I had a good and fun example of how answers can sometimes be right under your nose highlighted to me recently during a coaching session with a client.

The client was talking to me about a big goal that’s very important to her. She explained that she was feeling a little overwhelmed at the size of the task and frustrated at her lack of progress in moving things forward. She was telling me that felt she was procrastinating because the goal just seemed too large and out of reach.

When she had finished explaining to me how she felt, I paused and I glanced at the water bottle that she had in front of her. I then said “what you need is small steps and big change.” She said “that’s exactly what I need to overcome my procrastination.” She thanked me for my wisdom and suggestion and started thinking about her first small action step.

I told her that it wasn’t really my wisdom and that I just said what I had read on the water bottle whilst I contemplated what she’d been saying! Anyway, whatever way we got there, it was the right solution at the right time for my client.

My client then told me that she’d had the water bottle for a few weeks and had been topping it up with tap water. She found it funny that she hadn’t seen the slogan I referred to. However, she was always looking at the side with the brand name on it and hadn’t had a reason to look at the reverse of the bottle.

This story is a great example of how we are creatures of habit and confirms the research that suggests that 90% of what we do each day is through habit. Our views and perceptions will be shaped by what we see. There may be alternative approaches and solutions right under our nose but we may not spot them if we always look at things in the same way. If we want different results in our life we have to do something different to achieve this.

I thought I would share the following insights that I gleaned from this experience:-

  • If you change your position you get a different view and perspective. What we choose to focus on and pay attention to will effect what we experience and get from life.
  • Your response to any situation and challenge depends on your perspective. When you are stuck in a rut your vision and choices are limited.
  • Elevating your vision above a situation allows you to see the bigger picture and reveals different answers and options.
  • Asking people for their objective views and opinions gives us alternative viewpoints and approaches to consider.
  • If you ask the right questions in life then the right answers will show up. You have to trust that this will be the case and patiently wait for them to appear.
  • Answers to our problems and challenges can come from the most unlikely of sources and don’t always come from where we expect them to come from. However, you have to be open to receiving the wisdom that is on offer.
  • It’s a reminder that being disciplined and consistently applying small steps eventually leads to extraordinary results being achieved.
  • Regularly look at ways to change your routine and environment. This can be achieved by listening to different genres of music, reading different media, watching different TV shows and visiting new places etc.

This week, why not take some time out and contemplate if there is a goal or challenge that you are procrastinating on? What small step could you take to get you into action? Is there anything in the insights mentioned that you can adopt and work on in your own life?

This week’s quotation:

“The journey of a thousand miles begins with one step.” Lao Tzu.

To arrange a free no obligation consultation, please contact Stephen Pauley via the contact form or by e mail: Stephen@befirstclass.co.uk