Moving Through Resistance
How to Move Through Resistance
As business owners, one of the things that we run into is resistance.
Resistance…?
Let me explain…
Resistance is that harmful invisible force that holds business owners back from reaching their potential. It looks like those moments when we know we should do something, but we aren't doing it. Maybe you feel resistance around doing your bookkeeping, maybe it's around your self-care routine, or maybe it's around writing a blog.
Regardless of what you're avoiding, it doesn't feel good and it gets in the way of you reaching your next level in business.
Unfortunately, there doesn't seem to be a lot of good advice out there on how to get past your resistance. In fact, I once bought a book that said it was specifically for those wanting to overcome resistance and the main message was to sit in the chair every day and just do it!
"What?!!!" I thought. "If I could do that, then I wouldn't have bought this book."
And so, today I want to share with you a couple tips on breaking through resistance that have worked for me.
First, check in and see if this is something that really needs to be done or are you "shoulding" on yourself?
Sometimes we simply think we should do something without checking in and seeing if it's really in alignment with our goals & mission. For example, I'm sure there are many people who would say that I should be on LinkedIn but the truth is I don't like using that platform at all and it would be draining if I was constantly telling myself that I should be or forcing myself to do it. So.. check in & ask yourself is this something that I really need to do or is it something that I can let go of?
Sometimes it IS something that you truly want to do and that will benefit you, like meditating, being a better bookkeeper, writing a sales email or starting a blog. When this is the case, then here are my tips for moving through the resistance you feel:
#1 - Write down a list of all the benefits that you will receive from doing the task & post that somewhere you'll see it often, like on your bathroom mirror or refrigerator door.
#2 - Honour the resistance as it is a formidable force and an important medicine in some way, so maybe you write it a love letter or build an altar to it. Put symbols of the thing you are avoiding, maybe a picture of your rebel teenage self and anything else that represents resistance to you.
Here's a photo of the one i made when I was resisting my own self-care routine after the gyms closed down in 2020. IT worked incredibly well and I haven’t felt stuck around physical movement since.
#3 -Then do the opposite of what you think you should and get even lazier, do less of what you should and give yourself permission to do nothing. Let it be your assignment, the thing you "should" do for a weekend or so and then watch how you'll activate the law of polarity.
During this time, you're not allowed to shame yourself or beat yourself up for not doing something else, because doing nothing productive is your assignment but you can visualize yourself writing the emails with ease or getting the book keeping all caught up and how good it will feel when it's complete.
When you activate the law of polarity by going very far to one side, eventually it will also activate the other side of the spectrum. Think of a wrecking ball - if you swing it far enough to one side, it has to swing all the way back to the other, right. So eventually you'll want to do the thing you've been avoiding.
#4 - And when you actually go to do the thing, then make it fun, eat some chips, chocolate, have some wine or your favourite mocktail.
And lastly,
#5 - CELEBRATE!!!! We often don't celebrate our own accomplishments and it's important to celebrate after completing a task that you've been putting off - partly to reprogram your brain around the task and also to show the universe that you want more completion of tasks.
This process has worked incredibly well for me and my clients so I encourage you to give this a try and let me know how it goes!
