Do you find yourself dealing with resistance to action?
One of the hardest things I find about setting goals and then achieving them is taking action to make them a reality. Everything looks and sounds good when it’s rolling around in my mind, but when it comes to doing… that’s another story!
This is especially true when you find yourself *wanting* to act on your dreams, nothing is stopping you, but for some reason, you’re unable to do so. This is resistance to action in action! And finding a way through it is crucial to reaching your goals.
Resistance is a common phenomenon. So common that most people experience it at one time or another. In order to get past it, you must first determine what’s causing it. Resistance has many causes; anxiety and fear are the most common, but there are many others as well.
Some of the other things that might be causing your resistance to action are:
- Having conflicting goals
- Trying to achieve goals other people set for you
- Focusing on what you could lose instead of the positive gains
- Procrastinating until the time is right
- Feeling overwhelmed by the work ahead
Before you can break through your resistance, you really need to figure out what is causing it. Once you know that, it’s easier to make a plan to deal with it.
If you are feeling fear or anxiety around working on your goals and dreams, you can try one of the following methods for dealing with that to get you started.
(Note: I am not a mental health practitioner so, I’m only sharing what works for me from experience. If you have anxiety issues, please do not hesitate to contact your medical or mental health professional.)
These are a few of the things that help me when I have to do something work-related that I feel anxious about (like recording videos or doing live zoom workshops):
Deep breathing exercises – When I start feeling stressed about something I’ll stop and take a deep breath or two.
Do some exercise –It doesn’t have to be a long workout; getting your heart rate up for ten or fifteen minutes will help reduce the anxiety-producing chemicals in your body. I like to go for a short walk outside or use a short 15-minute walking video to get myself moving and burn off some of the anxious energy.
Use affirmations – Choose a few affirmations that you can use to help reduce the stress you’re feeling and repeat them before you start. I like to keep them simple. A couple of my favorites are simply:
- I am at peace in this moment.
- I CAN do this!
I also like to color my affirmations. Even 5 or 10 minutes of coloring before I do a task I find stressful can help.
Related Resource: Affirmations Coloring Pages
Do the first small task – What’s the first thing you have to do? Not the first thing on your to-do list, but the first thing you have to do before you do that. Open a drawer? Pick up an ink pen? Turn on your laptop?
For me, it’s turning on the music. Unless I’m on a live call, there is always music on when I’m working. So my brain knows that as soon as the music starts, it’s time to start working.
The other issues all have their own methods for working through them as well. The only ones you can’t easily fix are conflicting goals and false goals. Those will take some time for reevaluating your dreams and setting new goals that work for where you are now.
Related Resource: If you’re feeling overwhelmed, my friend Jan has a great course called Freedom from Overwhelm that might help.
Whatever you do, always keep working your plan. Don’t be afraid to try different methods.
Change up what you’re doing until you find something that works and helps you break through the wall. Once you break through your resistance to action, you’ll find working on your goals much easier.
The most important part of getting past resistance is to keep trying. If you work on it, you’ll find a way through. It might seem impossible, but it’s not. Very few things are impossible. Just don’t give up. That’s the only way to make sure you never get past the resistance.
You can do this. You can get through your resistance to action and make it happen. Your dreams are waiting for you. You just have to get to them!