This week’s Spark begins with a negative feeling, and then turns it into a something a lot more positive.
The negative feeling goes something like this…
There is an issue you need to address, but you don’t want to face it. You keep putting it off. You stick your head in the sand and hope the problem goes away, although you know it won’t.
A few years ago I had some back-taxes to take care of. But I didn’t take care of it immediately. I didn’t want to. All I had to do was sit down with my accountant and get things in motion. But I kept putting that meeting off.
A coaching client of mine knew she needed to sit down with her business partners and talk to them about some changes she wanted to make. But she was scared the meeting might become confrontational, so she didn’t ask for the meeting.
In another case, a freelancer might know she needs to talk to a regular client about raising her fees. She keeps putting the meeting off, because she feels worried about the client’s reaction.
The thing is, we know there are some things in both life and work that we really do need to address. They may not be the most fun things to do, and we can always think of numerous reasons why we shouldn’t do them today, or this week, or this month.
The trouble is, when you don’t resolve the issue it sits in your head like a big, heavy lump, and won’t go away. A day doesn’t go by when you don’t think about it. It takes up way too much of your mind and your attention. It weighs on you. It drags you down.
Now for the good news…
When you do take your head out of the sand and look your problem in the face, and do something about it, the sense of relief is enormous.
I felt like a massive weight had been lifted from my shoulders as soon as I set in motion a way to handle my tax issue.
My colleague felt hugely relieved after she had that meeting with her partners. (It went well.)
And if you do finally discuss your fees, or any other issue, with a client, things will almost always work out better than you feared.
When you have something to resolve, you really do need to get to it quickly.
If you don’t, the weight and anxiety of doing nothing will drag you down and make it much, much harder to move your business forward.
Related Resources:
My ebook – Affirmations for Freelancers
My coaching service for freelancers…
About the author: Nick Usborne is an online writer, copywriter, author and coach. Read more…