Please help…

I’ve fallen off the 100 Day Goal wagon big time, and I don’t know how to get going again.

I’ve written a course to help the “not a numbers person” gain confidence in their business through learning how to get control of the accounts. I had lots of initial interest, but not enough paying attendees. I think my marketing efforts (my 100 Day Goal) were a bit useless and now I’m not doing much.

Life got chaotic at Christmas and even though school is back now, I’ve gone and committed myself to not only the school p&c but also the local subcommittee for the chamber of commerce. I’ll probably be president of both.

What am I thinking?!

I have been strongly advised to un-complicate my life.  Something’s got to give, but I can’t let it be my courses. That’s my only ticket out of the rat race.

Help!

B x

🌟 Oh gorgeous B! 🌟

You’re in a muddle but all for the right reasons! And they are easily fixed. You’ll be back on the 100 Day Goal wagon in no time! But first, here’s why you fell off: 

1.You’re subconsciously procrastinating by filling yourself up.

Lots of us do this! You, lovely B, have reached the hard part of getting your Course going: the ‘selling’ bit. Very few of us like that part. We love creating, hate selling. And your subconscious brain (bless it’s little heart), knows you don’t like doing selling so it’s protecting you from having to do it by filling your time up with other Very Important Things To Do.

Imagine how delighted your subconscious brain was, B, when it found you the opportunity to be on not just one committee, but two! Oh yay! And with an option of being president of both as well! Bingo! President of two committees plus work plus kids. Subconscious – you nailed it! You protected your B from the horrible work of selling her Course by making her just too busy.

2. You’re a giver 

You’re a natural giver B. You’re contributor, a helper, an obliger. Those committees need help and you’re a helper so you popped your hand up without a second thought. It’s who you are.

But you’ve also kinda chosen working on the committees over working on your Course because you’ve framed the commitees as ‘helping other people’ and your Course as ‘helping yourself’( you said “It’s my only ticket out of the rat race”). But the course IS helping other people. It’s helping those who aren’t numbers people, get to grips with the financial side of their business. And while there are probably lots of other people who could help the school P&C and the Chamber of Commerce, there’s only one B who can run this Course.

You’ve just got muddled about who you’re helping. Working on your course is not being selfish, it’s being helpful.

 So what to do now? 

1.Have a chat to yourself and remind yourself WHY you are putting your Course out into the world

2.Look at all the projects you have on the go, and think about which ones really need B, and which just need “a person”. Think about stepping back from ones that just need arms and legs

3.Look at your project list and select the ones which hold the greatest value for the most important people in your life (family, close friends). Step back from the rest

4. Whenever you find yourself getting too busy, ask yourself Am I letting myself get filled up with useful stuff so I don’t have to do the hard things?

And start again with your 100 Day Goal today! Just do one small microaction. You’ll feel better for it!

X🌟X

For the first time in two months I’m sitting in my little home office and it’s quiet. My children went back to school on Tuesday – term starts at the end of January in Australia!  – and while I miss not having them crashing around, the silence feels like a cold drink on a hot day.

I also happen to have wangled an entire day with no clients or meetings, which means I’ve got a nice block of quiet time to get on with my (big) writing project. But – and who hasn’t –  I also have the perennial other stuff to do – emails to read, calls to make, and family errands to run.

I’d really like to do the “other stuff” first, so I can get it all out of the way before I settle into the writing. But – as I was reminded by Dan Pink’s awesome new book “When”  – that would be a very terrible choice. If I start with the “other stuff” I won’t be done with it until midday, which is precisely the time I will descend into what Dan Pink calls the ‘trough’: the early afternoon no-energy-can’t-be-bothered-dip we all succumb to.

I’ve often tried to push through the trough, but I now know it’s a really bad time to undertake tasks that require deep thought, motivation, creativity, or courage. So me “writing” through the trough is actually me just staring blankly at the screen for a few hours. Horrible.

So although I’d rather get the ‘other stuff” over and done with this morning and set aside the afternoon for writing, I’m going to be super- disciplined and flip it around. I’ll use my peak time to do the writing and will use the trough to clean up my inbox.

How do you trough?

I love the 100 Day Goal. I really do. I’ve done it myself too many times to count, and I’ve helped over 100,000 other people do it. We’ve had so many amazing successes and I know the process totally does work.

But I also know that after the first very FUN days of doing the 100 Day Goal, it can get hard. Really HARD!

Life gets in the way, motivation drops, willpower crumbles, confidence fades and fatigue sets in. I know because it’s happened to me!

There is good news though! I’ve also discovered lots of SIMPLE tricks and habits that make getting through each of the 100 Days much, much easier…….

I’ve packaged up the best of these tricks and habits into a Daily Video series called the BOOST. It’s a series of 118 short daily videos and each one gives you a super-practical tool to help you reach your 100 Day Goal…. read more