Thinking and planning are great activities for creating the right conditions for making dramatic changes in your life. You get to mull over the ideas and put a plan on paper. Great.
But what actually stalls many people, I’ve seen, is not that they don’t think and plan. It’s that they don’t act. In fact, I’ve seen many people get stuck in a perpetual loop of thinking and planning. They go through all the best- and worst-case scenarios. They plan for every contingency. Then they keep at it.
Never to actually move past that.
They are career students who never quite get around to launching a career. They are would-be entrepreneurs who are forever writing out business plans, but never starting a business. They are always proclaiming New Year’s resolutions, but never quite get around to making them happen.
If that sounds like you, I have one question for you: How can you possibly get to doing the things you want to do, if you never actually get to doing the things you want to do?
That’s where a good life coach or strategist can help. A good life coach or even strategist can help you on the path to your better life, career, relationship, or whatever it is you desire. You see, a life coach or strategist can help you truly see and understand where you are and figure out where you want to be. In the midst of that, your coach or strategist can help you bridge the gap between the two places, by helping you discover the obstacles in the way of your progress.
If you are stuck in a loop of constantly thinking and planning, but never moving, then you have a big obstacle in the way. You need someone to help you finally move past it.
As a life strategist, I am big on action. But not just action for the sake of action; intentional action. I know that only by moving with purpose do you get the major goals, hopes, and dreams accomplished.
Common reasons why people get stuck in thinking and planning
1. Fear of failure. They are comfortable in that place of planning for the big thing they want, because it makes it feel as if they are moving toward it. But they don’t want to actually take the action on the thing they most want because of the fear of failing at that thing. If they fail, then what? What else will they have to look forward to? What will others think? Those questions cause them to prefer to think about and plan for the big thing, because that way, they can maintain the fantasy of “one day” going for it.
2. Fear of success. Yes, many people actually fear the success of achieving the thing they want. In that fear, they wonder what will happen if they get that thing? Will their loved ones not like them anymore? Will friends be jealous? How will their lives change? What if they get there and don’t like the thing they’ve accomplished? Are they worthy of this success? Fear of success holds people hostage and keeps them from taking a leap forward.
3. Lack of clarity. Sometimes, despite the extensive amount of thinking and planning involved, some people are still unclear about what it is they want, or how to get there. When this lack of clarity shows up, it causes confusion and keeps them stuck in a place of inaction, because they don’t know in what direction to head.
4. Poor plan. Yes, the person who has spent so much time thinking of and planning the way ahead may not actually move on it because he or she realizes it’s just not a good plan. The person has taken the time to plan, but can’t quite get the right action steps outlined. As a result, he or she is stalled because of a plan that has missing or inappropriate steps.
5. Inertia. Inertia may be what’s keeping you from moving forward. You simply continue in the state you are in already; in this case, that of thinking and planning. Unless something — or someone — comes along to push you into a different state (action), you will remain where you are.
These are five common reasons for lack of action. Yes, you may desperately want a different reality from what you have now. You may have spent hours and hours thinking of it, and even more time planning for making the change. But because of any of the above reasons or others, you simply cannot move forward on your own.
A good coach or strategist can be the catalyst to change this. That’s because the coach or strategy has the approach and tools to help you figure out what’s holding you in your stuck place and then help you move from it.
If you are one who constantly sets goals but never actually reaches them or desperately dreams of a different life, but you never actually make the move to create it, then you may benefit from having an outside person like a life coach or strategist help you get unstuck.
After all, thinking and planning will only take you so far. Intentional action will take you the rest of the way.