On Monday I called in to a coaching class on Power Tools – my favorite! We got into an interesting discussion, as usual, about taking action vs delaying action and when it is good to take action or move a client into action and how to overcome delay tactics. We also talked about how it is sometimes important and valuable to not take action, to be still with ourselves so that we can listen to our inner voice in order to take purposeful action and not “spin our wheels” or become action junkies. This also lead to a discussion about how we get into the trap of doing all the things we think we should do or have to do, rather than focusing on what we want. There are so many things out there that we tell ourselves we should do, and then we resist doing them because it feels like an obligation. I thought about this later on in the evening and what came up for me was how I had been feeling about writing and acting. I started doing both a few years ago – more acting than writing – as a creative outlet and to pursue a creative dream. I enjoyed it at first, and then started to feel like I needed to do more in order to make up for all the lost time that I hadn’t done it. It then began to feel like a burden and the next thing I knew I was cancelling auditions and I stopped journalling and writing. I’ve been telling myself that maybe I lost interest as I am pursuing other goals but what has really been happening is that I started thinking about writing and acting as something I have to do, should do, because it is my dream and I shouldn’t give up. Subconsciously I was resisting the thing I wanted because I was telling myself it was something I had to do. I am now going to revisit this and reconnect with why I want to act and write and be mindful of the thoughts that lead me to feeling like I should do it. As always, personal learnings about yourself are very powerful tools for bringing into coaching and I have definitely learned a valuable tool for helping clients examine areas of their lives where they are stuck because they tell themselves they have to do something.
