The rabbit hole……….

Another story about too many things in your mind and how it can spiral out of control.?

Can you recall any situation in your life when you were starting something new and constantly making a list of the things you needed to work on, thinking about, don't forget about this and that? The list can be written, or mental notes don't matter.?

You are just making this list to keep everything in mind and under control. Then you read a lot of information, follow different trainings or people/influencers, etc. The amount of information is enormous, and your head is exploding. On top, you start to think that you still don't grasp the true meaning of the thing, you want to read even more, and that you might miss some information, and so on. Sound a little bit familiar??

Well, for me, this was about how to monetize my coaching practice. As soon as I started coaching, I began to see the messages that you need to start to sell your coaching straight away and as fast as possible. Otherwise, you are missing out, and it will be more difficult after a while. Once you start your coaching training, you should already figure out with whom you would like to work (who is your target audience), how you want to work (what kind of product you will have, individual sessions or packages, and what will be included), prices (critical point), what social media will you target, how often will you post, what will you post, the storytelling, content, how will you sell your coaching, where will you get your clients, and the list can go on.?

All of those created so much anxiety that I thought I should have thought about it even before I started coaching. People kept asking about my business plan, whether I already had clients, and where I would find them. I was under the impression that I was already far behind everyone else and urgently needed to figure out everything like yesterday. Not knowing all the information made me feel I wasn't serious about being a coach. I was missing out on tons of opportunities, and I would not be successful because already now, I didn't have any idea. I was falling further into the rabbit hole.

I started subscribing to many different things, following other coaches who were teaching how to sell your coaching, how to post something on your social media and how to increase your selling capacity via social media, how often you need to post, etc. The amount of information I had in two weeks was equivalent to the entire year of my MBA. My brain frantically was trying to keep up and was running like a monkey on fire. I was exhausted morally and physically. I started to doubt if the coaching was really what I wanted to do, why I decided to do that, do I even should do it. At that particular moment, I was feeling very down and couldn't keep up with all the information. I was torn inside out, exhausted from all the thinking, early mornings and late nights. In all this madness, I decided to take a break for days.?

My thoughts, why on the hell I can't keep up with everyone else or do precisely the same - remained with me. The spiral of self-beating, questioning, and the whole pot of other "pleasant emotions," as you can imagine. Unfortunately, I was trapped in it and coughed there a few more times.?

I was "forced" to look at it objectively during the break. Yes, I don't have all the answers, which is okay. You need to give yourself time to figure out things; it is absolutely fine not to know everything and have answers to all the questions.?

The following came to me:?

• I should take time to understand things around me and, most importantly, be open-minded and willing to do it. If you run around and try to rush it, you put yourself under unnecessary pressure. Rushing things around add to anxiety and a feeling that you are missing it.
• I kept on finding excuses (e.g., I don't have time to read it, I have too much work at this moment,?it is not how I used to do it, it doesn't reply to my question, per my experience, it was done differently that's why this doesn't work for me, etc.). If your list of "excuses" keeps growing and you don't do something and don't want to do something, ask yourself why is that. Remember, this is nothing wrong with you, and it is absolutely normal to have internal resistance if there is something new or a new way of doing things; you need time to learn and understand it.
• I should remain at a comfortable pace. I accepted that I didn't get my 1 million yet, either of the follower or on the bank account. But what is more important, keep doing what you like at a slower speed for now, enjoying every moment or running around and completely missing what's around you?

For me, I understood that a considerable amount of information was not helping me, as well as the pressure and stress that came with it. I needed time to settle things for myself. To understand how I wanted and envision my coaching practice to be. Instead, how everyone else said it should look. Therefore, I unsubscribed from most of the things, deleted certain information, organized what I thought might be helpful at a later stage, and marked it to be read later on.?

Once "cleaning" was done, the feeling of the pressure reduced, and if there were questions I didn't know the answer - I was openly saying that it was something I still needed to work on and decide. This was entirely true, and it is on my to-do list, but it doesn't need to be now; it can be next week when we reduce our inner pressure and our brain stop being in surviving mode.?

Eventually, once my brain was freed from constant information processing, my creative side started to propose ideas. They were popping up, and it was easier to examine, explore and find only relevant information to read.

My "rabbit hole" taught me to trust my guts, not rush my inner process, and be confident in myself and my abilities to figure out things. My past experience helped me when I needed to dedicate time and persistence to my intentions.?

#newbeginnings #overcomingchallenges #selfdiscovery