In this game-changing episode of Women in the Coaching Arena, host Jo Lott reveals the secret weapon of successful entrepreneurs: decisive action. Discover why knowledge alone isn't enough and learn practical strategies to overcome hesitation, embrace imperfect action, and build the confidence to make bold moves that will propel your coaching business forward.

Timestamps:

00:00 - Introduction and episode overview

01:00 - Why information without implementation holds coaches back

02:00 - The true skill of entrepreneurship: decisive action

03:00 - Understanding and overcoming trauma in decision-making

05:00 - Strategies to break free from analysis paralysis

06:00 - Embracing imperfect action: Start now, perfect later

07:00 - How to develop your decisive action muscle

08:00 - Taking ownership of your decisions and their outcomes

09:00 - Handling criticism while staying true to your authentic self

10:00 - The compound effect of small, consistent actions

11:00 - Overcoming fear and doubt in the decision-making process

12:00 - Your 24-hour challenge: Take action on a postponed decision

13:00 - Key takeaways and summary

14:00 - Closing thoughts and how to connect with Jo

Useful Links

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Hello and welcome to Women in

the Coaching Arena podcast.

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I'm so glad you are here.

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I'm Jo Lott, a business mentor

and ICF accredited coach

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

and I help coaches to

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build brilliant businesses.

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I know that when you prepare to enter

the arena, there is fear, self doubt,

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comparison, anxiety, uncertainty.

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You can tend to armor up and

protect yourself from vulnerability.

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In this podcast, I'll be sharing

honest, not hype, practical and

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emotional tools to support you to make

the difference that you are here for.

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Dare greatly.

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You belong in this arena.

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Hello, welcome to this 68 episode

of women in the coaching arena.

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I am so glad you are here.

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It's a beautiful day here today.

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And it got me thinking about the power

of decisive action, which really is

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the true skill of entrepreneurship.

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And what led me on to thinking about

this is I have my in-person event

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this Friday, which is very exciting.

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So I have 32 amazing

coaches coming for the day.

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And I asked in an email to

them last night, which was

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kind of prepping for the day.

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What would you like to achieve?

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And there was a whole host of

different answers varying from want

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to feel connected to others and

inspiration, happy with anything.

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And there was also lots of tasks, so,

you know, wants to know how to run

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a discovery call, wants to know how

to do a signature coaching program.

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Wants to know how to nail my niche.

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And I think that is really

interesting because yes, that

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is what we all want to know.

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But it's also interesting because

there is so much information out there.

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I have podcast episodes on nearly

everything we need to know.

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So what we need to know

is not always the problem.

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That's the thing that we can easily miss.

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That it's not knowing

what we need to know.

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There are books.

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There is YouTube.

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There is this podcast.

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There are so many things that

help us with what we need to do.

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It's the implementation and also

the courage to actually take action.

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Not knowing if it's the

right decision or not.

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Because for example, niching is just a

decision you can decide that's my niche.

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Yeah.

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So it's not something that you need

to go around in circles over for

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months, even though I know we do.

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And there is no shame in that I

have sure gone round in circles

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on niching many times as well.

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But from this view that I'm having today,

It's about decision-making and that's

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why I wanted to really cover that today.

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That power of making decisive

action, because that is what is

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going to fast track your progress.

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And that is why the people in my

program make much more speedy progress

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than most people, because instead

of staying on their own with that

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problem, they can share it and then

they can move past it way quicker.

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With feedback, with support, with

accountability than they would without

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quickly sharing, making that decision.

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Doing something differently the next day.

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So excited to cover that today

and help you to start taking

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decisive action in your business.

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And on this topic, I also want to share

that it's not just a cognitive thing and I

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think trauma is a real issue in business.

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And it's not your fault.

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There needs to be a lot of deep

personal work that goes on alongside

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building your business because

it's scary to make decisions.

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We've never been brought up to have

a strong opinion, make a decision.

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It's like, play it safe is how most

of us were brought up in school.

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Do what you're told.

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Don't be too loud.

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So it takes a lot of courage.

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And it also takes a lot of

digging deep and embodiment work.

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I worked with someone amazing

called Juliet who helped me to

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see that it's not just mindset.

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It's not just me thinking, oh, I can

just change my mind and be more positive.

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It's trauma stored in the body

preventing you from moving forward until

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you deal with that previous trauma.

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And when I say trauma, I'm talking

about not running in the egg

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and spoon, race or small things.

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It doesn't need to be a huge, big

drama that you've had, but small

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things and how we viewed them at

the time will massively impact us.

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So allow yourself the self-compassion

whether you think people have got it worse

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than me and all of that type of stuff,

because yes, for sure that they have,

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and I really struggled with this also.

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But your body perceives a

threat and stores that threat.

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So it doesn't matter if it's logical and

people are worse off or not worse off.

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It's your perception in that moment?

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Let's get started.

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So Fastly, the paralysis of analysis.

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How many times have you found

yourself stuck in the planning phase?

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Researching, weighing up options,

seeking that perfect moment to act.

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I for sure I've done this a lot.

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And while some preparation is important,

there is a point where you just need

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to do the thing, not knowing if it's

going to work or not in that moment.

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There's rarely a perfect time.

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It's just about trusting that you, as

your CEO of your own business needs to

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make a decision with the knowledge and

the resources you have in that moment.

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And if it fails fine, you fail

fast and you make another decision.

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And I think that is a absolute skill.

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There are some people that I've

worked with super successful people.

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Who are unbelievable at

making quick decisions.

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And again, it's so obvious.

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Why they succeed?

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When they just move forward that

day and I can say something to them.

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One day and it's out there that

afternoon and you're like, oh my gosh.

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If only I could act as

quickly as my amazing clients.

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Whether it succeeds or fails,

they're going to know pretty soon.

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Versus spending three months thinking

about it and then not knowing if it passes

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or fails until three or four months time.

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They're going to know within the

next week, and then they can move

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forward with another decision.

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So it's such a joy and definitely

a trait I notice in my clients.

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Embracing imperfect

action is the next one.

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Progress over perfection every time.

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Start now get perfect.

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Later has been my motto

since day one of my business.

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The only way you get perfect

is to actually start.

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Be really rubbish when you start.

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And continue to practice that skill

again and again, and again, like

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everything we've had to practice in life.

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But as we grow older, we get so in

our comfort zone and we don't want

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to appear not knowledgeable not

confident or any of those things.

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And again, back to the personal

growth work, you have to do

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these things before you're ready.

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Otherwise you are never

going to get ready.

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It's also worth knowing that every

single successful entrepreneur that you

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admire has made a mass of bad decisions.

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That is how they have made really

good decisions because maybe.

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In one bad decision because

they've made it speedily.

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They've made four good

decisions with a time.

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They would have spanked

going round in circles.

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So thirdly, the skill of decisive action.

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Making quick decisions with limited

information, isn't just a necessity.

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It really is a skill that you can develop.

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The more decisions that you make

you become better at quickly

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assessing situations, trusting your

instincts, listening to your gut.

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Dealing with uncertainty, learning

from the outcome, both good and bad.

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Next up is owning your own decisions.

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I had a call this morning with a speaking

coach who I contacted at the last

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minute realizing hosting a large event

requires quite a lot of understanding

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how to facilitate that process.

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He helped me to be able to

say to those in the room on

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Friday, like whose goal is this?

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It's my goal.

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So take full responsibility for your goal.

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And as we continue throughout the day on

Friday, for example, keep checking in.

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Am I getting closer to my goal?

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If not, what do I need to do

within my control right now

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to be able to reach my goal?

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So letting people be the CEO of their own

business, like I am hosting the event.

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But I do not need to

own 32 different goals.

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One person is like wanting to work

on the discovery, calls another.

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Person's wanting to work on this.

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We have a limited amount of time

resources I have the day planned.

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If that is their goal, they're going

to have to figure out what they need to

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do throughout the day in conversations

and also what they may need to do

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after the event to reach that goal.

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So, how can you think about

taking full responsibility for

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the outcomes of your decisions?

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Both positive and negative.

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Learn from every decision, especially

the ones that didn't pan out.

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I just had a message from someone

who had their first bits of kind of

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grief from social media yesterday.

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And she wanted to retreat, obviously,

as you do, when someone questions

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you on social media, but it's

like, how can we learn from that?

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Assess the situation.

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And accept that is my opinion.

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And people are going to have different

views and staying in this middle

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ground all the time is never going

to help you to grow your business.

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It needs to be you.

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It needs to be your thoughts.

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Your emotions, your

stories that you share.

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If someone has a different

view, then that's fine.

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They can scroll on by.

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but you can't make yourself Vanilla

in order to appease one person.

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And then through making these decisions,

you will build that confidence in your

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ability to handle whatever comes your way.

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This is definitely something I

have developed on this journey

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of entrepreneurship, which I

a hundred percent would never

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have been able to do before.

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So it just shows when I make a decision,

I think, well, there's no choice.

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I have to do this now.

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I have to.

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figure this out.

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And you will do the same.

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So trust in your own

resilience and confidence.

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Next I wanted to talk about the

compounding effects of action.

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Every decision you make.

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Every action you take compounds over time.

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It's those small, consistent

actions that build momentum.

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People want to think that

there's one magic pill they

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can take, but it really isn't.

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It's like these small things of

like putting out that post today

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that you really can't be bothered

to put out is adding another

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building block to your business.

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It will create opportunities,

open doors for you, and sometimes

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lead to big breakthroughs that

you would never have imagined.

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Have a think about perhaps that discovery

call that you haven't followed up yet

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could become your biggest success story.

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So what can you do today to build

that compounding effect of action?

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And lastly let's think about

overcoming fear and doubts, because

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I know you are probably thinking

this is really easy to say, but

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what if I make the wrong decision.

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And let me be clear.

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You will definitely make wrong decisions.

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It's not a possibility.

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It is a certainty.

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But here is why it's important

because successful entrepreneurs are

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not those who never make mistakes.

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They're the ones who make

the mistakes the quickest.

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So they move forward and make

the right decision next time.

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Fear of failure is completely normal.

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It paralyzes you and it

paralyzes me often too.

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So again, just know that there

is nothing wrong with you.

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Everyone feels this way.

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It's just about what tiny, tiny

step can you take today to ensure

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that you do not stay stuck?

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And keep remembering that every wrong

decision is an opportunity to learn.

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Adjust.

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Accept, and realize that next

time you have that experience

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now, and you will be able to use

that to make a better decision.

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So here is my challenge to you

today in the next 24 hours.

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Please do make that decision.

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that you have been putting off.

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Launch the program.

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Reach out to the potential

client or previous contact that

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you knew in your workplace.

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Invest in that tool or training you've

been considering whatever it is.

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Take action, and know that you will never

have a guarantee in entrepreneurship.

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So if you are waiting to know that

this is a hundred percent going to work

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for you, then you might as well go get

a job because there is no guarantee.

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And the most exciting part of

entrepreneurship is creating.

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Is building is innovating.

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And not knowing if it's going to work or

not work, but being brave enough to try.

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So having that faith and

trusting yourself enough to know.

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That you are resilient and should

you choose the wrong niche or

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you put the wrong offer out.

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You will learn from that you will grow

and you will do something differently

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next time that you wouldn't do if it

wasn't for taking that decision at that.

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time.

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So in summary, we covered analysis

paralysis, embracing imperfect action.

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the skill of decisive action.

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Owning your decisions,

The compound effect.

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of action and overcoming fear and

doubts and know that you can do this.

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Keep going every successful journey

begins with that first step.

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I love that photo.

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If you haven't seen it before

with these two massive.

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ladders and one has these huge steps

and the other has these tiny, tiny

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steps and who succeeds is the one

that takes that tiny step today.

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So promise me, you will make that

decision in the next 24 hours.

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And I cannot wait to hear from you.

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Drop me a line on LinkedIn as Joanna

Lott or Instagram as @joannalottcoaching.

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And I cannot wait to see

what decision you make today.

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So catch up soon.

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And like I always say, trust yourself,

believe in yourself and be the wise

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Gardner who keeps on watering the seeds.

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Microphone (Samson Q2U Microphone):

Thank you so much for listening to this

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episode of Women in the Coaching Arena.

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I have a mess of free resources on

my website joannalottcoaching.com.

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That's Joanna with an A

and Lott with two T's.

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joannalottcoaching.com.

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And I'll also put links in the show notes.

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Let me know if you found

this episode useful.

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Share it with a friend and

leave me a review, and I will

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personally thank you for that.

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Remember to trust yourself, believe

in yourself and be the wise Gardner

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who keeps on watering the seed.

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Get into the arena dare, greatly and try.