Ever get something in your head that you just KNEW you were supposed to do?
It could be losing weight…or moving to a new location…or starting a new business (one of my personal favorites 🙂 )
The excitement builds, all the pieces are in place. You may even have your friends and family on board ready to cheer you on in this next exciting step in your life and all of a sudden…WHAM!!
You stop dead in your tracks. Suddenly all the motivation is gone. Even doing the laundry and cleaning the cat box sound like more fun than following through on your new plan.
It's the killer of dreams and the squasher of all things even remotely looking like personal growth or forward movement in your life.
The one sure-fire way to tell if the thing you're wanting to do is really what you're supposed to be doing is when Resistance starts
rearing it's ugly head.
How do you overcome Resistance? Take ACTION.
Do what it is you need to be doing whether you feel like it or not. And whether you're scared to or not. This exposes Resistance for what it really is.
You see, Resistance likes the status quo. It wants you to stay safe and small. The moment you make a decision and start moving forward in your life, good ol' resistance will start following you like a shadow.
You'll procrastinate, you'll rationalize. In it's strongest form, you may even get depressed or sick.
There's a fantastic book called "The War of Art" by Steven Pressfield that goes into wonderful detail how resistance in all it's forms, shows up and tries to keep you stuck. I highly recommend it to anyone who knows they've been called to greater things, but just can't seem to "get it in gear".
It doesn't matter a step you take, but do something that will move you closer to where you want to be…whatever that is for you. Take action today.
If you're feeling stuck right now, but know in your heart of hearts you've been called to do bigger things and play a bigger game, I
encourage you to get "The War of Art".
It will be a game changer for you…it was for me.
Remember one thing about taking action when you're feeling resistance.
It's kind of like turning the light on in a dark room. The room seems spooky and unfamiliar until you flip the switch then…POOF!
Now you can step into that room because you can see. No more fumbling around (procrastinating and avoiding) because you know what's in front of you and what to walk around.
Action is your light switch…flip it today.
Leave a comment below and let me know how YOU overcome resistance. Love to hear from you 🙂
Great motivation Beth, resistance can isolate you so much that you think it is not worthed, but the fact is that I and everybody else; we are the only ones that can press through this and just take action!
Thanks for putting common sense to a topic that so many struggle with! Great article!
This resistance is also referred to as avoidance. We tend to avoid any circumstance that we perceive or believe will bring pain or discomfort. We need to find a way to get past our fear in order to proceed to fulfillment and success.
So much of what we fail to accomplish is based on fear.
I'll take a look at that book, too, Beth. It sounds like to might be a helpful read.
Love the take action approach! Yes – there are times when action is the 'next step' and people feel it, however something inside is resisting, so to the point that actually taking action becomes easier than not taking it 😉 …great points and thanks for sharing!
Thanks Olga! You’re right, usually the only one stopping us, is us. The most important thing is to keep on going. One step at a time…
Thanks Denny! It’s very common and the only remedy is to take that first step and keep moving forward. Sometimes easier said than done, but worth the effort.
Wow. Thanks for helping me punch through the resistance barrier and rise to new business heights! No Limits now!
You’ll love the book, Wil. Steven Pressfield is an author and kind of writes it from that perspective, but it easily applies to business…and life. Let me know what yo think of it.
Thanks Solvita! Isn’t it crazy that we make things harder by resisting them than actually doing them. We humans are strange critters sometimes 🙂
Congrats for getting through the barrier, Michelle. Keep up the great work!!
I love how Pressfield's book has taken what we used to call common, mushy "procrastination" and put it into a more actionable framework. I can tell you that before him shining the light on the behavior, my house was never as clean as right before a client report was due. (And its cleanliness was in direct proportion to the size of the report!) Now, as you say, taking action … any action in the right direction … will tear down the wall. Only one side-effect: I've had to hire a housekeeper! 😉
Action it is! Thanks for a great article.
Oh Sharon…a housekeeper. You go girl!! See…you took action and employed someone else in the process. Great job!!
You’re welcome, Pat. The key is to just take that first step. It gets so much easier after that 🙂
Great motivation! I love your last line…Action is a light switch…flip it today! I am going to do just that! Thanks!
Thanks Lori…now get going!! 🙂