Is This You?
You have a project that you have a lot of passion for — but you’re just not getting to it.
When you’re crazy-busy, you have trouble thinking clearly. You wind up pinging from task to task and don’t get a real sense of accomplishment.
You start projects but then lose momentum and can’t figure out what to do next.
You feel like you’re fighting yourself. When you get down to work on things that matter to you, you keep getting distracted and derailed.
You have trouble taking breaks. When you’re on a roll, you work to exhaustion. Then you’re burned out and can’t crank the machinery up again.
The breaks you take are more like avoidance sessions — you feel guilty about them, don’t enjoy them and you have trouble regaining focus.
Perfectionism slows you down — and makes you unhappy with the work you do produce.
If any of these scenarios sounds like you, you’ve got lots of company. The fact is, there’s a lot of time management advice out there. Some of it works. But not for everybody. And not all the time.
If you’re struggling with your time, it’s probably because the advice you’ve tried to follow is…
- Too complicated. You spend a lot of time learning the system, working the system, tweaking the system. Until you get sick of the system and give up.
- Designed for somebody else. You like paper-based planning, and you feel pressured to switch to electronic tools. Or you like using your in-box as a to-do list, and you’ve heard you “should” keep it empty. Or you’re a night person, and you think you’re “supposed to” work on your big project first thing in the morning.
- Too judgmental. You get the feeling that really successful people never procrastinate and that there’s something wrong with you if you do. Or that there’s something morally suspect about watching TV. Your inner rebel gets engaged and you find yourself in “You can’t make me!” mode.
Turns out, self-punishment is not an effective motivator. Neither is twisting yourself into a pretzel. In coaching, we won’t try to change your personal style to match someone else’s system. Instead, we’ll work together to discover small shifts that fit you and the way you like to work. Small shifts that actually lead to big results. That help you be more fully present with your work, and with your life. So you’re more focused and satisfied now — and you keep sustaining those new habits over the long term.
I work with…
- Entrepreneurs and self-employed service providers — such as consultants, coaches, healers.
- Creative professionals — such as writers and graphic artists.
- People who work for someone else — who are independent thinkers, who have discretion over how they use their time, and who have (or desire) a creative outlet.
If these ideas resonate with you, come visit the blog, where we talk about them all the time. Or maybe you’d like to know more about how coaching works.