Last week I talked about overwhelm and the power of stepping into “Focused You” who can’t be overwhelmed, distracted or discouraged, no matter the circumstances.
But you might say the whole purpose of Focused You is to pave the way for “Action You.” Action You is one of your most powerful personalities or selves. He or she is the one that gets out there and makes it happen.
Action You is all about results, not about excuses. Action You loves to work, implement a plan and toil long into the night if necessary to achieve an aim.
But how do you activate Action You?
After all, we’re all subject to the law of inertia. If we get stuck, even just a little, we tend to stay stuck. And we might be stuck in overwhelm, fear, perfectionism, or discouragement.
Even more insidious is to be stuck in “Neutral You.”
This is where you’re just bored and apathetic. When you’re in Neutral You, you tend to procrastinate, waste time, do busy work, or dream about what you’ll get around to sooner or later (it’s usually later).
It’s a bit like having your car in neutral, just sitting there with your engine idling. You’re using gas but not making any headway. The engine is being stressed but there is no release of energy that will take you somewhere.
We spend a lot of time in Neutral You. Watching TV, browsing the net, and of course, avoiding marketing activities.
You get the picture, but how do you move out of Neutral You and into Action You? After all, just the thought of taking some marketing actions makes you want to bury your head in the sand.
Here are two ways to move into Action You.
1. Make a promise and have consequences.
Tell your husband or wife: “Today I’m going to put together a talk and within a week, I’m going to contact ten organizations for speaking engagements.”
And then you train your spouse to say: “OK that’s great, I can support that. And if you don’t don’t this, what’s the consequence?”
You say lamely: “Well, I’ll feel badly about myself.”
And they’ll say, “You won’t get off that easily, baby. If you don’t do that project, you’ll make out a check out to (name appropriate despicable organization).
And then you answer: “OK, I wouldn’t want to do that. I’m on it!”
Now in order for this to work, you have to keep changing the consequences and make sure your spouse is a full partner in this. If not, the consequences will turn into dinners out at expensive restaurants and he or she will WANT you to fail!”
2. Find a Project Buddy.
This is where you team up with a friend of yours, also in business, and get together for a day or a weekend to do brainstorming and work on projects.
My friend Patrick Summar and I do this every quarter. Last year, knowing I needed some support, I told Patrick, “I’ll come to LA twice a year and you can come to Boulder Creek twice a year and we’ll work on moving our businesses forward.
In fact we just met this weekend at my place and we went into overdrive. There’s something about the presence of someone else who is supportive to catapult me into “Action Me.”
On Saturday I designed Patrick’s web site and then he started to work on the content. Then I worked on a marketing checklist for the Action Plan Club. We then watched a movie and I was so into Action Me that I stayed up until 3:00 a.m. completing it.
The next day Patrick continued to work on his web site content and I designed a survey for the Action Plan Club. We also spent time brainstorming, going out to lunch and having a great time together.
Results and fun! What’s not to like?
Your Action You needs to be challenged with goals, and there needs to be a game with consequences in order to get out of neutral. Also creating dynamic conditions of support keeps Action You in gear and on track.
Ask yourself, what conditions work best to get your Action You out of neutral and into motion? The great thing is that once you’re moving, momentum kicks in and it’s amazing how much productive work you can do in a short period of time.
Neutral You or Action You; who will you be today?
The More Clients Bottom Line: No matter how much work you do on your mindset, if you don’t move into action, your business and marketing isn’t going to move forward. Realize however that Action You is a mindset. It’s a fully formed personality waiting to be unleashed. Create the proper conditions and it’s unstoppable.
By Robert Middleton of Action Plan Marketing. Please visit Robert’s web site at www.actionplan.com for additional marketing articles and resources on marketing for professional service businesses.
