736: A Tool for Immediate Confidence & Certainty

Hi, friends! It’s Elizabeth here, and I am so excited to share Episode 736 of Primal Potential with you today! Primal Potential is a podcast all about you — your ability to change is not defined by yesterday and doesn’t need to wait until tomorrow. Your transformation is now, no matter what stage you find yourself in life! 

Today, I want to talk to you about your goals. Maybe you want to lose a few pounds. Or maybe you’d like to cut down on your daily caffeine intake. Maybe you’d like to grow your bank account a little bit or save up enough money for that dream kitchen — you’re picturing it right now, aren’t you?

Those are all worthy goals. Good for you for aiming high!

But maybe you’ve been dreaming of some of those accomplishments for five or ten years or even longer. They’re still in the back of your mind, of course, but now they seem too big, even impossible. You don’t seem to be making any progress at all.

And that can be really discouraging. It’s all too easy to feel overwhelmed by those big goals you set, and so you give up. I get it — we’ve all been there.

Here’s the good news: I’m here to help. I’ve discovered the best tool to help you overcome any difficulty and finally accomplish those goals — no, really! It’s simple, it’s beautiful, it’s almost magical, and I’m so excited to share it with you today! 

The Problem: The Logic-Based Out

Before we get to the critical tool you can use to achieve your goals I think it’s essential to identify the problem. Why haven’t you been able to accomplish that big dream already? What’s standing in your way?

Let’s take weight loss as an example. Maybe you’d really like to lose a total of 50 pounds. Again, it’s great that you have such a big goal for yourself! But it is so easy to think of reasons you just can’t do it. 

How many times have those of you who struggle with weight loss thought:

  • I don’t have time to exercise
  • I’m too tired when I get home from work
  • I can’t afford a gym membership/exercise equipment
  • I don’t have time to cook my meals, so it’s too hard to prepare healthy food

The list goes on! You’ve got a great goal, but you’ve also got plenty of logical reasons why you’re not going to achieve it. You’ve given yourself what I call a “logic-based out.”

I’m not going to argue with you — logical excuses like those I just mentioned are genuine problems! But here’s the real issue: you’re spending all your energy telling yourself a story about how you’re never going to lose those 50 pounds, your dreams are totally unrealistic, you’re too intimidated by such a big task, you just plain can’t, etc. It’s a sad story, and you can get swallowed up by it all too easily.

When you think about it like that, it sounds like a pretty poor use of your energy, doesn’t it?

The Tool: Let’s Simplify Things

I want you to think about that big goal you have. Are you thinking about it? Are all those logic-based reasons you’ll never achieve it coming back into your head?

Are you ready to hear about that magical tool I mentioned earlier?

Here it is: Instead of asking yourself, “Why is this too hard for me?” go ahead and ask yourself, “What would it look like if this were easy?”

Let’s go back to that weight loss example from earlier. Say you want to lose 50 pounds. You can spend your time asking, “Why is it too hard for me to lose 50 pounds?” Or you can ask, “What would it take to make it easy for me to lose 50 pounds?”

The key is to simplify the problem and make it easy. And if you can’t do that, make it easier.

So what would make losing 50 pounds easy? Maybe your first response is, “Well, I could do it if someone else could prepare my meals for me.” Alright, now we’re talking! If you can find someone to help you do the cooking, losing those 50 pounds would be a cinch!

“But I can’t afford a chef,” you say. Okay, so what could you do? Get creative here! Maybe you find a friend who can help you do some meal prepping on Sundays. That way, you’ve got your meals ready for the week, and you’ve spent some extra time with your friend as a bonus! Maybe you talk to your neighbor, and you offer to watch her kids a couple of times a week in exchange for healthy home cooking. Whatever it is, this is a very workable problem, and solving it will get you well on your way to losing that weight and achieving your big goal!

The Solution: It’s All About Strategy

So you see, it’s not that your goals are too difficult for you! They’re not. You just have to start thinking in terms of simplifying and making them as easy as possible. That way, you can have the confidence and certainty you need to accomplish your goals. It won’t be totally effortless, but when you think about making things as easy as possible, you begin to direct your energy much more productively.

And I know we’ve talked a lot about how you can use this excellent tool for your personal goals, but I promise, you can take this incredibly useful tool into your relationships, your career, and any other facet of your life!

Let me tell you about a friend of mine. I participate in a business Mastermind, and as part of that, I like to join in regular accountability calls with a couple of other ladies from the group. (After all, mutual encouragement is also crucial to realizing your dreams!)

So one day, we were on a call, and one of the other women talked about the small group leadership weekends she runs. She loves them, and she’s been able to help a lot of people, but she was feeling discouraged because it can be tricky to sell enough tickets!

So I asked her, “What would it look like if it were easy to fill those seats?” Just like with the weight loss goal I talked about, her first response was cavalier: “Well, it would be easy if I didn’t have to do any part of it!” Alright, that might sound silly, but we considered it and realized that’s a real option! That day we discussed ways my friend could potentially find someone to help her solve the problem of filling seats at her events. She could hire an agency to do it, or offer to pay someone a commission to promote the events. That way, the seemingly impossible task would be off my friend’s plate, and she could focus on doing what she really loves!

That day, my friend came into our call with an attitude of, “I think I’m going to walk away from this thing because it’s hard and I’m doubting my ability to do it,” but she left thinking, “This could actually be easy.” If that’s not magic, I don’t know what is!

I want you all to lean into this: The fact that you lack belief right now is not reflective of the goal. Your goal is not the problem! The problem is that you don’t have an action plan. Consider your objectives and ask yourself, “How can I make this easy? What would it look like if this were easy?” Then take a moment to write down your answers. Make a big list if you have to! By considering ways you can break down your larger goal into smaller and more easily solvable problems, you can create the epic strategy you need to reach your dreams in no time at all.

Ready to Get Started?

Now let’s talk about your goals again.

I know you’ve got at least one in mind! Do you want to save an extra few thousand dollars this year, but you’re worried you don’t have the means or opportunity to earn any extra money right now? Are you ready to shoot a short film, but you don’t feel fully confident behind the camera? Have you wanted to go back to school for years, but you’ve just thought it would be too challenging for you to realistically do?

If this sounds like you and you want some extra support, a little more coaching, and accountability, I want you to get on the waitlist for our next 12 Weeks of Transformation! In this program, I work with people in a much more personal and structured way to create change in their lives. We tackle our excuses head-on and find the core values that will motivate you to take action. If you’re not sure what to do next, I encourage you to check out 12 Weeks to Transformation and get on that waitlist! 

I’d also love to connect with you via text! I send out text messages with my own daily mindset upgrades and daily encouragement that we could all use during these uncertain times of COVID-19. 

Ask yourself what would make it easy, create your strategy, and get going on an action plan! You can do this. Your strategy will give you confidence, and that confidence will take you all the way to your dream!

Elizabeth Benton 

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