The Pain of Inaction
Posted on August 16, 2022 by Andrew Lamppa, One of Thousands of Business Coaches on Noomii.
Not doing something feels really good in the short-term, but will lead to greater pain in the long-term. Increasing the pain of inaction will help.
Is inaction painful? Oftentimes, it is not.
In the short term, inaction is rarely painful.
We hit the snooze button.
We skip a workout.
We avoid that difficult conversation.
We don’t do the thing we know we need to do.
In all honesty, inaction can be one of the most enjoyable “actions” we can take today, or at least that’s what our mind tries to convince ourselves of.
Next thing we know, a couple days go by, followed by a week and maybe a month and suddenly, it’s six months later and we are so far away from where we started – in the wrong direction.
Why is that? It’s because, in little microdoses, inaction is not painful. Even though I believe the myth of the frog in boiling water has been debunked, the principle still remains.
This has been true in my life. There have been many times I’ve chosen inaction instead of action with… disappointing results. So the question is, how do we increase the pain of inaction.
One way is to create public accountability. If there is a goal you want to achieve, declare it, share it and provide timely updates to keep those you informed in the know about your progress. This creates a powerful level of accountability which will motivate you to take action.
Another way is to make a habit of “looking in the mirror” regularly. This can take different forms, but for me, it looks like having a coach.
I meet with my coach on a regular basis, and some of those coaching sessions are more painful than others. Why? Because, every time we meet, he holds a mirror up to who I am BEing and what I am doing and forces me to acknowledge them. He does not do this to shame me, because that would be unloving and not helpful. He does this to help me separate the lies that my mind keeps telling me from the truth of reality.
There are times when I think, “Why am I still paying a coach if I’m not getting the results I want?” The answer is simply: I hired a coach to help me develop as a person and business leader. Some areas of transformation can take longer than others. When I’m not making progress in a certain area, the pain of inaction grows with every meeting, until I take the necessary action and experience another breakthrough.
If you want to make progress in your life or business, increase the pain of inaction. Curious if coaching is right for you? The fastest way to find out is to book some time on my calendar. You can do that at HuddleWithAndrew.com
