
Is there a part of your business that you keep saying you’re going to work on, but you secretly know you won’t? It could be adding new client testimonials to your website, finalising and posting your updated pricing or creating your marketing funnel to reach your perfect client.
You know how to do these tasks (maybe you’ve even done them for others in the past) – and yet a part of you is resistant to doing them for yourself. When you sit down to do them, you just don’t feel like it. They feel too hard to complete. It’s easier to avoid them altogether and tackle something else.
Why is it so hard to take action on some business tasks, when you easily complete the same tasks for others? Why do you keep putting off content creation, even though you know what you need to do and you’ve done it before.
In today’s episode, we share a snippet of a PGSD coaching call addressing this struggle and more. Heather (@thewriterremedy on Instagram) submitted to get coached because she wasn’t sure when it was a good time to change things in her business (and when not to change them).
She also noticed that she was procrastinating on the tasks related to the changes she wanted to make. She had easily done the same tasks for others, yet it felt so hard to follow through on these tasks for her own business.
PGSD Coach Michelle helped her figure this out, as well as:
- How her self-worth can get entangled with her work
- What making a three month commitment to changing a part of her self-image looks like
- How to use Power Planning as a tool to release her perfectionism handbrake
Note: Thank you Heather for giving me permission to share this call on the podcast. We appreciate you!
Tune in to learn why you keep putting off content creation and exactly what to do about it.
In This Episode You’ll Learn:
- Why we feel resistant to doing the business tasks we know we need to do
- How to use Power Planning to create consistent content
- The mistakes you’re making with Power Planning that are making it hard to follow through
- Why procrastination isn’t a problem
Featured In The Episode:
- Join the waitlist for Perfectionists Getting Shit Done (PGSD) – samlaurabrown.com/pgsd
- Sign up for daily Perfectionist Power-Ups – samlaurabrown.com/power
- Follow me on Instagram @perfectionismproject
Listen To The Episode
Listen to the episode on the player above, click here to download the episode and take it with you or listen anywhere you normally listen to podcasts – just find Episode 323 of The Perfectionism Project Podcast!
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FULL EPISODE TRANSCRIPT
Daisy
Hi, and welcome to another episode of The Perfectionism Project. A podcast full of perfectionism advice for entrepreneurs. I’m Daisy, a member of Sam Laura Browns team, and community manager of the perfectionist getting shit done group coaching program, which is otherwise known as PGSD. We help entrepreneurs release their perfectionism handbrake so they can get out of their own way and build a fulfilling and profitable business. And for even more perfectionism advice to help you with your business, you can follow Sam on Instagram @perfectionismproject.
In this episode, we’re sharing an excerpt from one of our PGSD coaching calls. We have coaching calls all year round inside perfectionist getting shit done, so you have the opportunity to get the personalized support you need. To help you release your perfectionism handbrake, get out of your own way and confidently show up in your business.
Before we listen in, let me explain a little bit about what these calls are like. You as a PGSDer can submit to get coached. And when selected, one of our PGSD coaches will bring you on and coach you one on one. These calls feel like a one on one coaching call when you are getting coached. But you will also benefit from others in the group getting one on one coaching as well. This is because these calls are done in front of the group. We’ve found there’s so much power in this format, as you and the people listening in will be helped by the coaching you’re receiving. Because everyone in the PGSD is building a business and working to release that perfectionism handbrake, so many people in PGSD are struggling with exactly what you’re going through.
Often when we are struggling with things, we don’t even know what we need to get help with and what to ask about. So listening to others get coach can help with that. Because when someone else is receiving it, often we can see that coaching clearly. But when it’s ourselves receiving it, sometimes it’s really challenging to apply it because we’re so stuck in our own story. So there’s so much power and getting coached yourself, but also in hearing others get coached. These calls are also released on the PGSD private podcast so you can listen to them while you are on the go to help you stay inspired. Especially when you’re out building your business and you don’t have time to log into PGSD.
In this call PGSD coach Michelle is coaching Heather, who’s wondering about when the desire to change comes from that perfectionist impulse to not wait out uncertainty. And when it’s actually a good time to try different things and see what works. She also noticed that she was procrastinating on the tasks related to the changes she wanted to make. She had easily done the same task for others, yet it felt so hard to follow through on these tasks for her own business.
Michelle helped her with that as well as figuring out how her self worth can get entangled with her work. What making a three month commitment to changing a part of her self image looks like and how to use power planning as a tool to release her perfectionism handbrake. If you’re a perfectionist, and if you’re building a business, you’re going to be able to relate to this. So I hope that you enjoy listening to this coaching session. If you want to get yourself on the waitlist of PGSD for when we next open our doors in April 2022. You can find the link to sign up in the show notes. You just need to enter your name and email address. And you’ll be the first to know when the doors to be just be open again. With that said, here’s the coaching call with Heather.
Heather
So I think one of the things that I’ve been thinking about recently, right is this idea that PGSD, which is really good is like okay, don’t give up on something after just a month if it hasn’t worked, because that’s, you know, that three month commitment. Um, but then on the flip side of that is like, well, then how do you know when it’s time to change things? So I guess in particular, what I’m looking at is like, my website, for example. I have gotten one client, like through my website. And you know, I’m getting some decent, like lead generation and all of that. And I’m definitely seeing people coming to my website. I’ve had a couple of like content marketing is, you know, one of the things that I love, and it’s a fun part of building my business. So I’ve been doing some guest posts, and I’ve been seeing, like people coming in my website because of those. But you know, they’re not like converting into clients. And I know, I know it doesn’t happen immediately. But at the same time, there’s a part of me that’s like, well, then clearly your website isn’t doing what it needs to do. Like you need to revise everything you need to rewrite everything.
Michelle
I’ve been there. You’re not alone.
Heather
Yeah, yeah. And I’m sure a lot of people also have felt that way. Yeah. So I guess that’s a big thing that I’m trying to figure out right now is like, when does the desire to change come from that like, perfectionist impulse to not wait out uncertainty and all of that? And when is it actually a good time to try different things and to see like, what works?
Michelle
What an incredible question. I’m so glad that you brought this up because you are not alone at all in thinking about that and deciphering. You know, what is that difference? What is the differentiation here that we’re looking for? So, my question to you is, what has it looked like up until this point? How long have you committed to your website? And I guess we’ll talk about it in terms of your website. Because that’s sort of how it’s coming up. But how long have you committed to your website? Fully, like, all in completely dedicated to it fully. How long have you been on that train?
Heather
Well, all in completely fully, maybe never. But, you know, I mean, I have had my website up for more than a year now. And I, you know, went through several rounds of like, tweaking it and revising the pages, but I actually probably haven’t touched it in a couple of months. And that’s, I did make a few tweaks for SEO, like last month. But I wasn’t significantly changing the content. I didn’t add new pages, I may have added a few new blog posts, but yeah. So my website has been as it is for at least a couple of months.
Michelle
So what would completely all in fully, in regards to your website. What would that look like for you?
Heather
I guess the reason why I say that is because there are things that I know that I could do to better optimize it. So like I said, I made a few SEO tweaks, but those were kind of like, Oh, I know, I need to fix the meta description on this page, like it was very sort of scattered. And I know like, I need to probably sit down and approach it more strategically. Like, I need to look at every page and say, Okay, this is what’s missing from this page like this is like, these are how I could tweak these blogs to perform better. And I know that I need to work on the internal linking. And so being fully in would probably be like, actually putting time on my calendar to audit my own website.
And that’s part of where this came from, like, my company is not doing SEO at all. But, I had a bunch of other book coaches who know that I do SEO in my day job, asked me to evaluate their websites. So probably what it is, is like, doing the audit that I did for other people on my own website, and then actually following through and making all of those improvements and just like making it more user friendly and like updating the things that like I don’t need to overhaul it. I think I just need to make some tweaks to make it a little better.
Michelle
And isn’t it interesting, this is what I so love about coaching is, isn’t it interesting when we are doing that work for someone else. We’re like, oh, I can do this. I know how to do this. And then when it comes to ourselves and our handbrakes on, we’re like, oh, is this something that I’m you know, maybe I’ll just tweak this, and maybe I’ll just do this and maybe I just I won’t put time aside for it because it doesn’t feel like it’s something that I need to put time aside for because I do this in my day job. And I do this for other people. But when we start to actually flip that to ourselves, it’s asking ourselves those really hard questions. And often what that is linked to is that self worth that sort of tangled into it because it’s like well, if I go all in on my website here. If I do the audit, if I make the tweaks, if I and then I don’t see those people converting. That feels scary. That feels like my self worth is entangled with that. Am I correct in saying that?
Heather
Yeah. And I’ve noticed that with like, creating a content plan and creating even like an Instagram plan like… I keep saying that I’m going to do it. And I know I’m resistant to it because it is exactly that. Like, if I sit down and I plan this out, and I follow it through, and then it doesn’t work, like, what does that mean? You know. And then of course, like, did I waste the effort of doing all of this work?
Michelle
And that’s the reason even more, so why we need to then put that through, because it allows the work to come up for us to do, right. Because if you continue to just have the website there to do the little tweaks, it’s really easy to not recognize that the self worth there is connected to it. Right. And that if you follow through on your plans, and they may fail that that makes… That might make you feel like it means more about you than what the outcome actually is. Right? So as even though it’s uncomfortable to do, it means that you’re Handbrake is coming up at the moment. You’re in that fixed mindset, you’re thinking in terms of like, is it going to be wasted effort? Is it going to be more about me? Am I going to make this mean more about myself than it needs to be, right?
So it’s a perfect starting point. And it’s wonderful self awareness. But it’s a perfect starting point to say, Okay, I know, you know what you need to do, right, you just kind of said to me exactly what you need to do. And now it’s about that follow through, it’s about working on not only the power planning side of things, and actually committing to that, and recognizing that those thoughts are going to come up and almost coaching yourself through those thoughts of like, this is what my brain is going to say. This is the state that my brain is in. This is what it’s going to say it’s uncomfortable for me, it doesn’t feel safe for me to do this, because my self worth is entangled in this.
And yet, this is an opportunity for me to release my handbrake, this is an opportunity for me to do the work to untangle that self-worth, right? And to really go all in on it. So, if you were to look at committing to this, the tasks, yes, that, you know, making the tweaks doing the audit, and figuring out what it actually is that you need to do is really important. But let’s have a think about what that looks like in your power planning. Because I know that you said I’d need to actually put time aside for it. How does your power planning currently look? And what would it look like then if you were to really commit to this and to start putting it into action and following through on it?
Heather
Yeah, um, well, I will admit that in December, I didn’t do a lot of power planning because life. But I actually like, you know, I did on Monday, and I’m pretty good about consistently doing my power planning on Monday. And generally, following through, I think, I think one of the things that I’d like to work on for this year is like when I noticed myself, you know, for example, like, I might like take my clean rest. I might switch that with something else, right. And I think what I want to be better about is then applying that in weeks forward. And so then the other thing that I noticed in I like I was pretty good, and pretty consistent with power planning last year. And I was always, like, more productive and like, happier with my progress when I did it. Like every week that I did, it was a better week. But these sort of planning tasks were the things that I consistently skipped. Like, I was really good when I had, like writing time scheduled, and really good about sticking to some of those things. But, every time I had a block to batch content for Instagram, for example, I’d be like, maybe I would actually have to do that now.
Michelle
I know that surprised you now that we’ve just sort of untangled the fact that it’s linked to your self worth.
Heather
No, not at all. It doesn’t. And so I anticipate that that is going to be something that I would like to work on because I’m going to put these, I’m going to put these times on my calendar for next week. And I’m going to not want to, but now I understand a little better. You know why I don’t want to do them and I think that’s sort of to why I asked the question that I did in the first place was like, well, when it doesn’t work, how do I know that I can change things?
Michelle
Yeah. And you’re so well, there’s two things here, you’re so right, your brain is going to do that. Right? So recognizing that before the time, planning it so that you can set yourself up for success, right? Recognizing that this is something that is connected to your self worth, that your brain is going to go there. And that you can prepare yourself prior to that moment. So that in the moment, you can be like, Thanks, brain, you know, like you’re doing what you’re needing to do. These are the thoughts that I knew you were going to come up with, and almost have yourself prepared for that to be okay in the moment, instead of it coming up in the moment.
And then you being like, oh, that’s the thought, like, you know, that’s the reality of what these thoughts are. Yep, I’m not going to need to do this. It’s okay, if I let this go, and then not doing them. So I am going to come back to your question of when is it going to be, but I just want to quickly while we’re on this topic, I just want to quickly take care from right now. Transport her to next week, when you’ve got that minute or that block planned for those tasks that you know, your brain is going to start yelling at you. What are some of the things that you can do in that moment to support yourself to follow through on actually committing to and completing those tasks?
Heather
Yeah, so I think part of it is kind of the identity piece, because I even said, like, last year, whenever those things came up, I just didn’t do them. And so I know that I’m going to be taking that into the next time I attempt to do it. So if I tell myself that I’m, I’m just the kind of person who doesn’t do planning. Which is something that I have kind of created, and they’re like, I have a tendency to tell people that I’m not a planner, I’m not organized, it’s not my thing. And it’s like, well, yeah, if you keep saying that, then you’re gonna keep acting like that.
Michelle
Yep. It always come back to the way that we relate, the identity that we believe that we are in, we’re always going to come back to, we’re going to get pulled back to that.
Heather
And so I anticipate that coming up, and, and so I know that I need to work on, like shifting that perspective. And it might even be, like, for example, like, last night, I actually had it, you know, on my plan to work on my content plan, my blogs, and my newsletters and the topics for all of that. And I didn’t want to do it, and I put it off for like, maybe 10 minutes, and then I was like, No, I’m gonna feel better if I do this. And it’s actually not as hard as I think it’s gonna be. So I might as well just my laptop out and like, look at it. And then it was really easy. And so drawing on the fact that I did it yesterday. And I can use that next time to be like, Okay, well, you can do this. And it’s probably not as bad as you think, as you’d like, are imagining that it’s going to be.
Michelle
And I love the fact that then you like you already have a few strategies that you can pull on in those moments that you’re like, No, but like you say, getting started, having that thought process of like, I’ve done it before I can do it again. It’s not as hard once I get started, I can do it, I can do hard things. What I really love there is that you pointed to that self identity stuff. Because for you, it sounds like you have practiced power planning, and there’s always tweaks that we can make for it to be something that’s even more efficient in our lives, like, you know, the clean rest and pushing that forward and those sorts of things. But it sounds to me, like one of the biggest things that’s holding you back at the moment is that piece of the self image around actually taking action and being the kind of person that’s going to follow through. Does that sound like it’s probably a place where it’s hitting most?
Heather
It totally is. You know, I look at like other people in my space. And I’m lucky that I also have like a community of book coaches. But at the same time, it’s a lot of comparison. And I think that I sort of see them as like being way more organized and way more on top of things and like they have a strategic plan for marketing and they just, like know things that I don’t know and so it definitely is part of that identity of like, I’m just different than them. You know, I don’t have something that they have which, as I say it out loud. That’s not true.
Michelle
And that’s it when we are still, you know when our self-worth and our self-image I think that we’re still needing to work on, that’s exactly what we go to. Right, we always think that we’re different to someone else, we always think, oh, but my circumstances are different. And they know, external, they know more, and we’ve got that external comparison. So what I’m thinking is, in regards to sort of starting this year, and really committing to being the kind of person who plans successfully, and who follows through on their plans, and who speaks that out loud, and who really lives into that, you know, and steps into it. What if it was going to be that you committed to that for this first quarter of the year, and you made that your real focus. So the other things that are around you know, like, those things will still happen. But your real focus is that you are going to build yourself trust and your self-image in being the kind of person who follows through on the things that they’ve planned, particularly the things that feel not so easy, you know. So like the writing stuff that feels easy, that’s fun, but actually, my focus here is really committing to following through on the tasks which feel harder, and which feel outside of my comfort zone.
Heather
Yeah, I think that is that’s spot on. That’s, it’s, it’s the identity piece that’s holding me back there. And I even I caught myself, also procrasti-learning around it, because I was like, I need to learn how to plan a marketing. You know, like, that’s clearly the problem is that I just don’t know how to do this, as opposed to, like, exactly what you said, working on the identity that I can follow through on these things. And even I, this is like, I know, it’s the silliest thing. Like I said, in my day job, I do marketing, I’ve managed the website, I’ve put in place our SEO strategy and content marketing, for years. You know, my own business, I’m like, I don’t know what I’m doing. And it’s like, yes, you do.
Michelle
I love it. And that is, when we’re talking about that piece of self-image, that is one of the thoughts that you can come back to time and time again. And if it is that you’re going into a block, where you know, your brain is gonna start yelling at you, it may be that those are some of the thoughts that you can come back to. I do know enough, right? I know enough to get me through this block. I know, or I am the person that can follow through. I’ve done it before I can do it again, I’ve done it for others, I can do it for myself. And so every time that temptation to go and procrasti-learn, or that temptation to say, I don’t know enough, or I can do this later, or you know, it’s not going to matter, it’s almost hanging on my focus right now is that I’m building the self-trust and the self-image, that I’m the kind of person that can do this. Right. And that can follow through on this.
And in order to do that, the thoughts that I’m going to set myself up for in this block of time, you know, the outcomes that I’m going to work on, are things that I do know enough about, and I can follow through one. And that then will lead nicely into, you know, ensuring that your power planning is really specific, because if you have your power planning, and you’ve got you know, a chunk of time or your work block, and you’re like, you know, have a think about Instagram posts, or whatever, I can guarantee you, that’s gonna make it so much harder for you to work on that self image side of things, because your brain is gonna be like, cool. We’re just working on this, you know, this is me working on it work
But, if we’re really specific about it, and that’s where that self image comes into it. It’s like, I’m the kind of person that does know enough. And I can follow through on this, to support yourself in that it’s in this work block, I am going to, and again, we come back to power planning with the outcomes, you know, involved. So it’s like in this work block, I am going to publish three Instagram posts or schedule three Instagram posts. So immediately, can you see the shift in that? Immediately you’re coming into it being like, Oh, I know what I’m going to do. I know I’m the kind of person that can follow through, and I know what the outcome of this block is going to be
Heather
And I think that’s something that I can continue to work on with power planning too, is like really focusing on the outcomes, because sometimes it’s not all outcomes, you know. And I think it’s, um, yeah, I mean, I’ve seen the proof that when I am like, very specific about, and I think it also makes things more manageable. So like, with a piece of content, when I schedule a block, that’s like, I’m just gonna do the brain dump for this article, like, no pressure, but I’m just going to free write about what it is. And then I schedule a completely different block of time to edit it, like breaking it down helps, but then also having like that very specific, like, it’s not just work on article, it’s like, okay, I’m doing this, and then I’m doing this, and then I’m doing this. So I’ve seen it work. And I probably don’t do that for the tasks that, like intimidate me. Because it’s easier to not do it. Like, it’s, I’m giving myself all the outs.
Michelle
Absolutely. Absolutely. And you’re not alone. Because that’s when our handbrake is on, that’s what we do. We and our brain is so sneaky our brains like Yeah, yeah, you’re doing it well done, like good job. And so it’s really about catching ourselves which you have done, which is amazing. And you need to really celebrate yourself for doing that, because that is progress in itself. And then recognizing that, oh, okay, this is a tweak that I can make, I’ve seen it happen before, I can now see, this is why power planning is so awesome. Because it’s like, I can see that I am doing, you know, the tasks that my writing blocks, I’m doing that and it’s feeling great, and my brains not saying all these things, but I can see the tasks that feel scary and that feel like there’s something worth, you know, there’s a heaviness around it, because my self worth is connected, I can see in those blocks, that’s when I’m giving myself the outs.
So that allows us to then really hone in on those times, so that you can continue to work on your needle movers, you can continue to build that self image and it is like, the fun thing about this for you is that you already have that self image in that other little block. Right? So it’s not like you are starting from fresh and you’re having to build this up. And all it is is like I can I know that I can do this in this arena. Now I’m moving it to this arena, which Yes, I can see feels a little bit more scary, because it feels like there’s more connected to it. But if I persist, and I commit to working on it in this sense, I know that I’m going to see the benefit of it in a longer term. And have that self kindness and that compassion around it, you know, recognize, yeah, I now know why this feels scary to do and why I’ve been avoiding it and why I’ve been giving myself all the outs. It’s because there’s something connected to it. Right?
And that’s okay. It’s not, there’s nothing wrong with us. But if I can apply my self image that I have in this arena to this one, I’m going to see the same benefits that I’m going to that I see over here. And then it’s about committing to that, right. It’s about having that faith before we have the results. And it’s about committing to that and recognizing Yes, you know, when am I going to change this? What’s the commitment time that I’m going to make? And before that, I’m not going to let myself go off and you know, buy into the things that my brain is going to tell me our reality. It’s like, I’m going to make that commitment. And I’m going to stick with it until then. And at that point, I’m going to say, Okay, what tweaks need to be made? Is this working? Is this not working? What do I do differently? Etc.
Heather
And I think that that’s been a piece of it too. Like, for Q4 I guess of last year, I was like, I really need to do exactly that, like commit to doing something. And that be the thing that I consistently work on. And, and not change it until, you know, after that three month period, I fell apart after a month. So did the piece that you said about like having the self compassion. So that like when I face this again, I don’t do the opposite of what is actually going to be good for me. And like, oh, well, you didn’t do this last time. So you’re not going to do it again. And like all of that. I don’t have to like take that with me into this next quarter.
Michelle
I love that. I love that. And I think part of it is also recognizing that making the commitment doesn’t mean you have to to make it perfectly, because sometimes when, specifically as a perfectionist, sometimes when we make that commitment, it feels like okay, well, now I got to commit to this perfectly, it has to look a certain way, it has to be a certain way. And if it’s not gonna look that way, after a month, then I might just, you know, fizzle out. It’s like, part of that commitment that you make to yourself is, this is what I’m committing to. But also, I’m not committing to that looking perfect. I’m committing to the action of it, I’m committing to following through on it. And however that may look, I’m going to show myself to self-compassion in regards to that. So if it is that after a month, those thoughts are coming up, and I’m, you know, not necessarily following through in the way that I thought it would look, it’s like, that’s okay. How can I continue to persist through that? Instead of being, I’ve got to do it perfectly, and then I’m going to not do it at all.
Heather
Yeah, yeah. And I think that that’s been the piece that’s made it hard to follow through, is like, well, I can’t figure out how to do it perfectly. Because there’s, there’s no way with all of these different decisions. I don’t know which one is the right one. So instead of following through, instead of like picking one and trying it and following through. Since I don’t know that it’s going to be perfect. I’m just not going to do it. And so yeah, I could see that. I guess that’s, that’s a big part of what’s holding me back with the planning as well is like, Well, how do I know that I’m putting the perfect plan in place? And it’s like, no, you’re never gonna know that. Because it doesn’t exist.
Michelle
Exactly.
Heather
And so I think that’s part of why I’m scared to sit down and plan as well is because there’s so many unknowns, and you have to make so many decisions at once. And you don’t know what’s going to work until you try it. And that’s really confronting.
Michelle
And what happens if, like, what would be the worst case scenario, if you tried, if you picked one of them, and you experimented with it? And then it didn’t work out. What’s the worst case scenario that’s going to happen for you?
Heather
So I think the funny thing is like, either way, if I try something, you know, marketing wise, and it’s not perfect, and it doesn’t work out, I’ve still created more content or got my message out to more people. Like, maybe it didn’t convert into new clients, but I’ve still accomplished marketing. And it maybe wasn’t as effective as I was hoping. But I still have done something. And it’s like, yeah, there’s not a downside.
Michelle
I love that. And just like you said, there is not a downside, right. And I think when we’re in when a handbrake is off, and we’re looking at things in that very black and white sense of like, it’s either worked or it hasn’t, it’s either perfect, or it’s not. That of course, we’re setting ourselves up to like, not see the like, million shades of grey in between that, right. It’s like, okay, I experimented with this, it didn’t go as I was expecting it to go, my hypothesis didn’t necessarily come true. But if I gave myself the time to reflect on that, I can now see all the lessons that I’ve learned. I can now see that that wasn’t the way and I can make a choice to go in a different direction. And I’m still, regardless of what worked or what didn’t work, I’m still like, you know, 10 steps forward from where I would have been if I didn’t take any action at all.
And where I am, in this point in time, I can now make an informed decision as to which one I now experiment going forward with, it’s not that I’m making, you know. The informed decision is going to be that that last one didn’t work. And now I can try a different one. Instead of making, like continuing to just sit in this hypothesis zone and not actually testing anything and coming out with anything at the end. It’s just like, oh, that might work, that might work, but, you know, I’m not going to take action on them. So I’m never actually going to know if it will work. And if I try it, and it does work, that’s awesome. And I can continue to build that out. But if I try it and it doesn’t work, that gives me an opportunity to now try the next one. And figure out if that one works.
Heather
I’m laughing because this was, I think, two weeks ago, I made a reel that was literally talking about how writing a book is like a science experiment because you have a hypothesis, and you test it out. And if it doesn’t work, you don’t throw out the whole experiment. You just like figure out a different way to write the book. That’s also what I need to hear.
Michelle
Totally, and I think that’s what’s so great about us working on this together. You know, as a community as well is that you can share that with others, and then you can have that mirrored back to you in the scenario or the situation and it’s applicable for you. And it may be that at this point in time, it’s applicable in your marketing strategy, or whatever it is. And it may be in six months time, it’s applicable for you in a different way. Or it may be that people listening back to this are like, ah, yeah, actually, I’m thinking about that, in this sense, you know, it’s applicable in so many different ways. And I love that we can all be in this together, because you’re not alone, right?
Heather
So every time I listen to your coaching call to I’m like, Oh, that was helpful, because whatever everybody else is dealing with is somehow applicable to what I am as well.
Michelle
You’re so right. So that being said, what is your commitment, for the next three months? As your experiment, as your hypothesis, as things that you’re going to trial? What does that look like for you, at this point in time?
Heather
So I think the like highest level commitment is working on that identity, that I can plan and organize things, and that I can follow through on those plans, regardless of whether I know with certainty that they’re going to work out and I don’t have to execute them perfectly, and they don’t have to be perfect for me to do them. So the top level is the identity work. And part of reinforcing that identity is actually striving to do the work consistently. So planning that time, when I do my power planning. And having the compassion for myself when I feel resistance around it. And even if I do miss a time when I’ve planned for it, like, I’m going to try and have compassion for myself, but also in those moments, like, remind myself when I’ve done this and other areas and remind myself that this is part of like creating that new identity is actually following through on this.
Michelle
Love it. And in three months from now, if I was to say to you, what’s your identity around planning and following through, how would you speak that to me?
Heather
You know, I would say that, that I can plan a marketing strategy, and then I can execute it and feel organized around it. I think I honestly, just for so long I’ve, I’ve said like, I’m not organized, I’m chaos. I’m creative. I don’t know how to do organization. And it’s like, honestly, if I could tell you that and really believe it, that would be a huge shift, because I’ve had that identity for so long.
Michelle
Yeah, yeah, I love that so much. And I truly believe that the commitment that you have just said, and following through on that, and really committing to that for the next three months, in three months time, you will have had that big shift, and you will be able to really step into that self image. Providing that you can recognize that it’s not just a perfect one linear trajectory, and that the next three months, it’s going to be something that you work on, because that belief is so ingrained in how you’ve always shown up.
So recognizing like, Yep, I’m gonna be kind to myself and recognize that this is something that I am working on, it’s not something that I just, you know, flick a switch, and suddenly, I’m the kind of person that plans because that’s your brain is not going to believe that and it probably will pull you back to that not being the case. So it’s like, I’m actively working on that being the belief that I’m following through on and that’s okay, and I’m going to persist, I’m going to be consistent with it. I’m going to show myself kindness in the process. And I know what I need to follow through and have faith that by the end of that three months, that is going to be a significant shift from where I am right now.
Heather
That all makes sense. And the thing that’s coming to mind is the fact that like, like I said, I feel like I was actually pretty consistent. And I’m proud of the power planning that I did last year. And I don’t think I’d given myself enough credit for that. Because like, that was huge.
Michelle
It’s massive and, and I love that you’re saying I’m so proud of myself and that I was so consistent because what that has allowed you to do is for that to be a tool now that you are familiar with that allows you to work on this next piece, right? It allows you to uplevel and have that higher goal that you’re working towards that higher commitment, because that is something and like I said, there’s always ways that we can tweak it. And there’s always, you know, like changing to the outcomes and those little things that we can tweak. But by being consistent, and by having committed to that and being proud of that, that allows you to almost unlock this next level of being like, Oh, now I can see how intertwined with my planning, it’s allowed me to see that that’s actually the self image stuff that’s coming through. So now I can work on that to then unlock this next level. I speak as though that’s a game. It’s not a game. You know what I mean.
Heather
I totally get what you mean. But yes, it does. It allows me to kind of like, I mean, they say up level. So yeah.
Michelle
Exactly I speak is I’ve ever played a video game in my life, and I have not. So you know, sounds very rookie.
Heather
Also not my thing.
Michelle
But it’s that tool that you can now, you’ve got in your toolbox that you can now use to work on this next level. So, yeah, let us know how you go. We are so proud of you. And we are obviously there to support you in the forum. But yeah, thank you so much for getting coached today. And I’m really looking forward to supporting you as you go forward as well.
Heather
Thank you, Michelle. This was really helpful. And I just have to say like, all of your coaching calls are really helpful. I love watching the replays. So if even if I don’t see them live, I like watch yours. And I’m like, Oh, this looks like now I know, everything I need to do. So you’re great.
Michelle
You’ve made my day. Thank you. I appreciate you.
Daisy
Okay, that’s it for this episode. And I hope you enjoyed learning from Heather’s call with Michelle. If you enjoyed this podcast, please take a screenshot and tag Sam on Instagram @perfectionismproject.
Sam Laura Brown
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