What might be stopping you from taking action?

This can come up again and again in your business, for different reasons. Before I began my business I was talking about it for a loooong time before I actually did anything. Ultimately, I was scared to begin. There was fear of failure. Fear of getting it wrong. Fear of being seen. Fear of being judged. Fear of putting myself out there. Fear of having my life change. Basically, a whole lot of fear. The longer I didn’t do anything, the longer I wouldn’t have to face any of that fear or give it the chance to be real.

The same happened with writing my first book and launching my first programme. The fear of doing it was greater than the fear of not doing it. This kept me in a state of inaction until I worked through some of the fears and the pull to do it became greater.

As my business progressed and I got much better at facing and feeling the fear and taking action, I came up against inaction, resistance, and procrastination in different ways. 

This, I realised, could be because of a number of things. Sometimes I would come up against my old procrastinating ways when I was actually trying to do something that wasn’t aligned for me or that I didn’t really want to do. I learned this the hard way and did push through: doing things I thought I ‘should’ be doing. I spent money on marketing and design support and then realised I didn’t actually want to be doing the programme I had been ‘pushing’ and spending that money on.

I also find I come up against resistance and don’t take action when there is a need for a deeper level of understanding in myself, or when there is something there for me to heal. An example of this is the resistance I met whilst writing my first book. I came up against it a lot as I had to dive into some of my more traumatic experiences and memories in order to write them as a part of my journey. Ultimately, I had to feel a lot and re-live some of the experiences, even feeling them for the first time, as I had spent so much time numbing and shoving down my feelings. So the resistance to this was there. I had to allow myself to go there in a gentle way that, yes, sometimes included inaction, but was actually a powerful time in the overall process.

I also find I come up against resistance and procrastination when I am being called to share even more deeply and visibly. Again, the process allows me to adjust and take it slowly, so that when I do eventually do what I am being called to, I feel that my whole being – or at least the body and mind (my soul is already there) – have adjusted more.

All in all, I’ve learned to trust that things are perfect. I’ve learned to look beneath the inaction and see what is really causing it. Here are a few prompts which might support you if and when you come up against inaction, procrastination, or resistance to taking action.

• What are you putting off doing?
• What is coming up for you? What are you feeling?
• What are you afraid of happening if you do take this action?
• What are you afraid of happening if you don’t?
• Is it something you really want to do? Why?
• What do you need to support you and how can you give it to yourself?
• Do you still want to take the action now?

This blog post is an excerpt from my book, Embodied Business. You can get your own copy of Embodied Business here or anywhere you buy your books online.

If you would like support with any ‘blocks’ coming up for you as well as getting grounded with your business, please book in a discovery call here and let’s feel into what it might be like to work together.

Photo by Madhu Balakrish on Unsplash.