One of my clients came to his coaching call completely despondent. He said, “I need a double session today—I am totally upset and completely confused.” Somewhat surprising, given that this client has turned his business around since we began working together. He has had enormous sales, and has the concrete potential for tripling his income over the next few months.
“Goodness Gracious! What happened?”
Once we got clear about his concerns, we were able to distill them into one overriding worry—it was going to cost him capital to reach the next level of sales. He didn’t know how much but he was certain it would be thousands of dollars. Really?
We began by getting clear about the next step he was to take in order to fulfill on pending orders. Once that step was done, we began to itemize the costs, one by one, including the minute details that worried him so much. When we finished he was astounded by how little capital he really needed to use in order to achieve the next sales goal.
I am not minimizing the fear that the client was experiencing. I think it’s very human to react to our fears. The important lesson from this experience is: When you are worried about achieving something, and the worry gets blown out of proportion, talk with someone who is committed to your success, but is not invested in achieving the result. I am recommending that you get a second or third opinion about what is really holding you back. This client could have stopped the progress that he was making by letting his fear overtake his momentum. Instead he admitted to his fear, communicated about it, and then together we could make it doable and achievable.
Promise yourself that the next time you are stopped by something in your path to success that seems overwhelming, you will seek another opinion. You have people who can assist you to look at things from an alternate perspective. They can help you in developing a workable way to achieve your goal. Solutions abound if you let them occur and just ask.
