Do you ever feel like you're stuck in a constant cycle of busy work and running out of time? I'm with you sister! It's so easy to be "busy" without ever feeling like we're making true progress on our goals. It can be frustrating and disheartening, but I have good news! We can identify our "progress thieves" and kick them to the curb. You CAN make progress through small but mighty steps. That's what I specialize in when I work with my clients because I believe busy moms don't have to sacrifice their dreams. We just have to be strategic and creative about how we work toward them 😀 #smallbutmighty
Here are some sneaky progress thieves. Are any of these lurking in your life?
Perfectionism - This one is a stinker because we believe we are trying to do a good thing when we employ our perfectionist persona. The problem is that "perfection" takes so much time and energy! There are some of us that would never feel anything we did was truly perfect, so we give up before we start. If you start to recognize that perfectionism is getting in the way of your progress, what if you gave yourself permission to do (GULP) B+ work? With that mindset, would you be able to get started? Would you be able to take consistent action if you weren't wasting your energy on trying to make everything "just so"?
Overwhelm - A big goal can seem impossible for a number of reasons:
A) You know it will take quite a bit of work.
B) You don't know where to even start.
This is the stuff I love because I'm a problem solving junkie! Taking something impossible and breaking it up into do-able steps with a clear starting point makes me do a happy dance. Now you may not feel quite so excited about this, but realize that small, consistent steps yield amazing results. Once you know the steps, you can get moving.
Stink-rot Mindset - We come back to our mindset all the time for a reason. It has such a huge impact on our behavior. For example, let's say you want to lose weight and start exercising again. You lace up your tennis shoes and head out for a walk. It's a little hotter out that you thought it was. The hills in the neighborhood are steeper than you remember. If you have a mindset of a fit and able person you can use that "athlete identity" to finish the walk, even if you need to go a little slower. If you are telling yourself that you are a couch potato loser-pants, that sun will feel hotter and the hills steeper. "Well...I guess this is just too hard for me. I knew I was too out of shape to do this. [Sigh}". It's the same walk, but the mindset can make all the difference!
If you can relate to any of these tendencies and would like to know how a wellness coach (like me) can fast-track lasting results, click here.
To read Part 2 in this series about Busting Your Progress Thieves, click here.
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