Paralized in Today's Environment

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I was inspired to blog today about an email I received from a client who is in a dark place regarding the state of his business.  He writes: “I’m on the verge of tears alot so I hide.  I haven’t been in this situation before.  I am in uncharted waters, working to figure out how to pull it all together.”No doubt these are challenging times. And it is so common to get paralyzed and not know what to do, or to keep doing the same things over and over.  When we feel paralyzed and don’t know what to do, we go to our internal

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dialogue of negative beliefs about ourselves Rush Hour 2 movie full

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and our circumstance.  Our sabotaging thoughts spiral out of control and the consequence is feeling horrible about ourselves and what’s around us.  We end up doing nothing.  We become disengaged, depressed perhaps.

Now, more than ever, DO SOMETHING. Staying in motion and engaged is key.  We come back to the question of “what do I do?”  I’ll throw out some ideas in the next paragraph.  For now, I’ll just share that I know from experience that when you shift your focus the downward spiraling thoughts take a break.  You see, what you give energy to or focus on grows.  So when you’re focusing on all of the negative things, you’re giving energy to it and allowing it and the negative feelings associated with it to grow as well.  Its hard to get out of that. I’m not doubting the severity of today’s climate, but very often the way we see the problem is the problem.

Probably one of the best things you can do is reach out.  Someone is always there to catch you…in different ways.  Be willing to allow people to support you. Notice my client above is trying to figure this out on his own.  The problem with that is you don’t know what you don’t know; so you’re looking at alternatives with your own filter on.  The value of reaching out to others is that they can often offer a different perspective than what you see or know.  That’s very often the value that a coach brings.  And, if you’re going to reach out for support, know how you want to be supported and be willing to ask for it.  If you want support on creative ways to get more clients, be specific in your request.

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