That thing you keep putting off?

Here’s the real reason you’re not doing it – and what to do about it.

Say you need to complete a project for your business, like a strategic plan, a reorg, or a new product rollout. Your mind gives you all kinds of reasons that keep you stuck:

I’m not sure where to start.
I need a big chunk of time.
It’s going to take too long.
It has to be perfect.

You start to feel stressed and overwhelmed. You put it off, start and stop, change focus, decide to research and learn more, get frustrated you’re the one who has to do it, and a month later it’s still not complete.

It’s like slogging through quicksand.

You know you need to get clear on the outcome you want and work backward to outline who will do what, by when, and then fill in the details. But you’re not doing it.

The reason you’re not taking the next required action because there’s an emotion you’re not willing to feel. You’re not aware of this because it’s in your subconscious.

You’ll stall until you’re almost out of time and then you’ll work all night, pull a rabbit out of a hat and tell yourself that once again you triumphed in the end.

This approach isn’t sustainable. It creates collateral damage, like broken promises to family and unhealthy sleep habits. You’re sabotaging yourself.

Entrepreneurs suffer from this more than most people because we tangle up our self-worth with our net-worth. Your business becomes your identity, instead of something separate from you.

Instead, be brave and come face-to-face with what it is you’re not willing to feel.

No one wants to feel inadequate, embarrassed, humiliated or rejected. But when you secretly worry your best might not be good enough and you’ll be judged by your team, your colleagues or your customers, you’re imagining those feelings.

You also aren’t willing to slow down enough to feel calm, relaxed and focused because your nervous system is used to being hypervigilant. You think if you relax, something will go wrong.

You’re not willing to feel patient with yourself because your inner critic is telling you you’re taking too long and you need to be doing something else.

Your mind is creating this pressure.

What you’re not willing to feel is exactly what you must be willing to feel if you want to grow. Otherwise you’ll keep holding yourself back simply because of the fear of a FEELING.

Imagine what would be possible if you were willing to feel any emotion, temporarily. If you knew that it would pass? Would you volunteer for that speech? Would you create that new product? Would you hire someone better than you to run operations?

Chances are that you won’t actually experience the feeling you’re most afraid of feeling, but you have to be willing to, or you won’t try.

Break through your limitations with this 3-step process:

1. Identify the emotion: recognize the feeling(s) you’re avoiding.

2. Accept the feeling: allow yourself to experience it for a moment. Notice it’s just a vibration in your body. It will pass. It will not kill you.

3. Take action anyway: Move forward despite the discomfort.

Staying stuck means failing ahead of time. Be willing to face feelings without fear and watch your world expand exponentially.