A Strategy Problem vs. A Mindset Problem

When I was first learning to accept that things in my business could be as simple as I wanted them to be, the main thing I was up against was trusting that I didn’t need every single detail figured out in order to take action.

And, to trust that I could do this over and over again to strengthen this skillset.

It’s always been part of my nature to figure things out.

I’ve always been independent and I absolutely love this quality about myself.

I love that I know what I want.

I love that I know how to make my own decisions.

I love that I know what questions to ask.

I love that I know how to get to the answers I need.

This is not a problem.

It’s also no secret that part of my independence was birthed from necessity.

I needed to be independent because I wanted more than what was provided for me.

I needed to become really good at finding information because it helped me to make better decisions.

I needed to make better decisions because learning from mistakes took time I didn’t want to take if I didn’t need to.

I needed to become efficient at it if I was going to go out and get it for myself.

And, because I was so driven to gain access to ‘more’, my resistance to learning was low allowing me to absorb knowledge at a deep level.

I thrive extremely well on details and a deep knowing of all the things.

And, when I sit in this space of sufficiency and the sense of having everything figured out, I experience a level of certainty, safety, and comfort.

It’s grounding and it feels sooooo good!

Holding onto the truth that there’s absolutely nothing right or wrong with this, this sense of sufficiency, certainty, safety and comfort was tied to one thing—more information.

This inherently meant that what I already had and knew wasn’t enough.

And, because the chase was never ending, I would eventually find myself in paralysis and not taking action.

Or, I was taking action, but on things that weren’t necessary to creating clients like my website, creating meaningful acronyms with my programs and company name, obsessing over business colors, my title, my niche…

So, I had to explore how my need for more information was related to my ability to take action and where it came from.

See, there are times when seeking more information to do more is necessary.

And, there are other times when you truly do have enough information yet seek more as a way of avoiding something else entirely keeping you stuck and spinning in place.

As I explored this for myself, I learned that while there's a part of my desire and need for more information that's necessary to what I'm doing, there's another part of it that exists, also.

A part that when I'm not careful (or aware that I’m in it), I can find myself diving so deep into research mode that the abundance of knowledge from everything I’ve researched spirals me into overwhelm.

And, when I’m overwhelmed, I complicate things. I overthink. I get lost in the details. I spend an absurd amount of time trying to make sense of it all. I lose motivation. I sit in paralysis. I procrastinate. I want to quit.

And, as long as I’m spinning in that space, I’m certainly not doing what I need to be doing.

When I really got honest with myself, I found it was rooted in the following thoughts:

• “I have to know everything because if I don’t, no one will trust that I know what I’m doing” - in other words, “I don’t trust I know what I’m doing”.

• “As long as I’m busy doing things for (and in) my business, I can say my business isn’t working because of those reasons rather than me being the reason it’s not working.”

There are other thoughts that surface, but those were the main ones that tend to hold me captive when it comes to taking action.

And, as long as I focus my energy on those thoughts, I avoid getting caught off guard, the uncomfortable feelings that come with making mistakes, the discomfort of fixing the mistakes, and the self-shaming from making the mistakes in the first place.

You probably can relate to that.

You might even have your own thoughts around why you continue to unintentionally make things harder for yourself as a business owner.

Regardless of what those thoughts are, you aren’t wrong for having the experience that comes with it.

In fact, it’s a good thing you’re experiencing it because it presents an opportunity for you to explore and discover the core of why you’re there in the first place!

Because without that key piece, any changes you make are merely symptomatic solutions addressing extensions of the core problem rather than the core problem itself.

IDENTIFYING PROBLEM AREAS

In your business, the two areas to identify problems in are:

1. Your strategy

2. Your mindset

Your Strategy

At the end of the day, you are in business to create clients.

People who willingly want to exchange their time/money for what you offer.

Your strategy is unique to you.

But, before you can develop a strategy, you need to know two important components:

• The Problem: what you’re in business to solve and whose problem it is

• The Offer: the solution people are paying you for

Once you know what those are, then you can develop a simple 4-step strategy to creating clients centered around:

1. Connecting with people who have the problem you solve

2. Letting people know what you do

3. Demonstrating your expertise

4. Offering a useful next step

Then, it’s taking action everyday to execute your strategy daily.

You have a strategy problem when:

• You’re unclear about the problem you solve or who has the problem.

• You‘re unsure what your offer is or you have too many offers.

• You’re confused about what you need to do to create clients so:

  • The action you’re taking is based off of what you see everyone else doing.

  • You focus on things that aren’t necessary to creating clients.

  • Your efforts are attracting the wrong people.

Trust that your strategy gets to be simple.

Your Mindset

Once you have your strategy in place and you know what to do, the rest of your work is in becoming the person who actually does it.

This is the part when you no longer get to use “I don’t know what to do” as a reason you’re not doing what you need to be doing.

This is also the part that requires you to:

• Trust that you know what you’re doing.

• Trust that you can figure things out.

• Trust that less really can create more.

• Trust that your interpretation of a simplified system is good enough.

• Trust that you won’t die if things get hard or feel wrong.

• Trust that all the discomfort is part of the journey.

• Trust that everything gets to be simple!

You have a mindset problem when:

• You have the necessary business components and strategy in place to take action and create clients, but you aren’t doing them.

• You disqualify yourself and your ability to be a business owner and help others.

• You don’t stick it out long enough to adequately test if something is working or not.

• You keep telling yourself you don’t know what you’re doing.

• You don’t take action to avoid making mistakes.

• You’re spinning in paralysis and procrastination.

• You’re not where you think you should be.

• You don’t take responsibility for your results.

• You put yourself down whenever you attempt to do something brave.

The list is not exhaustive by any means because mindset is a big piece of the puzzle.

One of the key differences between a strategy problem and a mindset problem is that a strategy problem is rooted in structure and a process. A mindset problem is rooted in the things a person is doing (or not doing) in relation to the outcome they want to be experiencing.

Your business needs a simple strategy to creating clients. This offers structure and within it a plan and process will emerge.

The outcome of following your simple strategy is to create clients. And, everything you do (or don’t do) in relation to achieving that outcome has to do with mindset.

And, when you’re able to locate where the problem is, you can solve for it more accurately.

Boldly,

Lynne xo