Just get started. You don’t have to be perfect. Just do something. Put yourself out there and figure it out as you go. Focus on progress. Be consistent. Create the dreams. Just get started. What will you do to make your dreams a reality?
Dr. Moira Hanna
Introduction
I’m Dr. Moira and I’m a college professor, instructor, coach, and passionate mentor to health coaches around the world, but I haven’t always been that confident and committed to my coaching career. I wasn’t sure if I could make it work or even what the best approach was to success and fulfillment. I decided to step up and step into my dream of guiding health coaches on their journey from Hesitant Health Coach to Committed Health Coach. With a unique approach to coach growth, the Health Coach Catalyst program creates a strong hexagonal effect. The Coaching Hive podcast is your glimpse into the concepts, ideas, and approaches that underscore the Hexagonal Effect while giving you the opportunity to implement tools and tips along the way. Are you ready to dive in to today’s podcast? Then let’s go and remember that this podcast is family friendly so go ahead and play it through your speakers!
Diving In
Welcome to Episode 10 of the Coaching Hive Podcast! (whoop whoop. I’m ridiculously happy to reach the milestone of 10. I know this podcast is still in infancy, but each milestone is fun.
Today we were supposed to move on from our focus of mindset because we are beginning a new month. I have told you that we would start a new podcast topic each month so that we could stay focused, efficient, and cover a variety of topics, but I find that with the start of Spring I’m just not quite ready to transition to a new topic. This gives me the heebie jeebies because I’m a rule follower, even my own rules, but this topic seems right for now so we will see where the month takes us. Sound ok? Phew! Thanks for being so flexible with the plan.
Now, last week, we were supposedly wrapping up our mindset discussion and I shared with you the Mindset Refresh Workbook. This is something that I use with my coaching clients to spark exploration and action. Have you grabbed your free copy yet? If not, it is still available. You can still get it at hivechallenge.com/mindsetrefresh. Once you enter your information on the website, be sure to check your email and click the link to download your workbook.
If you have already downloaded your copy and gotten to work, what changes are you noticing? Have you decided what beliefs might be holding you back? Maybe you are feeling stuck. Sit with that for a little while. It is ok to take time and sit in the silence and revisit the workbook time and time again. But the workbook is not our primary focus today. We talked about that last week and you can always go back to Episode 9 to learn more about the workbook. Today’s focus is progress over perfection.
The Topic
I hope you’ll allow me to share a little about my journey before we talk more about this concept of progress over perfection. I promise, there’s a connection. So here it is, I grew up as a musician. I performed, I auditioned, and I generally had a boatload of confidence in my performance skills. Don’t get me wrong, I still got nervous, I still worried, but I knew that I was capable. Fast forward to college and I pursued not only a music degree, but a psychology degree as well. Man, that psychology degree was HARD! I have never worked so hard, so thoughtfully, so diligently, and so nervously in pursuing success. I have to admit, it got the better of me sometimes. I wasn’t always successful and by the time I got to graduate school to work toward my Ph.D. in Industrial-Organizational Psychology I wasn’t feeling all that powerful, confident, or capable. Somewhere along the way I lost that musician mentality and adopted a much more hesitant approach to my career and career choices after graduate school. Now granted, my choices were somewhat limited because I graduated in a recession and we weren’t willing to move at the time, but I still didn’t branch out. I didn’t take risks, and I didn’t really believe in my capabilities, so I took what I perceived was the safe route, the safe choice.
I chose to take a one year visiting professor appointment. I taught 8 college-level classes that year. It was never my intention to become a college professor, even though as a third grader I desperately wanted to be a math teacher. But there I was. At Clemson University standing in front 75 students at a time, sharing information, examples, answering questions, and mentoring them along their college journey. Fast forward a few years and I was teaching over 400 students a year and I was comfortable, confident, and enjoying myself, but I knew there was something more that I wanted. By that time I was passionate about health and wellness and so I became a certified health and wellness coach. I would weave those concepts into my college classroom, take select clients as I had time, and learned about putting myself out there to build a business. I loved the field of health and wellness coaching so much that I joined the team at the Dr. Sears Wellness Institute to help develop and teach the Master Certified Health Coach training program. It was the perfect mix of teaching, creative development, health and wellness, and mentoring. All of the things that I love about being a college professor plus that health component.
For nearly six years I taught that program and mentored hundreds of health coaches around the world, but I noticed that once coaches graduated, they needed something more. I heard that little voice whispering that there was something more once again. Just get started. You don’t have to be perfect. Just do something. Put yourself out there and figure it out as you go. Focus on progress. Be consistent. Create the dreams. Just get started. Just get started. What will you do to make your dreams a reality?
If you know that voice, and chances are you probably do. It is pesky. It doesn’t go away, and it invades those quiet reflective moments when you are examining everything and nothing. But at the end of the day, that pesky voice to get started was just too loud to ignore. I chose progress over perfection and I encourage my coaching clients to do the same.
Will everything you try work? Nope. Not at all, but can you learn something from everything you try? Absolutely. You can make adjustments, tweaks, and complete shifts with the less than successful attempts along the way.
I started this podcast two months ago. I didn’t overthink it. I came up with a basic game plan and jumped in. Progress over perfection. Each week I learn something new, whether it is about the planning process, the editing process, the upload and prep process, or the sharing of the podcast on social media. I’m learning each week and continue to make progress.
That is the key. You have to take steps in order to get to where you want to be. Sometimes those steps feel uncomfortable. Whether it is reaching out to a new potential referral partner, trying a new electronic record system, or exploring a new coaching tool. You are a human and by definition will not be perfect. That is Ok. Let me say that one more time. It is ok to be imperfect. In fact, your clients will appreciate that you are imperfect. They would much rather work with someone who has experienced struggles and questioned where to go next. It creates a connection, a trust, and a partnership.
So here it is. This week, I want you to think about what you want in your life. Whether it is personal, or professional, or both. Tell yourself that you can do this and take a step. Take just one step knowing that perfection is not expected, and progress is the goal. At the start of next week be one step closer to your goal of filling your coaching schedule, finishing that coaching program, finding a tool to help a specific client, or even identifying who your ideal client might be, or what services you might want to offer.
Take a step. When you look to the big names in whatever you are working on right now, they will all say the same thing. Just start. Do something. Take a step. This is because they know that success is much more attainable when you get started. That first step may be scary, it may be downright terrifying, but if it is something that you are passionate about and makes you wake up excited to start your day, it just might be worth the fear. Begin you transform your hesitation into confidence this week with just one step.
So, what will your step be this week? With progress over perfection at the front of your mind, with your growth mindset in place, how can you make progress in your business? Are you going to reach out to friends and family sharing your excitement to be building your health coaching practice? Are you going to connect with other coaches and build your support network? Are you going to learn with a MasterClass and begin to implement the information into your coaching sessions?
These are all steps that Coaching Hive members take each month to grow their business and become more committed to the possibilities that lie ahead. Are you ready? It is time to jump in. When you finish listening to the podcast, give yourself 5 minutes to come up with one step you want to take. Find a time and a day to take this step and commit to action. Then notice how you feel once you get that step scheduled, written in your planner, scheduled on your planner. I bet you will notice that the possibilities seem greater.
I can’t wait to hear what step you chose, how and when you are going to take that step and what the outcome is.
We all know people who are on the verge of starting something new. People who might be hearing that same whispering to just get started. If you know someone who might benefit from this message, I invite you to share the podcast. Share it with your friends, family, and colleagues. Share it on your social media channels and find an accountability partner to work with this week. And of course, be sure to share your steps along the way.
I hope this podcast inspires you to take action and stretch outside your comfort zone. I’ll be here waiting for you next week for another episode of the Coaching Hive podcast, but don’t be a stranger. Keep in touch with your progress until then.
