#217: Why You Aren’t Taking Action with Brooke Castillo

Today we’re going to discover something that has the power to majorly change the trajectory of your business! We’re going to uncover the three main roadblocks that sideline many entrepreneurs (and people in general) and cause them to get stuck in inaction. You will learn specific ways to take massive action, get more done, and get those big results you desire.
“Taking action...” seems easy enough, right?  “Just do something!” As you and I both know, it’s not as easy as it sounds!
If right now what you’re doing in your business is not leading you to the results you desire, then this episode is for you!
To shed some light on WHY we’re not taking action and to help us understand how to turn that around and become massive action takers, I had the pleasure of interviewing Brooke Castillo. Brooke is a Life Coach—I actually call her a Life Coach Extraordinaire— who has worked with thousands of people (including yours truly) who have been stuck, are not reaching the goals they’ve envisioned for themselves, or ultimately just need a coach to shine some light on a path that can lead them to the promised land of getting a lot done and achieving big results.
Quick note before we move on: I mention that I’ve worked with Brooke personally; I get more into it on the podcast, but in case you were wondering, I’m part of her Self-Coaching Scholars program. You know I’m on a mission to up-level my life, including my health and my weight, but I’m also on a mission to up-level my mind, and Brooke really gets into this in her program. I know that focusing on how I think about things will change both my personal and business life, and I believe it could do the same for you. Because I stand behind what Brooke does, I have become an affiliate for the program, so if you are interested in joining her program, too, click here, and let Brooke know I sent you!
MANAGING YOUR MIND Brooke began with the idea that so much of starting and building a business is about managing your mind.  She said, “There's no way around it, because you can understand how to do everything, you can study all the material, but until you understand that what you think about is going to create the emotion that either drives the action or the inaction, you're never gonna take the action.”
Did you get that? This is important: What you think about creates the emotion that drives the action or inaction.  If stress, fear and panic are fueling the action, you’re not going to be able to produce results at the level you want to produce.
Brooke shared three entrepreneurial roadblocks—things that are keeping you from taking massive action.
Reason #1: YOU’RE STUCK IN THE BUSY HUSTLE
I can remember times, back when I was first starting out, when I was hustling my butt off. I was all over the place, connecting with different people, working with all kinds of clients, seemingly very successful—but the problem was, I wasn’t taking action on the things that could actually take me to a place where I could grow and scale my business. I was hustling. I was tired. But, to some degree, I was really just chasing my tail.
This is what Brooke refers to as “The Busy Hustle”—a tiring hustle that’s produced by negative emotion: stress, fear, panic…[Insert your own word here!].
You want to avoid getting into a state of busy hustle, where you may be working hard yet aren’t producing anything. Instead your goal should be to get to a place of a productive hustle, where results are consistently produced.
Brooke suggested if you want to produce something, don’t just sit down to “work on something.” Sit down to produce something!
It’s important to change our language around this. Let’s stop saying, “I’m working on so and so,” and instead say, “I’m producing xyz,” or “I’m recording a podcast.” See the difference?!
Reason #2: YOU’RE GIVING YOURSELF TOO MUCH TIME TO GET SOMETHING DONE
Brooke believes that many people, especially those who are newer to business, give themselves too much time to produce a result. In the beginning you have more time than customers or clients, so you just expand the time you are “working” in your business. Yet while you may  have the time, what you actually produce doesn’t line up with the many hours you’re working.
Brooke suggests we take a look at the projects we need to get done, and assign a time frame in which we will get it done. For example: instead of my saying, “I’ll get the podcast recorded and uploaded to Dropbox by Wednesday”, Brooke would say, “I will have the podcast recorded and uploaded to Dropbox in one hour. I’ll sit down and get it done in that hour.”
Of course you need to be realistic about time frames….some things are going to naturally take longer than others.
And what sort of results will be produced if we go this route? Brooke says, “When you decide how long something will take and you stick to that, that’s when your production gets huge momentum.”
Now for my fellow perfectionists out there: this can be tough, because you’re going to have to embrace the fact that you might produce some B-minus work. I know that’s hard to stomach! Brooke had to give me a little life-coaching during the episode, because I am not someone who got Bs in school!
Brooke’s argument for producing B-minus work is this: “B-minus work can change people’s lives. Work that you don’t produce at all, does nothing in the world.”
Brooke told a great story about producing B-minus work on a book she wrote, about how she got some negative feedback which caused her some real shame and embarrassment; but a letter she received from someone whose life was changed because of that B-minus book made her realize that had she declined to put out that work in favor of striving for an A-plus, that woman’s life would never have been affected. That was when Brooke decided that she was ok with B-minus work—because she knew it would still produce results.
You’ll have to decide for yourself as to what level work you are ok with; but for Brooke, making this decision made a HUGE difference in her business, and because of that decision, she has reached epic levels of success.
Reason #3: YOU’RE AVOIDING FAILURE AND DISCOMFORT
Of course, no one loves failure and discomfort; but the truth is, if we’re going to learn and grow, there are going to be moments of failure and times where we will need to step outside of our comfort zone.
Brooke explained that our brains are literally wired to avoid any kind of failure, and the only way to produce a successful business is to fail repeatedly. So what do we do?!
We have to show our brains that we are not going to die because of discomfort and failure. We need to learn the process to move into discomfort, and then get comfortable with that discomfort.
“Discomfort is the currency to your dreams.” - Brooke Castillo
But discomfort is only part of the road to success for business owners. I love that Brooke shared that she schedules “Comfort-Time” in her week! This time is non-negotiable, and she schedules it in her calendar before anything else. Her comfort-time is comprised of walking her dogs, enjoying coffee and reading in the morning, and spending time with family.
What would be the activities or non-activities that you’d have in your comfort-time? Schedule it in!  And remember: this time is non-negotiable. Agreed? Work hard, play hard! : )
If you’re reading this and have not listened to the episode yet, I highly recommend you do. Brooke gives some great examples, insights, and encouragement that you’ll only hear by tuning in. Plus, Brooke is so fun! I guarantee you’ll not only learn a ton, but will enjoy a few laughs while listening to this episode, too!
Thanks for spending time with me today!
All my best,
Amy
Links to things I think you might be interested in that were mentioned in these show notes and on the podcast episode:
Brooke Castillo Podcast Learn more about the Self-Coaching Scholars (As I mentioned earlier, I’m a member of Brooke’s program and a huge believer in the work Brooke is doing! Check it out—and if you decide to join, tell her Amy sent you!)