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? 💯!
