Action alone isn't enough

Welcome to This Daring Adventure podcast, where we work on bridging the gap between where we are and where we want to be in order to live a bigger and bolder life. In this podcast, we will provide inspiration, tips, and skills you need to make your life the adventure you want it to be. Here's your host, mindset mentor and life coach Trista G

Hey everybody, welcome back to This Daring Adventure.

Today I wanted to dive into an important topic, which is why taking action alone won't get you unstuck. I think so many of us get caught in this trap and believe that if we just do more, check more boxes, hustle harder, stay busier, we'll somehow break free from feeling stuck.

But here's the truth: action alone won't solve the real problem.

So today I want to help you understand why action, without doing some of the mindset and the emotional management work will fail to create lasting change. I also I want to share what mindset and emotional management are, and why they are crucial for true transformation. And then I'll give you some actionable steps that you can take today to get unstuck by combining the action with the right mindset and emotional tools.

Let's start by painting a picture of where you are right now. You feel stuck. So you try to take more action. You're applying for jobs, you're reorganizing your schedule, you're starting new projects, or you're throwing yourself into self help books and YouTube videos.

But deep down, nothing feels like it's truly shifting, and you're wearing yourself out.

Now why Isn't this working? This is because action alone is like putting a band aid on a deep wound. I often compare it to having a broken arm. You can take some painkillers for the broken arm, but you actually need to go to the doctor and get it set and put a cast on it. And that's what the mindset and emotional work is, it's getting to the root cause, not just treating the symptoms. This is what is basically going on.

You're not addressing the root cause. Feeling stuck is often tied to unexamined thoughts and unmanaged emotions. And without understanding these, your actions won't align with real solutions.

Next, you're probably operating from the same mindset that created the problem in the first place. When you act from fear, frustration, self doubt, overwhelm, those are the feelings that are fueling your actions. And so even though you may be doing the right things, you're likely not getting the results that you want. You are relying on willpower, and action alone requires constant effort and can lead to burnout.

So when your mind and emotions aren't in sync, it feels like pushing a boulder uphill. It's a lot of work, it's a lot of energy, it's very time consuming. and it wears you out.

You can think of it as, spinning your car tires in mud. Your car is stuck in the mud, and You're pressing harder on the gas pedal, spinning the tires faster and faster. But no matter how much energy you use, the car isn't really moving forward. And this is what taking action without addressing your mindset and emotions is like. The harder you push, the deeper you sink, because the underlying problem hasn't been fixed.

My client Sarah was desperate to leave her unfulfilling job, and she was sending out resumes, up to 50 resumes a week, hoping that more action would solve the problem. But deep down, her mindset was full of doubt. She didn't believe she was qualified for anything better. And she kept telling herself, no one's going to hire me.

So you know what? Every rejection felt like proof that she was right, and this is what our brain does. It looks for proof.

Until Sarah and I worked on her beliefs, realizing that she was qualified and deserving, and that she would find another job, her actions didn't lead to results. But once she shifted her mindset, she was sending out applications with confidence, and eventually landed a role that she loved.

The solution is the mindset and emotional management that I talk about. It's learning to manage your mindset and emotions first, and then you take the actions from a place of clarity and confidence.

You are thinking the thoughts that create the motions that you need in order to drive your actions. And then those actions are what create your results. And you can go back to my last podcast, I think it was episode 97, sorry 95, Thoughts Create Feelings. And take a listen to that to understand exactly what's going on in your mind and how it affects your emotions. and why this is so important.

For mindset management, it's simply the collection of thoughts you believe about yourself, your circumstances, and your possibilities. These thoughts then create your feelings, which drive your actions. So if you're stuck, it's likely because of really unhelpful thoughts that you keep thinking over and over again. Things like, I'll never figure this out. It's too late for me. I don't know what I'm doing. I don't have what it takes. No one's going to hire me. No one's going to love me.

Managing your mindset means becoming aware of these thoughts.

We always start with awareness, Start by noticing them without judgment. This is not to beat yourself up about them, but it's just to have that awareness and understanding of what's going on in your mind and what it's creating.

Then you want to question their validity. Are these thoughts facts, or are they stories you've been telling yourself? And often taking a few minutes to write them out, and taking a look and saying, Okay, what is an actual fact that could be proven in a court of law? And what is the drama that my brain is adding? And your brain loves to add the drama, but it's not helpful. And you get sucked into the drama, as we all do.

Next, you want to choose new, empowering thoughts. Replace the old stories with thoughts like, I'm figuring this out, one step at a time. Or, this is the beginning, not the end.

For emotional management, you want to understand that your emotions are like fuel for your actions. If you're acting from fear, anxiety, frustration, doubt, your results will reflect that. But emotional management means learning to identify what you're feeling, be with your emotions, name it, is it fear, overwhelm, doubt, then allow and process your emotions. Instead of resisting or avoiding them. You want to sit with them, and let them move through you for a few minutes.

Emotions are just vibrations in your body, but this can be the key to your success. Then, you want to generate intentional emotions. What would it feel like to take action from a place of calm, determination, or hope? Those are the strongest emotions that are going to fuel the action that will help you to create the results that you want. When you pair mindset and emotional management with intentional action, everything changes. This is the secret sauce. This is the secret to the universe. You act with clarity, focus, and purpose instead of desperation or frustration and just wearing yourself out.

Imagine it's like a GPS for your life. Your mindset is the GPS in your car. And if the GPS is programmed with the wrong destination, there's no amount of driving that will get you to where you want to go. Managing your mindset ensures that you're heading in the right direction before you start moving. and then we want to allow emotions instead of avoiding them.

Think of your emotions like waves at the beach. If you stand there bracing against them, they'll knock you down.

But if you relax and let them flow, they'll pass and you'll remain steady. I was working with one of my clients who wanted to avoid feeling fear by constantly staying busy. But that fear just showed up then as burnout and frustration. And when she finally allowed herself to sit with the fear, she realized that it was just trying to protect her from failure. But sitting and learning how to process these emotions, and by acknowledging it and deciding to move forward anyway, she was able to take focused action without the burnout.

Now, let's imagine what life could look like once you master these tools. Instead of waking up feeling stuck and spinning your wheels, you wake up with clarity. You have a clear understanding of what's driving your feelings and what's not. and you've learned how to shift your mindset and emotions so you're no longer reacting to life, but you're intentionally creating it. imagine you feel confident about the next steps in your life.

Even though they're small, you take action because you want to, not because you're forcing yourself or feel you should. And then you bounce back quickly from setbacks because you trust your ability to manage your thoughts and emotions. Hearing that, doesn't that feel lighter and easier and more sustainable? imagine it like a well tuned orchestra. Your thoughts, emotions, and actions are like sections of an orchestra. And if the violins, let's say it's your thoughts, are out of tune, or the drummer, which would be your emotions, is off beat, the music won't sound right, no matter how well the conductor Which your actions, it tries to lead when everything is in alignment, the music flows beautifully.

I worked with Maria recently, a client who had a small business, but she was feeling stuck and overwhelmed. And she kept trying to fix it by adding more products to her business, working longer hours, and chasing new clients.

But her inner dialogue kept saying, I'll never be successful. When Maria and I started working together to manage her mindset, she identified her thoughts as the real problem, and she replaced it with, every small step builds success.

This shift helped her to make intentional, aligned decisions, like simplifying her offers and focusing on her best clients. Her actions became purposeful and aligned, and that's when her business started to take off.

Emotional management won't get you unstuck because it doesn't address the root causes, which are your thoughts, and then how your thoughts create your emotions.

The mindset management we do in coaching helps you uncover and reframe the unhelpful stories that are keeping you stuck.

Emotional management teaches you to allow and process your feelings, making space for them. And when you combine these tools, your actions become aligned, purposeful, and effective.

Start noticing the thoughts that come up when you feel stuck. Write them down, question their truth, look for the drama. What's a fact? What's the drama? And then identify what you're feeling and allow those emotions instead of avoiding them. You need to sit with a difficult feeling for at least a couple of minutes, just feeling it and observing it. Then, choose one small action you can take today.

But first you need to shift your mindset to one of curiosity or determination before taking it.

Choose a thought that creates determination for you. think of getting unstuck as building a house.

The action will be the bricks, but the mindset and emotional management are the foundation and the blueprint. Without a strong foundation and clear plans, the house won't stand, no matter how many bricks you lay.

My client Lisa was stuck in her fitness journey, and she kept trying new workouts, but then she'd quit after a week because she wasn't seeing results.

When we looked at her thoughts, she realized she was telling herself. I'll always be out of shape. So after reframing her mindset to every workout strengthens my body and my discipline, Lisa started focusing on the small wins and she celebrated showing up consistently and over time her actions became easier and more rewarding. She started building that muscle and she started making progress that she could see. But it takes time, it takes effort, and it does take that daily work of managing your mind. Remember, getting unstuck isn't about doing more, it's about aligning your mind, emotions, and actions. Alright, that's what I have for you today. I still have a few sessions open for mini coaching sessions before the end of the year. if you'd like to try a coaching session, this is your opportunity. I'm going to be changing the format slightly once we get into the new year. So the link to my calendar is in the show notes. I'm also going to be offering a complimentary coaching workshop at the end of January, and I will put the link for you to register there. for that.

Otherwise, have an amazing holiday. Merry Christmas if you celebrate it, and thank you so much for joining me.

I'll talk to you soon. Bye bye.

Thank you for listening to This Daring Adventure podcast with your host Trista Guertin.

We hope you enjoyed the tips and conversations on how to get excited about life again.

As always, you can head to tristaguertin.com for additional resources and to book a one on one coaching session.

You can also follow Trista on Instagram at tristavguertin.

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