I thought when I became a Christian I became a new person in Christ. I was able to give up some pretty bad habits and picked up a few really good ones. In theory I would say I’m a new person.
In reality, I don’t think we ever get away from our core being. Research says that if you take the Myers Briggs Personality Test when you are 17 and again when you are 47, they should be the same.
This seems particularly true for me.
We All Get Stuck
I have been working on developing a new informational product. It is a home study on my business development path. The topic I needed to add content too was about creating policies and procedures for your business and automating your systems.
I totally believe in this topic. It is an absolutely necessary component to building a strong foundation.
I talk to clients about streamlining your business topics weekly. And, I am actually pretty experienced in creating processes and policies; setting up systems; and identifying opportunities to automate.
But, like my clients, I don’t like it. It’s not the fun, enticing part of entrepreneurial life. It isn’t what get’s me jumping out of bed in the morning to rush to work.
The Enemy is You
Somewhere in the dark recesses of my mind sits my 10 year old self. This was a rebellious time in my development. This 10 year old kid has been refusing to write the detailed content for automating a business.
She didn’t say anything. She just hid the ideas, vocabulary, and creativity and refused to give them back. The problem is I didn’t have any of these tools for the rest of my business either. Her stubbornness overflowed into all areas of writing. If you have noticed it has been a couple of weeks since I even posted a new blog post. She wouldn’t let me write anything.
In hindsight, I know it was the “automation content” that was causing the stall. I talked to my marketing manager and we decided on another way to address this section. We determined that much of this section is pretty standard and I can point clients to others who have already developed resources in this area.
We Are Who We Are
Instead we re-routed my attention to focusing on my upcoming Christian Business Edge product. As soon as we hung up I started writing. The 10 year old me pulled out her crayons and went to town.
Why was this so hard for me? If I talk about automation all of the time, and I believe in it’s importance, why the writer’s block?
I think it goes back to the fact that the core of who we are doesn’t change. Ultimately I am not excited about policies, procedure and systems. It is a necessary evil.
Don’t get me wrong. I believe we all have things in our businesses that just have to get done and we need to either do them or hire someone else to. That is different from creating a product that is uninspiring to you. Even my 10 year old self knows that it would lack passion, vivacity, and pizzaz compared to the many other topics in my business path product.
How to Get Unstuck
If you are stuck in moving forward in some part of your business, stop and reflect on what you are working on. Is there a barrier that you have not even recognized? Can you redirect your work? Can you hire someone to help in the area if it is a necessary evil? When we have a barrier or block in our productivity, creative or not, we need to do something to knock it down, overcome it, or go around it? The longer you wait to face the 10 year old rebellious YOU; the longer you wait to make progress.
Great question. How do we get unstuck when the person causing the problem is my childesh self? Getting over yourself real quickly…that is a great way of putting it. I find it helpful to draw myself out of it and look at the bigger picture. Not always easy to do…
I know Doug, it isn’t at all easy. Sometimes when I get too sick of myself I try to increase my focus on serving others. Either it jars me out of my funk or my family intervenes and reminds me I have to serve at home too!
Thanks for commenting. I saw your site too – really neat!
Hmm … I always know when I need to hear a message because God gives it to me shotgun style. It’s like a buckshot spray – I get it from many different little pellets. I guess he just knows how to get through to me.
Well, this post is another one of those pellets. I’ve been stuck for a while in some decisions I need to make, but My inner child does not want to deal with them. It appears that God is telling me it’s time.
Thanks for the push.
We can take turns Brad. Your posts help push me through the crossroads too!