"Wrong Problem" Problems...

I spent a lot of time last month trying to solve the wrong problem and it was exhausting. Let me explain...

We all get so caught up in our own lives that it can be impossible for us to see our circumstances objectively. We aren't able to see the forest through the trees.  

I manage my mind like a ninja — every day, all day. I do my thought work. I sit down with a notepad and free write about what is bothering me or what I'm worried about until I fill up the page. And then I get to work coaching myself through it. Is each sentence a fact or a thought? Why am I thinking that? Is that even true? And so forth.

The tools and concepts I learned during coach certification get about 90% of my attention because I want to have complete mastery over them. They have changed my life, are helping my clients change theirs, and I want to know them inside and out. 

So I know my stuff. I know my mind, and I know how to manage it. I know the tools, and I study them. I do the exercises, and I create new exercises. I am in it to win it. 

And I still have a life coach. Because I'm human, and there are things in my life that I am unable to see objectively — trees and forest. 

There were a few weeks last month that I was really unmotivated to work. I love coaching and the art of what I do, but the actual business/entrepreneur side isn't nearly as rewarding or fun. I can move mountains when I'm motivated but I just couldn't figure out how to get there.

I spent about two weeks trying to understand why I didn't feel motivated so that I could fix it. So I could fix what was wrong with me. 

A few fun examples from my thought download:

I just don't feel like working.

WTF is wrong with me? 

I wanted this for so long, why don't I feel like working? 

Why can't I get motivated!?

This is so frustrating! 

I own my own business now - I should be all over this!

I was able to get motivated for a few short spurts, but nothing stuck. I did my thought work, I coached myself, I used the concepts/tools/exercises, and I could not figure it out. 

Ahhhh! 

So I decided to bring the issue to my life coach. I filled her in on what was going on with everything and we worked through it. 

It's always a smack-in-the-head moment for me when I get to the bottom of it. I was trying to solve the wrong problem. I'm always curious to see what the actual issue is when I go through a "stuck" phase. 

The real problem was that I thought I should always feel motivated to work. Subconsciously I thought that motivated should be my baseline, and something had gone wrong if it wasn't. 

WHAT? WAIT, WHAT? 

Intellectually, I know that isn't true. [I'm sure a few of you are laughing because I legit coached you on the same thing while I was going through it.] But I couldn't see it in my world; I was too close to the problem...I was in the trees.    

Of course, I don't always feel motivated to work because I'm not a robot. Talking it through, and JUST the awareness changed everything. I stopped spinning out immediately, and I got to work. And it hasn't been a problem for me since. 

I follow my schedule, and I do what I need to do. Motivation is a bonus now, not a requirement. Now I'm excited when I feel motivated, not frustrated when I don't. Huge difference. 

It is still so crazy to me how quickly everything changed with nothing more than awareness. I could have spun out for weeks (months) and wasted an insane amount of time and energy.  

Are you trying to solve a problem in your life? Are you positive that you're working on the right problem? I was, but I was wrong, and you might be too. What's the cost to you (time, energy, and money) if you are chipping away at the wrong issue? 

Click here to schedule a complimentary one-hour consult with me, and we can dig into it. Be willing to be wrong for the sake of growth and relief. 

Machele Galloway is a Certified Life Coach through The Life Coach School. She's based in Tulsa, Oklahoma, and specializes in helping her clients manage their time and their minds. She firmly believes that you can't manage one without managing the other. She virtually coaches women nationwide. If she isn't coaching clients, she is studying concepts and techniques. And if she isn't doing that, she's probably playing with a dog somewhere. If you are interested in working with Machele, click here to schedule your free consultation to find out if it’s a good fit for you.

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