Have you ever been frustrated that you didn’t hit your goals?
You’re not alone. That frustrates a lot of people. Often, they can’t understand why they don’t get to the finish line.
It’s because they never cross the start line.
Makes sense, right? You’ll never finish if you don’t start.
“But I do start!” you say?
Starting means working on the things that move you closer to the goal.
Are you doing that? Or are you doing a bunch of other things that are comfortable to create the illusion of progress?
Be honest.
Here are some of the common reasons people don’t get started on the work that will advance their goals. And how to break the cycle.
1. Don’t know the path
One of the biggest reasons for procrastination is not knowing all the steps. We’ve all found ourselves thinking that we know what we want to accomplish, but we don’t know how to get there. That stops us in our tracks.
You don’t need to know the whole path before you start. You just need to know how to take the first step. Once you take it, you’re in a different place with a different perspective. Then you’ll see the next step. Keep doing that, and you’ll reach the goal.
2. Shiny Object Syndrom
Getting to your goal requires focus and sustained attention. It requires you to say no to a lot of other things.
Getting distracted by random things that catch your eye pulls you off the path to your goal. That thing might feel important in the moment, but it’s usually a distraction. Ruthlessly cut out distractions.
3. Wearing too many hats
This happens to every small business owner I know at some point. They try to do everything in the business. Sometimes that’s unavoidable in the early days. But too many owners hold on to that mode of operating for too long.
The solution here is to prioritize, automate, and delegate. Get the things that aren’t critical to making progress off your plate.
4. No Systems
Re-inventing the wheel every time you need to do something doesn’t work. It wastes time. It wastes effort. And it causes inconsistent delivery.
Do you know who hates inconsistent delivery?
Customers.
Invest the time and effort early on to create systems to get the most important things done. Not only will you work out the best way to accomplish something, you’ll ensure that it always gets done the same way. That means repeatable, scalable results.
5. Fear
Fear can be a powerful force to keep us from changing. It can be the force that keeps us in a place we know is bad rather than go someplace unknown. It shows up in a few different ways.
- Fear of failure.
- Fear of success.
- Fear of doing something you’ve never done before.
Fear leads to self sabotage and avoidance. You could fill a library with all that’s been written about facing your fears. I won’t try to summarize all that here.
When you do something new, have you ever noticed how quickly you progress from tentative and awkward to comfortable after a few attempts? And after you get to that point, you can’t understand why you thought it was so scary and difficult?
That’s how you get over fear. Do it anyway. Do it in small steps if you have to. Familiarity has a way of eliminating fear.
So, Start Already
Who are you going to be?
The person who buys themselves a new track suit, does some stretches next to the track, and pats them self on the back for all the work they’re doing?
Or, are you going to be the person actually starts running?
Need help, getting over the starting line? Call me.