I’ve spoken to several of you this week about how you are feeling frustrated and can’t figure out where to go.

I’ve noticed that you weren’t stopping and seeing what had to be done, you just kept saying ‘things aren’t working’.

It’s time to Stop, Think, Start

Stop

You need to stop and work out what exactly issues you have. This doesn’t mean you stop everything forever, I just mean stop for now.  

It’s pretty simple – just Stop.  

Actually, it’s really hard to do that the first time.  It’s so much easier to convince yourself that you are doing something, even if you aren’t really getting anywhere.

However, stopping can be very productive because it gives you time.  You stop trying to deal with everything and look at what is making you crazy.

Try it.  Just stop!  

Stopping

 allows you to stop panicking, feeling frantic, unsure and confused.

When you stop doing that, you give your mind a chance to rest.  It’s not going round and round in circles with little or no results.

It’s scary, but trust me, it will get you better results then running around trying to figure out what to do.

Take a breath and now it’s time to..

Think

Now that you have stopped ‘being busy and getting nowhere’, now is the time to think of what you really need or want.

Take the time to write down all the things that are spinning your wheels and making you crazy.  

What has you worried or concerned or anxious about?

What do you feel you should be doing but you can’t because of…..

Write down everything that is not done, what you have planned, wanted, wished for, needed, what is annoying or frustrating you or just in your way damnit!

You’ll need that – believe me. Get it all written down on paper or on your computer.  Somewhere where you can look at it, cross it off, add to it and scribble / write all over it.

It sounds simple but once you start, you might find that the list can be small or the list is huge!

If you have a small list, it’s of things that are important to you.  You need that small list to make decisions.

Don’t panic if the list seems bigger then you could imagine when you started, because the next step will help you deal with it.  

Here are some reasons I’ve had in the past that have made anxious, you might be able to relate to:

• Stressing over the look of my blog so that I wouldn’t write anything until it’s perfect.  
• Buying all those new, bright, shiny objects that were going to make my blog the best
• Can’t think of what to write
• You don’t know where to start
• What if no one likes what I write
• I can’t figure out what colour I want as my background on my blog
• What social media sites should I belong to
• I spend too much time on Social media sites

Write down everything that’s stopping you from moving forward with your business.  

Keep on writing until you can’t think of anything else.  

Go and grab a cup of coffee, go for a walk or take some time then come back and see if you have anything else to add to the list.  

Remember, you are stopped and you are thinking.  

Spend the time you need on this, it’s important.

Now you have your list done, you are going to see patterns.  Just my quick list above shows that I had blog design, writing and social media issues.  

Now, do some more thinking and decide a few things.

• Most important
• Least important
• Will take the most time
• Can be done quickly
• I need to do it myself
• Someone else can do it for me
• Do I really need it?
• Why is that important to me?

Again, from my issues above, I could probably find someone to help me with blog design and it won’t cost me a huge amount of money.  Writing I need to do by myself and there are groups or coaches I could find to help me with social media and how to deal with it.

What’s most important to me is writing.

I need to spend time writing and social media comes in second place.

I was spending too much time on blog design for no content, so I changed my priorities.  I found someone to help me with any design issues.

So writing, social media and blog design is the order of importance and I know what I can do myself and what I need help with.

If I had kept writing my list, there would have been things on there I didn’t need or weren’t that important to me when I started thinking about them.

You need to make that same sort of list and then work out what is important to you and what you need to do with it.

Writing it all down, getting it all together will help you immensely.

Start

Now you get started on your list.  

You’ve worked out what’s an issue, you know what’s important, what you have to do and have ideas on how to deal with them.

Yay, it’s all fixed and you are all good!

Sounds great but you have to keep working on it.  You have to set up systems and work out ways to get your priorities done.

With these new priorities, you can figure out what’s the next step.

Where do you start?

Start with one thing.

For every person, the importance is based on what you need or require for your business to move forward.  

It might be getting content written, a new blog design, getting systems into place, finding a virtual assistant to help, going for a walk every day, the list could be endless.  However, make a start.

The important thing is that it’s what you have decided to start with is important to YOU.

It might be the biggest issue on the list that you want to tackle or you might want to do a few small issues that will help to start clearing the list.

What’s important is starting.  

However, if you find you can’t start, it may mean that you need to Stop and Think again, before you can Start.

You may need to keep repeating this whenever you find yourself not sure how to Start.

However, every time you stop, think and start, you will find it getting more familiar and you will learn what to do and how to do it.

Now of course, this idea isn’t new.  I learnt this from Chris Brogan and Rob Hatch in a slightly different version but it has the same ideas.

I recommend you check out their newsletters, I get so much help and information from them.

What you can also do is reach out to others.  Let people know that you need help.  

If you find yourself in this situation, email me and let me help you.  You can also write a comment down below.

If you would like to help me, share this with your friends.

Talk to you soon.

Tania Shipman