I should have done this years ago!

I’m almost at the end of Cycle 1 of my Shape Up experiment and I can’t believe the amount of progress I’ve made in 5 weeks.

I’ll do a proper write up/overview later this week, but I’ve already started reflecting on some of the lessons I’ve learned and observations I’ve made.

Today I want to talk about super long-term projects and how they can be really easy to put off without firm guardrails, accountability and discipline around them.

Most of the things that I’ve completed in the last 5 weeks have been things I’ve been wanting to do or trying to do for years.

So why didn’t I?

1.     I had a visibility block.

For many of us, being ‘seen’ or ‘putting ourselves out there’ can be a scary proposition.

It probably taps into some kind of evolutionary fear of being too exposed and the possibility of losing our tribal affiliations by being rejected. Some of us have also had bad experiences more recently, have shit support systems in our lives or have suffered the vicarious trauma of seeing the vicious and unforgiving voice of cancel culture/digital lynch mobbing.

Whatever the source of your visibility block, it results in the same thing: not sharing your work, and not being seen.

Sometimes this fear is masquerading as ‘perfectionism’, but what it really is, is fear – plain and simple.

It feels ‘unsafe’ to be seen by others, and unfortunately the only way to overcome this, is through exposure.

There are lots of different ways to handle this, but essentially you need to start slowly by creating a set of conditions that allow you to increase your level of perceived safety, decrease the level of perceived danger. You then need to increase your level of exposure in small increments over a long period of time.

For me these conditions looked like:

·      Posting on Hey World and LinkedIn.

·      Posting 3 times a week.

·      Slowly adding to and padding out my LinkedIn profile.

·      Only committing to build my new website after I had a string of many published posts.

·      Trying to write 1,000 words a day as a zero-pressure experiment fuelled by curiosity instead of unforgiving expectations.

These were the set of conditions I needed, in order to feel safe to be seen again.

2.     I didn’t know what exactly to do / I had lots of ideas but no clarity / clear direction. 

The second reason it has taken me so long to do this stuff, is that I didn’t know exactly what to do.

This feels like a cross between analysis paralysis and the paradox of choice, but again the true source of this block is fear.

What if I choose to do the wrong thing?

But what if choosing the wrong thing is the best thing that can happen to you?

1. You will discover VERY QUICKLY with absolute certainty, that this is the wrong path.

2. Then you can course correct.

3. And then you can move tf on!

If you’re too scared to make a mistake, you’re too scared to make anything.

You can only pull yourself out of the analysis paralysis/paradox of choice quicksand by actually making a choice and doing something!

‘Choosing the wrong thing’ is also known as ‘the process of elimination’ – which is a perfectly legitimate process to engage in, and completely unavoidable in most cases.

You can never really know for sure if something will work, unless you actually do it.

3.     I didn’t have the time, space or set up to do this.

This is something that ties into my ‘Melbourne lessons’ post re: the importance of maintaining a good and healthy space to work in and it’s absolutely a non-negotiable.

You cannot do good work, unless you have a good space to work in.

It doesn’t have to be a $35 million dollar co-working office complex. It can be a coffee shop. It can be an empty spare bedroom.

It just has to be:

·      clutter-free

·      interruption-free

·      comfortable for you

·      quiet, and

·      a dedicated space that’s used exclusively for this purpose

Yes of course you can work in a train station if you really have to, but in order to increase the likelihood of success & consistency, you need to have some control over your time, space and the tools required to do your work.

I finally have that for myself, and the proof is in the pudding.

4.     I didn’t have a sustainable framework or methodology to use.

I’m not sure why Shape Up has been such a game changer for me, and there may be some other factors contributing to this massive increase in productivity for me, but the methodology is helping without a doubt.

Days off are built in. Weeks ‘off’ are built in! And I am so excited that I get to work on something completely different every 8 weeks!

5.     I was afraid of the workload.

If you had told me on day one that I was about to commit to:

·      Building and releasing a brand new website

·      Creating graphics for the new website & LinkedIn profile

·      Creating a lead magnet/freebie

·      Posting 3 days a week

·      Creating and scheduling 1 ½ months of content for LinkedIn

·      Attending a workshop

·      Overhauling my LinkedIn profile

·      Creating an offer

·      Developing an 11 week 1:1 coaching program

·      Writing 1,000 words a day

·      Maintaining a great level of exercise and self-care

I would have told you that was impossible. That SOUNDS like so much work!! And it is, but if you’re consistent, and you manage your time, energy and yourself properly, it is completely achievable.

There’s a saying I often remind myself when I’m feeling overwhelmed or stressed out:

‘It’s not the load that breaks you, it’s how you carry it.’

My advice: Just try it. It’s almost NEVER as bad as you think it is, and there are always ways to increase and improve efficiencies over time. If you do feel overloaded, you can always narrow the scope and lighten the load.

The dread is always more taxing than the deed. Just do the bloody thing.

With big things, the time, work and fear of being seen can feel like a canyon that is not worth crossing.

With no end in sight, the fear of failing can feel so inevitable that you never even try.

But what if you just did it?

As our old friend David Goggins says: ‘It becomes easy once you figure it out.’

Yes, you will be seen.

Yes, you won’t always know what to do.

Yes, it will require discipline, consistency and hard work.

And yes, you will need to find a way to balance everything.

But, it will be ok and so will you.

Linda ✌🏻

P.S If there is something you should have done years ago and haven’t been able to, I have a very limited number of spaces left for my 11 week 1:1 coaching program. DM me.