I’m having a bunch of revelations this month. It’s odd. I feel sick, run down, stressed, sulky – but yet my eyes are open to a lot of things that need to change.
At ICA, my coaching school, there is a lot of talk around a UAC, or an Underlying Automatic Commitment. This is something that everyone has, lurking there under the surface, telling you how to behave. Your UAC could be that candy makes you happy, and that’s why you haven’t been able to lose those 10 pounds. Your UAC could be that you shouldn’t attempt to do anything if you’re not perfect, and so you never start projects you’re dying to try. I have a few UACs myself, but I think I hit the motherload.
My biggest UAC is this:
Being busy is the same as being productive, and being productive is being successful. Therefore, busy = productive = successful.
Huh. I think I really do believe in that equation, which is mind blowing as I look at it now. If I’m busy, it must mean that I’m wanted, or worthwhile, or smart, or popular…And if I’m all those things….then I’m a success! That’s why I have allowed myself to become so ADD-like in recent years, often keeping a dozen browsers open while I start one task while abandoning (or “just stepping away”) from the other. But while my ADD tendencies are fairly new, the busy-ness isn’t. When I was in elementary school I’d be balancing school and homework with piano lessons, Hebrew school, plays, soccer, baseball, & play dates. And that’s when I was 9!
I recently commented on Danielle LaPorte’s post about entrepreneurial time management, asking what she suggests someone with a full-time job, school, a new marriage, and a coaching business that’s on the ground floor should do to best utilize her time/not pull her hair out. Her answer was both eye-opening & insightful:
say no to more. let go of a few commitments.
make sure you have a sacred place at home to do your work.
get a support network in place – a mentor, two fellow entrepreneurs to jam with.
go easy on the Twitter and Facebook time – use it as a tool to create community and spread your love.
ruthlessly purge stuff from you living/working space
have just 3 goals for the year
be compassionate with yourself–everything is progress!
Having 3 goals a year scares the crap out of me (that’s only 1 goal every 4 months! I should have 10 for the same time frame!), but if I start there…..that’s progress. That’s focus. If I got together some other peer coaches from school to talk about the business building aspect…..that’s focus, too. And recently I’ve been dreaming about where I would want to make my coaching calls from, and all I can think of is a bright orange circle chair (like this, but orange) in a nice big office/studio. While I don’t have an office or a studio (or a circle chair at all), I need to find the best space that I do have to work with, so I know when I’m there it’s coaching time. Focus time. Gettin’-down-to-business time (not to be confused with Business Time).
I’ve already determined that my word for 2009 is FOCUS. Now I’m gonna implement that….
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Michelle Ward received her BFA in musical theater from New York University/Tisch School of the Arts, and subsequently performed on TV, at sea, in short films, regionally, and in New York City. After 8 years of pounding (her head against) the pavement, she admitted that she loathed the business of show more than she enjoyed her performing opportunities. Michelle has since been certified by the International Coach Academy, and as a Creative Career Coach, she's able to help others discover how they can stop pounding (their heads against) the pavement and find a new path that's all their own. You can find her at http://whenigrowupcoach.com.
