Are you saying one of my trigger words - When I Grow Up

Are you saying one of my trigger words - When I Grow Up As a certified life coach whos been at this for 7 years and change  (how did THAT happen?!), I have red flags in my head that shoot straight up when I hear my client say the words listed below. Now, these words arent  bad, per se, but they usually  do express  an internal battle that my client is going through. When I hear these 3 words, I know that my client is trying to mold themselves into something theyre not. Theyre holding themselves up to an ideal that, frankly, just isnt their truth and is not the way theyll ever thrive. Here are the words that send up those red flags: FOCUS.  When it comes to being a multi-passionate, creative woman, focus is our F-word. I know what my client means when she says she wants to focus (not feel disjointed, have an action plan, feel confident in following through, etc.), but usually focusing means I must pick one thing to do at a time until its done and I cant do anything else until then! and thats the worst damn thing we can do to ourselves. Thats like locking yourself in jail and throwing away the key. Its a surefire way to bring on Shiny Object Syndrome, and procrastinate, and feel stifled and uninspired. Ya know how many damn projects Im actively working on right now? Lets seemy podcast, my client work, Its Business Time,  my blog stuff, the upcoming Multi-Passionate Must-Haves sale and a new CreativeLive class. Six things! And while I know thats a little heavy for me right now and that some things are way more active than others, always  Im not only getting it all done, but Im happy jumping from one to the othe r each day. Its built-in variety, which allows me to thrive. I dont believe Id get anything done faster or better than if I said, Nope! Just gonna work with my clients and I cant do anything else until I stop working with clients! As a creative Renaissance Soul, that sounds sad and boring to me. Just know that you can get what you crave by wanting to focus without forcing yourself to Pick One Thing. My project management system helps a lot so that I know the next step(s) of each project and what I need to do each day. Ive also been successful in compartmentalizing my work, knowing Mondays and Tuesdays are for client sessions, Wednesday if for writing, Thursday is for project work and Friday is for admin stuff. It doesnt always work out that cleanly, but it allows me to not feel overwhelmed or close to a head explosion. SHOULD.  The S Word! Shoulds come from outside influences family, friends, Internet gurus, Societythey do  not come from our hearts. They do  not come from our guts. They do  not come from our personal wants, priorities, and goals. Stop the Shoulds and replace it with need or want instead. For example, turn I should make an online program into I need to make an online program. Is that true? I want to make an online program. Is that true?  If those statements  dont feel right, then strike that thing from your To Dos and know that its not the right thing for you to work on now. Feel free to put it in your Idea Book and know that you can always revisit it later. ENOUGH.  I inwardly have all the groans with this one. Usually, my clients arent talking about tangible things (i.e. I dont have enough blog readers). Instead, its about their feelings of inadequacy (i.e. Im not doing enough). I always follow up that statement with this question: Do you know what Enough would be? Theyre always stumped. Always. Theres nothing measurable in their heads that would actually show them what Enough is. Instead, its this very general and super fuzzy ideal that, frankly, theyll never reach because its undefined. Its when they give it some though, though, that we can clarify what Enough would look like to them how much theyre writing each week, or how much progress theyre making on their painting, or how many clients they want to work with each month.  Thats the measurable, tangible goals were looking to make, because we can easily see the progress as well as the finish line when itll be time to make new goals and find a new Enough. Do what you can to be aware of when these words come out of your mouth or show up on the page, and take a moment to shift your perspective, ask yourself some soul-searching questions, and re-direct your attention to needs, wants, tangible goals, and the And in your career. CreativeLive is rebroadcasting my  Create Your Dream Career class this weekend, which means you can watch for free starting at noon Eastern on Saturday! Click here at that date/time and youll be taken to  the right place.