Working with clients who have business practices, I’ve noticed many people on one end or another of a spectrum. On one end of the spectrum are people who are essentially workaholics–they can never work enough, they don’t take a break, and something is out of balance. If that’s you, I am sorry. I think the pain of workaholism is really under-appreciated. This is one end of a spectrum.In this article, I want to talk about the people toward the other end of the spectrum. These are folk who, no matter what they do, can’t seem to get into action on their businesses: they can’t build that website, write that copy, go to that networking event, set up that spreadsheet. It goes way beyond procrastination, and starts to approach collapse. They may get a little done from time to time, but it’s really not enough to create momentum, or even a sense of “enough” (enough clients, enough income flow, etc).
From my experience, the folks struggling with this problem fall into one of two categories. If you are in this situation, you might ask yourself which one fits you.
1. The first category are people who genuinely want their business, but unconscious safety patterning is blocking their ability to move into action. This is usually really easy to notice–there’s a distinct sense of fear about sitting down and doing the work. Overwhelm, panic, confusion, uncertainty, inability to focus, etc. are often strongly present.
2. The second category are people who have good reasons to think they want a business, but deep down, in their truth, it’s not what they really want. In this case it’s not an unwanted block, it’s actually deep wisdom that is trying to speak and tell them they really want a different way to honorably make an income. The feelings in this situation are often very similar to the feelings in the first category: fear, anxiety, confusion. This is the language of your wisdom telling you that you aren’t aligned with yourself.
If you are in the first category, what you need is deep healing. There are lots of ways to do that, but an investment in resolving unconscious blocks almost certainly is going to be a part of your business growth expenses.
If you are in the second category, the obvious answer is to stop trying to build a business, and start doing what you really, really want to do! But that’s way easier said than done when we’ve invested so much work, vision, and desire to have a business. It may also be difficult to imagine a way to use your skill (massage, yoga, NLP, etc.) in any environment other than a private practice.
So the big question: How do we tell the difference? My apologies, but unfortunately, it’s really hard to do that. There’s a story from the bible that illustrates this dilemma. One day, Jesus was warning his disciples about the false prophets who would follow him. The disciples urgently asked him, “How can we tell the difference from the false and the true ones?” And Jesus basically said, “Sorry, you can’t. You can only tell by their fruits.” That is–you can tell after it’s all over which ones were true and false.
Over and over I talk to people who, in hindsight, can tell you with great clarity what the meaning of their growth process was. Now that the new niche has appeared, they can tell the old one that had them shut down wasn’t right. Now that they got the golden job offer, they can tell they just wanted to build a business because that’s what their dad did. Etc.
But at the time, they simply couldn’t see it fully. It had to unfold. It had to be seen through time. Healing was needed, and then clarity and manifestation just came through.
I have had many clients in my business who have belonged to either of these categories (and of course combinations of both). They struggled with getting into action, and freedom came when old blocks were healed and/or true alignment with self was found. And then, it starts getting easier…
Are you struggling with getting into action? If you need this work, I invite you to join my next four month program.
And if you are struggling with the pain of not being able to get into action you know would get you where you want to go, I am curious about your experience. I’d love to hear from you! Please post your comments and questions here.
Leave a Reply