There’s probably a simple reason behind your problems

We tend to come up with complex explanations of why things are so.

We haven’t acted on our business idea yet, supposedly because we don’t have a particular skill, or because the market isn’t ready for it, or because we want to get more work experience first. In reality, we’re just scared.

We are having trouble getting anything done at work today, supposedly because we’re looking forward to the weekend, because our manager hasn't given us clear instructions, or because we are worried about a situation at home that we haven’t resolved yet. In reality, we just slept poorly last night.

It does happen that there are elaborate reasons for why something is so. But more often, there is a simple reason. (And sometimes, there is no reason at all.)

That means that, to make progress, we should start by addressing the simple explanations. Talk about your business-starting fears with someone else. Get a good night’s sleep. Make sure you're not hungry.

In other words, start with the basics.

One problem I've run into and that I see others running into as well is that we don't want to fix the basics. We wish that if we got good at this one particular thing, we'd feel super confident about starting our own business. That way we wouldn't have to address our fears. We wish that our lack of productivity were our manager's fault, because then we wouldn't have to fix anything ourselves.

Wishful thinking doesn't work, though. There's probably a simple reason behind your problems, and sooner or later you'll have to tackle it head-on.

Yours,

— Peter

P.S. Having trouble following through on your plans? Let’s work on that together in my coaching program.