Just Do This. Four Steps to Undo What Stops You and Get On With It Now.
What’s the one thing you feel you absolutely must do before you die? What stops you? Maybe there is one huge thing for you. Maybe there are a few. Maybe you’re still not sure.
Most if not all of us have something we really want to do that we’re not doing… something that takes more than one step and more than five minutes to complete. And it’s uncanny how often these undone things are directly linked to what matters most to us.
Day after day, week after week, month after month, you say you will… and you don’t. The result you produce is some kind of pain. So what’s the holdup? What do you think stops you?
Choose a flavor.
- I don’t have the time.
- I don’t have the money.
- I don’t have the skills… or education… or experience… or… [you can fill in the blank].
- I need more credentials.
- I need money to make money.
- I need to perfect my product first.
- I’m too old.
- I’m too young.
- [Add yours here.]
Whatever your favourite handicap may be, this is the story you write every day about yourself. It may look like the problem is ‘out there’ but ultimately, it’s always ‘in here’. Whatever your circumstances, the real barriers are within you. And the results you produce pass through them.
Through the years, I’ve watched the stories I’ve told myself… and their results.
- …believe the internal limits in my own head. For example, I’ve told myself my product wasn’t good enough yet for someone to pay money for it. So guess what! Result: I didn’t sell it, so no one paid for it. And I postponed success for decades.
- … ignore the limiting beliefs within and around me and jump off the cliff headlong. The biggest example was my six-week European walkabout in 2001, which became 13 years living on the French Riviera. Result: an unimaginably amazing future rising up to meet me with a new community, a book, a husband and a whole new life.
I’ve learned that everything is a choice. And today, I know for sure that the only thing that absolutely stops you is what’s inside your head.
The action you do or don’t take follows the thought. Everything else is just a risk. And there’s no reward without risk, no success without beginning.
So, just begin it. Do the next thing. And these four steps show you how to undo what stops you.
- Unhook your thinking.
- Shift from “I can’t” to “How could I?”
- Shift from “Either/or” to “Both/and.” Whenever you feel backed into a corner, look for the third option.
- Shift from “This is the only way” to “What if?” Look for the creative solution.
- Upgrade your friends.
- Detach from toxic people who steal your inspiration. Detox your life.
- Take a stand with the people you love for what you need.
- Include new people who inspire and support you (Find them – they’re out there!).
- Update your schedule.
- Use the first hour of every day to do what inspires you.
- Schedule your passion as if it were a client project to keep it moving forward.
- Make time every month to plan the month ahead and put your priorities in first.
- Unplug from your commitments.
- Make time every day for silence and strategic thinking.
- Make time every week to review the week and measure your results against what you say you want.
- Make time every month to do the work you’ve been neglecting. Book at least half a day to focus on what matters most to you, get the real work done, check four things off your list, and make measurable progress.
If you’re waiting for the perfect XYZ – enough money, more time, the right person – to take effective action, you are putting the brakes on your own life. No one loses out but you… and all those whose lives would be better because of your vision.
It is jumping into the fire that refines your nature, strengthens your skills and makes you successful.
So, even if you can’t do “that”… just do this.
Join me on Tuesday 27 February to make that start… in the February Virtual Studio Day.
Win or lose, play the game of life you want to play. And play it full out.
