Think about something like a skyscraper. Thousands of tons of steel and glass rising hundreds of feet into the air. Think about the planning, the coordination, the number of people it requires to pull off such a monumental undertaking. Months, even years of construction, thousands of man-hours. Until what began as an idea in someone’s head becomes a real thing in the world that will continue to stand long after all of us are gone. It’s pretty mind blowing. And it all starts with a single shovelful of dirt being scooped out of the ground.
How do you go about tackling a task that seems so big it’s almost impossible to imagine the finished product or accomplishment? Maybe it’s a major project at work, or running a marathon, or trying to fix a relationship that’s gone south. It can be easy to get crushed under the pressure, to procrastinate, to try to make it someone else’s problem, or to just throw in the towel altogether. But there’s a way to kick that overwhelm to the curb and make your way to the finish line. The key is to just start. I know it sounds simple, and that’s because it is. It may not always be easy, but it is simple. Just. Start.
I wrote a book. Maybe you’ve read it. If you haven’t, you should. There’s some good stuff in there. The thing is, I don’t really like to write. What you’re reading right now? Chat GPT. No, I’m kidding, of course. I actually have a scribe that lives in my basement and writes down everything that I say. Okay, all joking aside, I actually did write a book called The Inner Matrix. It was a huge undertaking. I wanted to take everything I’d learned over two decades of training and put it all together in one place. I wanted to create a handbook that would be easily accessible for people looking to start the journey of transformation. I knew exactly what I wanted to say, but the prospect of sitting down at a keyboard and putting everything in my head down on paper seemed, at times, like an impossible task. So once I had my thoughts outlined and the structure in place, I simply put the finish line out of my mind and just started. Word by word, sentence by sentence. And even on days when I only managed to get a single paragraph on the page, I knew I was one paragraph closer to the final product. I kept going that way, day after day, week after week, month after month, until one day, I looked at the screen and it was done. I had written a book.
When you find yourself feeling overwhelmed by the prospect of a big task, it’s likely because your nervous system is lighting up with alarm bells. Old emotional patterns of fear, shame, or unworthiness are being activated. The brain views the task as a threat and the best way to stay safe from a threat is to avoid it altogether. It’s not logical, of course, because simply avoiding that big project at work is certainly going to have consequences. But your nervous system doesn’t know that. The sympathetic nervous system has been triggered, the fight or flight mode, and right now it’s telling you to catch the next flight out of here.
The good news is we can train the nervous system to react in a different way. We can learn to engage the parasympathetic nervous system at will, and when the parasympathetic nervous system is online we’re able to access things like creativity and problem solving. Our Power Series trains you in the tools, techniques and strategies for recognizing and retooling your emotional patterns to align with the outcomes you're looking for. Of course, we can’t do that big project for you, or run that marathon, or fix that relationship, but we can help you get to the place you need to be so that you take the first step. Because the only way to see something through to the end is to just get started.
Click HERE to learn more about our Power Series and start something today!