As I sat down to put this digital dispatch together, I found myself in an utterly comical swirl of procrastination. I had blocked out the time, had my topics clear, had tools I wanted to share. The raw materials were there but the writing was not happening. Each time I faced the keyboard, distractions would take me away; a snack, a call, email, new episodes of Gossip Girl (guilty confession). I found myself ever frustrated as the minutes of my writing window ticked down, even telling myself, out loud, to put down the chocolates and go back to the computer.
My entrepreneurial sizzle was fizzling because I had lost track of my WHY. Why do any of this anyway? Reaching financial goals, breaking new ground, helping others, all of these were compelling thoughts but not causing any action. Why, with the best intentions, do we sometimes lose our focus, forward motion and sizzle?
Why we lose our sizzle.
Frankly, the only reason we fizzle is fear, which shows up in lots of different disguises. Here are 5 most recognizable ones…
Upping our game.
We set big goals that scare the pants off us, even though we won’t admit the fear publicly. When we raise the stakes on what we want to accomplish, procrastination will be there, a manifestation of our concerns about what we might encounter if we act. Faced with potential rejection, confrontation, or judgement, we hide in the familiar. Who doesn’t want a clean desk or empty inbox? Unfortunately, those are not enough. The momentary victory lap you do around your desk doesn’t provide a lasting sense of accomplishment or a real impact made toward your bottom line.
Everything All At Once.
We demand big results in short time frames. Business moves fast. Projects can live and die in a single phone call or meeting. There is an urgency to what we’re doing and we don’t want to let one ball drop for one second, until it drops, with a thud. Unrealistic expectations, taking on too much at once, and demanding a 24/7 level of performance is unrealistic and creates overwhelm and burnout. What’s the likely success ratio for your projects if you’re laid up at Cedars Sinai in adrenal overload?
Boredom.
If idle hands are the devil’s plaything imagine what an idle creative and intelligent mind can do. Fear of moving into areas that are new to us, where we might look awkward or have to be a beginner has us hide behind what we’ve already mastered even if we are bored stiff. Being the master is great but your lost interest is evident to your team and your clients costing you their loyalty and potential results, financial and otherwise.
Insisting on perfection over progress.
Wanting something to be right or perfect before pulling the trigger crushes our ability to take risks and create new opportunities. This is where fear locks us into planning instead of action. We become the people who push deadlines, lose trust and integrity with our collaborators and though the work, when it happens, may be outstanding, we lose our reputations and potential opportunities because we don’t deliver what we promise.
The Lone Ranger Syndrome.
Damn we are awesome. No one can do it better than us. If it’s going to get done right, we have to do it ourselves and suddenly the to do list is gargantuan. Fear keeps us from communicating, not passing information to others, not delegating or outsourcing. We become the log jam for progress, believing that no one else can do it right. Collaboration breaks down. Progress stalls. Team members feel unsure of what they should be doing and chaos ensues, either in the form of people taking their own Lone Ranger actions by circumventing your leadership or doing nothing at all.
When we’re stuck in these patterns nothing, can lead us out of the paralysis faster than remembering WHY we want to do something and being clear about what it costs us if we don’t, in a REAL visceral, crap our pants kind of way. Action and traction can be found in connecting back to what we value and our intended.
Photo Credit: Ruven Afanador / The CW © 2009 The CW Network, LLC. All Rights Reserved.
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We have disposable contact lens, disposable cameras, disposable headphones on airplanes.
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