Something that annoys me...

Today I am going to talk about something that annoys me... It is not anger, as those who know me well know that I don't get angry that easily, in fact very seldom, I would say this annoys me and gets slightly on my nerves...

So was this that annoys me?

Well its when I hear people around me, or even on the public eye, saying stuff like "I can't do it", "It is too difficult to do so what's the point", "that is impossible", etc. You get the overall message? Its basically people justifying why they didn't do something. The thing is all these statements have one very simple thing in common.

They are all excuses!

You look at a problem or a challenge and it looks so big and so difficult, that you straight away give yourself excuses in case you fail to do that! The thing is by saying all that even before you looked at the problem you are sabotaging yourself from the beginning and 99 times out of 100 you will definitely fail to solve that problem or reach that goal.

There is only two reasons why people fail!

They haven't started or they haven't finished! That simple! You might disagree and say that sometimes circunstances stopped you from doing it. Well no, no matter the circunstances you were the one that stopped yourself from doing it. You can come back to me and say that planning is a big part of not completing something or failing. That is true, but if you didn't plan it from the beginning why didn't you? Probably because you justified it from the beginning as too difficult!

Let's face it...

I have failed many times in the past, I am not a saint that always succeeded in every thing that he attempted. The real truth is that the times I have failed I have not started properly or never seen it through to the end. I created excuses on my mind, or said it out loud or even sometimes listened to the wrong people that doubted me from the beginning!

What to do then?

Well make sure you start and you finish! Simple :-) I know is not that simple, but if you have a huge challenge in your hands, don't look at it as unattainable! Look at the whole problem, the timescale you have to achieve it, and break that down into smaller chunks, then each one of those you can break it down further.

Set milestones along the way

This is something I have done for the last 8 years or so. One of the reasons I adopted this stance, was from my work as a Project Manager at a Automotive Parts Manufacturer and Supplier. I had a project on my hands that had 18 months to run, in these 18 months we had to design the product, make prototypes, re-run prototypes in production machinery, approve product with customer, make pre-production runs, officially passover project to production, start production!

A lot to do in 18 months!

But each of those stages were a milestone. For each of those milestones we had smaller ones to achieve. These smaller ones became simpler and simpler and easier to achieve. Then each time that a smaller milestone is achieved we were one step closer to the ultimate goal, starting production.

Coaching is very similar

In Coaching we use that same structure, we look at your overall goal, set a timescale for it, and then proceed to break it down to into smaller milestones. And you are not alone! Like me as a Project Manager had my Project Team, in Coaching you have yourself as the Project Manager, Me as your coach and motivator and someone that is there to help, guide and advise you, and then you need and should create your own project team, friends, co-workers, family, other professionals.

So, next time...

Stop sabotaging yourself before you start, look at the overall problem, goal or challenge, see what you need to complete it, break it down to smaller milestones, "recruit" your own project team and crack on with it, making sure to start it and to finish it.

If you follow that simple process...

You will achieve your goal, I guarantee it!!!! Hope this post has been helpful in any way, feel free to leave your comments or questions below and I will be glad to help.

Have a fantastic day,

Speak soon,

Paulo