Get out of Your Head and Out of Your Way
Ever have one of those moments when you’re supposed to act and you’re stopped in your tracks? Take for example, my first assignment in a new job to evaluate a program. I was stuck. Then, driven by a need to do something, I began with —what many call— paralysis by analysis.
I called a few people who knew the subject area. Shoot, I once called an ex-employee I never met (Hey John, I am the new VP over here and you don’t know me, but I hear you worked on this project two years ago. John tells me he’ll think back, but it has been years since he worked on this.). I started going through old files (Picture me sitting with Board books dating back to 2007.) to read up on the topic area. The result: the work on that project wasn’t anywhere closer to being done than it was the day I was assigned it.
So, what was really going on? I wasn’t producing anything, and this was draining the heck out of me.
Through coaching, I got to the root of the problem: me. It was about my inner need to get it right. I wanted to look smart. Some common thoughts were “I’m not good enough. What if I get it wrong?”.
Here are 5 questions that got me back on track.
Use them to get out of your head and out of your way:
When I’m stuck, what thoughts am I having?
What are those thoughts costing me?
What’s a better thought?
What will that new thought give me?
Given this, what’s one step I will take to move forward?
P.S. My new thought was to trust my instincts and experience on how to advance this goal— “I got this!” And did I? 💯!