing, just ONE… I find it much easier to continue. Kind of like getting back to the gym. If I can get to ONE class, I know it’s a HELLUVA lot easier to get to the next one.
Your WHY is important, but it’s not always enough
I find that ACTION is the thing that gets ME moving.
Kind of like breaking the seal.
I’d been putting off filming the next series of blogs… So I committed to doing JUST ONE, and that snowballed relatively quickly into 6!!!!
Which flowed into a FB live video.
Which flowed into me feeling inspired to WRITE more.
Which then inspired me to POST more.
Getting LEVERAGE over yourself is the key here.
So what SPECIFICALLY have YOU been avoiding, that you could just make A START on?
What ONE step could you take RIGHT NOW in order to get you moving in the direction that you know you want to go, but have been resisting?
Now, I know I’m not ALONE in this, right?
Comment below! Let me know what YOU’VE been avoiding (It could be marketing, asking that person out, taking the leap, creating content, getting back to the gym).
Let me know I’m not alone in this! And let’s work our way forward…
…TOGETHER
Nicola
