What ideas have taken root in your head that are hard to dislodge?
There has been a recent slew of articles related to self-sabotage published recognizing the inherently harmful behavioral and thought patterns that many of us follow daily.
These thoughts, if unchecked, eat away at our daily productivity, cripple our passion, and gut our ambitions. Our collusion with these thoughts happen daily in insidious ways.
Procrastination: You think, “I have to finish this project email update by Monday morning. But instead you find yourself thinking about a Facebook political post and you have lost 45 minutes of free time brooding over how to respond.
Stagnation: You may be sabotaging yourself by just never starting in the first place. That great book idea, or the new pitch you have been rehearsing in your head, will literally live and die in your imagination.
Perfectionism: You have the draft ready to go. But you second guess yourself and need to reread the email once more (for the 9th time). You don’t want to be accused of sending sloppy work, do you?
These are just a few of the ways we self- sabotage.
And how do we usually respond? By doing the same we always do: Nothing.
We nurture our own failure, much more than we tend to our success. This is why having a coach is a vital asset. Coaches, as a neutral party, are examining and reflecting our typical tendencies for the valuable nuggets of a new behavior. Let’s look at our three examples above for coaching interventions.
Procrastinators have to limit distractions. A coach may suggest a multi-pronged approach.
- Set up an email response window every 3 hours. You have 20 minutes to respond to all emails. This limited time can create spurts of productivity throughout the day as guideposts between distractions.
- Take the first step! Go ahead and open up the compose window and start the email now. It is always easier to finish a task if it is broken into smaller steps.
Stagnation needs disruption. Take a bold step and post a “taste” of you idea on social media. Ask for responses. If you are writing a book, for example, post the first paragraph and ask for responses.
Perfectionism kills creativity and spontaneity. It can also create missed deadlines and unnecessary office tension. If you work from home, but all means keep color coding all your books! But otherwise, take a moment to envision your product complete. You see it in its final form and you are pleased. Take that feeling with you and hit send! Much better to be done with it!
These are typical of our coach responses. Want to learn more? Visit us at www.thereal8.com !
