What's Stopping You From Starting (and What to Do About It)

Are you someone who sets lots of goals, but you just can’t seem to start taking the actions?

Are you finding it hard to take actions to finally make that career transition, actually plan your solo traveling trip, start your fitness journey, or build a side hustle for yourself? If you’d like to listen instead, check out the podcast episode here.

Here are 3 reasons why you can’t take the actions to begin, and some practical tips on what you can do with it.

1.You Let Fears Hold You Back

This is where our ego likes to play tricks with us. Whenever we start thinking about anything that is unfamiliar, and start thinking about new possibilities that we’ve never done before, our ego is threatened, because we are entering a new territory that we did not have prior experience with.

Our brain will start giving us scenarios to try to talk us out of starting. This is when you will start feeling fear and anxiety coming up, which gives you even more reasons for you not to begin. Because you’re feeling very uncomfortable, it doesn’t feel “right” to feel this way. Therefore, this “goal” is probably not for you.

Some fears you might have during this time include the fear of other people’s judgement, fear of failure, fear of the unknown, or even fear of feeling any sort of uncomfortable emotions (anger, frustration, sadness, disappointment, etc.)

What your ego is simply doing is trying to protect you.

Since the caveman era, we needed to be alert and be aware of our situations to detect any signs of danger. That’s why our brain is programmed this way so we can function quickly to stay alive. But nowadays, in a first world country, you’re not really in a life or death situation too often.

It’s important to be aware of these ego-driven emotions and thoughts that you’re having. Because in reality, they are really not serving to move forward.

Action Step:

Name out the fear(s)
Evaluate them
Change your story about the fear

I wrote an article about how to deal with fear to help you dive deeper into the topic.

2. You Were Distracted

Yes, you know that this is totally possible. You have probably experienced this many times. Life happens and there are a lot of things going on all the time. You get distracted and you forgot to take action on the goal/ plan that you wanted to work towards.

You’re busy with work, social functions, friends, date nights with your partner, family time, side hobbies… etc. It can be a lot sometimes.

Then it comes down to this question…

How important is this goal to you?

This thing you that you want to start… this side hustle, this journey to working on yourself, the career change, the solo trip… how important is it really to you?

We live in a society right now where advertisements, the internet, everything and everyone is asking for our attention literally all the time, 24/7.

It’s really important to identify your priorities and know what’s important to you and really create a system to check in with yourself and remind yourself to start and take consistent actions.

Because remember, no one will want you to achieve your dreams more than you do. Not even your partner, your mom, or your best friend. You need to be there for yourself. You need to make your dreams and your goals the priority.

Action Step:

Get clear about what’s important to you. Actually write it down in a notebook.
Create a way to remind yourself constantly about your priorities (ex. setting it as your wallpaper or screen display)
Find accountability. Take actions consistently and find someone (a friend or a coach) to check in with yourself consistently to make sure you’re on track.

3. You Can’t Make Up Your Mind

Another reason that’s preventing us from taking action and starting is indecision. There are still some fear elements there. But with indecision, there is another reason, which is not being able to trust yourself enough.

This lack of trust can come from experience with indecision in the past, and this is a type of reaction that you are used to – dwelling in the unknown and being stuck there. Let’s be honest. You know that when you can’t decide, you don’t have to take the actions to actually commit to your decision.

Remember that indecision is also a decision. It is a decision to stay the same.

Trusting yourself is a practice. The more you can take actions and keep yourself accountable, the more you can trust yourself more overtime.

Action Step:

Practice making more conscious, faster decisions for yourself (it can start with little daily choices, such as what to eat for dinner)
Remember the power of choice. You always, always have a choice to choose how you want to think, feel, and act.
What is one decision you can make today to move closer toward your goal?

You are always one decision away from a completely different life. Dear friend, what is your decision today?

Rooting for you,

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Shirley Huang is a Certified Life Coach, Podcast Host, and online educator. She provides weekly resources to help people become leaders in their life, while loving themselves and having fun a long the way. Check out her Life Coaching Programs here.