In celebration of FOUR YEARS of writing this weekly blog (!!!) I’m re-posting one of my very first articles, about how our thoughts often hold us back from our dreams.
Thank you for your support, your readership and for joining me on this amazing journey!
Imagine you are driving down a road, admiring the scenery, going at a steady, comfortable pace. You know you are on your path, headed in the right direction.
Suddenly, you have to stop because a giant, thick-trunked tree has fallen across the entire width of the road.
You get out of the car and assess the situation. Maybe you’re mad that you’ve been stopped when you were moving so smoothly. Maybe you try to figure out why the tree fell. Maybe you attempt to push it out of the way, see if you can drive over it or around it.
Maybe you just stand there, helpless, idealess, stuck.
It can be very tempting to get so consumed with what is stopping us, that we forget that there are other options. That we can turn the car around and find a new path.
I was working with a client who was so consumed with trying to figure out what was holding him back from growing his new business that the figuring out itself was holding him back.
We talked about ways to step aside from needing to figure it out and possibly just taking a step toward his new business.
I asked him what one thing he could do to feel movement forward. He said, “I have to write a blurb about the business.” Now, this man is articulate, loves to write, knows exactly what he wants to tell people about his business. And so I said, “Really, the blurb is holding you back?” and he laughed, “Yeah, I know.”
So I asked him what was he really afraid of, and, after some thought, he shared that, in his previous jobs, his work consumed his life. He was afraid of falling into that workaholic mentality again. Once he realized that, this time, he was his own boss, and that he could choose when to work and how much to work, that he could document his hours and see how much time he was devoting to his clients, he was able to see the control he really had.
He devised a schedule and a reasonable plan for contacting clients. And that night, he wrote his blurb.
What are your roadblocks?
How can you turn them around?
Please share by clicking on the Comments below.
UPDATE: Four years later, my client has maintained a beautiful balance between work and play. His business has expanded, he travels often and he’s lost 50+ pounds. And every picture he posts on Facebook reflects a content and confident man living the life of his dreams.
