As we buckle up for 2023, many of you are creating new objectives for the coming year. Big or small, these goals should go beyond what you’ve been doing up until now. This means stepping outside of your comfort zone, and embracing the inevitable… well… discomfort.
Things that are new and stretch you beyond your perceived limits are in and of themselves, uncomfortable. These goals and pursuits may even induce anxiety or terror depending on how far outside of your comfort zone you’re traveling.
This is all very normal.
Our brains like to convince us that our fears are red flags, meaning we should not move forward and risk the potential discomfort that lies ahead. In reality though, these fears are just flags indicating the starting point of the path to success and progress!
Even after you’ve created your big vision and set concrete goals for the year (like we do in my Vision 2023 workshop), it’s easy to get side-tracked from your objectives if you let fear lead.
It takes courage to stay on track every day.
When we talk about courage, it’s important to understand that courage is not the absence of fear– but rather, courage is taking action despite any fear or discomfort.
It’s feeling the fear and doing it anyway.
Most of the time our bigger mission, powerful purpose, and clear vision are enough to motivate us into action, even in the presence of fear.
Yet sometimes that is not enough.
I encourage you to take the time NOW to create the structure, develop the habits, identify the processes, and define the clear daily actions that will help you stay in action toward your goals regardless of your level of discomfort.
Structuring the New You
When striving to make significant changes in your life, it’s important to create structures, processes, and habits that will help move you through the fear and unease of being outside your comfort zone. These structures will maintain that you are taking action toward being the new person you are striving to be, even in the face of discomfort.
How I Structure My Day/Weeks as a Coach
Here are some techniques that I use to create the structure for my day and week:
(For further elaboration on this topic, check out this article on my blog)
Define Clear Deliverables
An objective isn’t effectively stated unless it’s defined with enough information to know when the objective has been reached. It also needs a date when it’s scheduled to be completed (which you can report to your accountability group). And of course, everything your working on, all your daily/weekly/monthly deliverables, must be aligned with your bigger objectives or goals for the year.
Create a Checklist
Create a checklist physically or electronically that you can check off as you complete your deliverables. This gives you a visual way to check off things as you go and helps you to keep track of your daily activities and accomplishments.
Schedule the Time in your Calendar to Work on Specific Tasks
Set up times in your calendar to work on specific deliverables or tasks as if they were appointments. These are appointments with yourself that you make a commitment to not miss. Set alarms for those times and work on taking action as they pop up in your schedule.
Get an Accountability Partner or Join an Accountability Group
Accountability is one of the most foolproof ways to stick to and achieve our goals. it gives you a chance to say out loud exactly what it is that you intend to do, as well as report back on how things are going. Speaking and declaring your intentions is the most powerful way to support your staying in action toward your commitments. One of the ways I support folks in this is through my 2023 Accountability Circle.
Do Completion at the End of the Week
Completion exercises are fundamental to the way I coach and commit to seeing progress both in my life and with my clients. The suggestions for how to do this can be found in this article.
Experiment & Adjust
Don’t be afraid to recreate and modify your structures and procedures as you go. Nothing needs to be set in stone, it’s better to stay open to change and adjustment as you begin to learn what works for you and what doesn’t.
Creating this kind of structure in your workday might feel like it will constrain you too much, but in reality it gives you a lot of freedom.
Where to Go From Here?
Once you’ve outlined what it is that you have to do, and you’ve set the proper structures in place for yourself, it’s time to move to the final step…
Start DOING!
Make that call. Send that email. Reach out to that new person. Go to that networking event. Pitch yourself. Go live on Facebook! Publish the copy/article/blog post. Make that speech! Publicize the landing page for your website. Run the advertisement!
It’s about you stepping outside your comfort zone with at least one small act of courage every day.
You’re discovering what’s on the other side of that fear.
You’re going beyond your perceived limitations.
You’re making a Big Leap and breaking through your Upper Limit Problem.
You’re remaining in action toward your big objectives and fulfilling your vision.
Anything in the way of you starting today?
Looking For Some Clarity?
Many of us tend to get overwhelmed, procrastinate, live in constant stress, or get paralyzed in indecisiveness. If you’d like some help with that, get in touch for a complimentary 30-minute action-clarity session!
These sessions are crafted to get you feeling:
Grounded
Present
Energized
Back in action
and buzzing with a new sense of clarity and purpose
You can sign up for a complimentary Action-Clarity session here.
And if you’re looking for support in crafting your clear, powerful, concrete, and actionable goals for 2023, please join me for one of these two upcoming Vision 2023 workshops!
These workshops are the perfect opportunity to get excited and committed to ourselves, our growth, and the demolishing of our comfort zones!
I’ll see you there.
Happy New Year!