Episode 116: Five reasons you haven’t made enough progress this year

00:51 Welcome to Unfrazzle, a podcast for solo business owners with a big vision who are ready for a kinder more sustainable approach to productivity. I'm Louise Miller and each week i share bite-sized insights to help you step away from the hustle stop faffing and stay focused so you can make your brilliant ideas happen and make a bigger impact in the world Before we dive into today's episode, if you enjoy what I'm sharing here on Unfrazzle and you'd like to support the podcast You can buy me a cuppa by going to BuyMeACoffee.com slash Louise Miller and making a one-off donation I'll pop a link to that in the show notes Okay grab yourself a cuppa and let's get started Today i want to talk about five reasons you haven't made enough progress this year but first I want you to check in and just be honest with yourself Have you made enough progress this year?

01:41 Your instinct might be to think that you haven't. After all, most business owners wish they were further ahead but one of the things that is so important to do when we take a pause and head up to that metaphorical treehouse I speak about One of the things we do there is look back at how far we've come So, take a moment to remember how things were looking for you and your business this time last year and then compare that to where you are now. Think about all the things that you have achieved over the last 12 months and it's entirely possible that you've come way further than you thought so although I'm going to be focusing on the things that might have prevented you from moving forward in today's episode –that is what iIm here to help you with after all–I want you to celebrate the progress you have made whilst also getting curious about what might have also held you back

02:29 Less diving. So the first reason you haven't made as much progress as you might have liked this year could be that you kept changing your mind, so that might mean starting a blog and not finishing it or committing to setting up a YouTube channel and then a few weeks later deciding against it putting loads of thought into creating a new group program and then changing your mind when you keep changing your mind about what's important and what gets your attention You likely feel that you've spent the year bouncing around all over the place but with nothing very much to show for it. Now don't get me wrong, sometimes changing your mind is a good thing and it's the right thing to do because you can't always know if something is a good idea until you try on for size so there's nothing wrong with experimenting with something discovering it's not for you and then putting aside but changing your mind isn't helpful when you're doing so without intention When you commit to something that you know is a good idea and will make a big impact in your business

03:22 But then fear, self-doubt or kind of wobbly confidence stop you in your tracks and convince you it wasn't a good idea and you should abandon it immediately. The trouble is we don't always realise that's what we're doing right? Your subconscious wants to keep you safe so if it sees you veering into uncharted territory It will try its best to convince you that it's a bad idea And that can be really compelling So if you recognise yourself in any of this If you do think you've been changing your mind too much I just encourage you to take a pause and reflect on what's really going on every time you change your mind about what is important for you to work on in your business. And the second reason that perhaps didn't make the progress you wanted this year, is that you said yes too many things! So people pleasers – I'm talking to you here… This could mean agreeing to one-to-one calls with everyone you meet networking, agreeing to bake cakes for school fair, saying yes every time someone asks to pick up your brain or booking into loads of events

04:18 But it's not just about the yeses that we say to other people, we can also say too many yeses to ourselves. So that might look like saying yes to too many of your ideas all at once meaning none of them actually get finished When you're trying to build a business every opportunity feels important What if that conversation with that person is one that will change everything? but when you say yes to everyone and everything You're not doing yourself or the people and things you are saying yes to any favours Chances are you're going to end up spreading yourself too thin, trying to do too much and then not doing any of it very well. Not to mention all the things that keep getting pushed aside because your taking on too much so does any of that feel familiar? What can you do differently in future to make sure your not over committing yourself? And the third reason maybe you haven't made enough progress this year could be boredom or discomfort stopped you from moving forward

05:13 So how many times over the last year did you sit down to work on something and then 20 minutes later find yourself with your phone in your hand mindlessly scrolling or reorganizing a sock drawer or signing up for a free thing that looks like it'll solve all of your problems? Unfortunately even when you're your own boss, it's not possible to spend 100% of your time doing things that feel exciting and fun. Even projects that are exciting and fun will inevitably involve some elements that aren't. So for example, depending on your personality type creating a new course can be fun but sorting out the tech and uploading the content not so much. So when the thing you're working on starts to feel boring lots of people particularly creative people begin to crave novelty And before they know it and often without realizing it they're off chasing shiny objects instead of doubling down to finish the thing they started

06:04 And then there are the times when you need to do something that is so uncomfortable it makes you want to hide under your desk and never come out. For you, that could be writing sales posts or reaching out to someone you admire asking for help showing your face on social media so that people get to know you better now we all know that growth often lies just outside our comfort zone But if every time you feel that stretch, you run from the discomfort and reach for something that feels easy. And again in the moment you probably don't realize that's what you're doing your subconscious is trying to keep you safe it's no wonder that you're not moving forward as quickly as you'd like! So when you look back on the last year how many times did running from boredom or discomfort stop you from making progress? If the answer is too many what can you do differently to make sure that pattern doesn't sabotage your progress next year too

06:52 Okay, the fourth reason that you maybe haven't made as much progress as you wanted to this year could be that you didn't protect time to work on the things that would make the biggest impact. And this one kind of speaks for itself doesn't it? If you allowed your diary to fill up this year and never protected time to focus on the things that mattered most to the growth of your business its no wonder those high-impact things didn't get done is it? I know that might sound harsh but its true and im saying it with love So when you allow your diary to be dictated by everyone else Whether that's your clients, the people you're having virtual cuppers with events that sound too good to pass up webinars networking or even hanging out on social media with no boundaries to protect that from taking way longer than it needs to. Finding the time for your own priorities becomes impossible and it's easy to think we should give the best of ourselves, the best of our time, best of our energy to everyone else... That we need to show up for our clients first

07:46 But if you're not regularly protecting time and space to dedicate to the things you need to do to keep your business growing, your progress will stall and you may end up resenting your business and clients. So of course you need show up for your clients at your best but also show yourself at your best! So back when I was a VA, I used to save my business development for the end of the week and then inevitably by the time Friday came around i was either shattered or needed some time to mop up things that I hadn't managed to get to during the week. I was treating my own business growth as an afterthought when it should have been my top priority so have you been doing that too? And what can you do differently from now on? Since I started protecting Mondays for my own priorities which were many years ago now, I've made much more progress – so what might this look like for you?

08:33 And the fifth reason that you haven't made enough progress this year could be that you prioritised doing over pausing. So I know i talk about this all the time here on the podcast but it bears repeating, when you spend all of your time taking action your productivity suffers so if you found yourself working harder trying to speed up working longer days in an attempt to get everything done but you still haven't made the progress you wanted to this year You may have fallen into the trap of spending too much time taking action and not enough time reflecting. When you're busy, it's even more important to take that step back so that you can evaluate whether you are investing your precious time wisely Are you running around like a headless chicken doing busy work that isn't actually good use of your time? Does everything need to be done by you? What can let go off?

09:21 You can only answer those questions when you pause, take stock remind yourself of what you're trying to achieve and then use that fresh sense of perspective to inform how you're spending your days. So if you've been doing too much doing and not enough pausing this year how are you going to change that moving forward? One way to make sure you're pausing often is to join us in Make It Happen Club. In fact, coming along to our monthly and quarterly sessions in the club will address everything that we've covered today You'll notice if you keep changing your mind or saying yes too many things, you'll spot the patterns that keep you stuck and you consistently prioritise the things that matter most to the growth of your business So I'll pop a link to Make it Happen Club in the show notes so you can find out more about that if you are curious

10:02 And if you're not ready to join Make It Happen Club, I encourage you to consider which of the five areas i've talked about today have been holding you back this year and to think about what you can proactively do to prevent the same thing from happening again next year. As always, I hope that this helps and I look forward to seeing you again soon! Thank you for listening to Unfrazzle. If you enjoyed this episode, please share it with a friend who needs a dose of calm productivity in their life and I'd love it if you could leave me a rating and review as that will help more people discover this podcast.