Ep. 129: 5 Hints for Taking Action

In today’s episode of the Maybe I Can podcast, we’re diving into something so many of us struggle with: taking action. We have dreams, plans, and to-do lists… but often we get stuck waiting for the “perfect” moment. That stops today. I’m sharing 5 simple and powerful hints to help you finally move forward, even if you’re not ready, even if it’s messy, even if you’re scared.

I also share a bit about my own journey and how being part of accountability groups, hiring a coach, and starting small helped me write books, grow my business, and make meaningful life changes.

Plus, I’ve got something exciting for you, my Sprinkle Forward small group coaching journey for women kicks off July 8th, and the waitlist is open until June 8th! Joining the waitlist gets you early access and a special discount—no strings attached.

If you’ve been feeling stuck or unsure where to begin, tune in and discover how to take that next small, but mighty, step.

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Chapters

• 0:00 Welcome and Introduction
• 2:14 Sprinkle Forward Program Announcement
• 6:10 Join an Accountability Group
• 7:02 Find a Mentor or Coach
• 8:58 Celebrate Your Micro-Wins
• 11:01 Tell Someone Your Next Step
• 15:05 Start Small and Take Action

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Hi and welcome back to the Maybe I Can podcast. I'm your host, debbie Weiss, and thank you so much for joining me today. I'm excited to talk about taking action today, because so many of us get stuck in our heads and we have these great ideas and these great dreams and plans. But if we never take action which a lot of us don't, because, as Harry Truman said, imperfect action is better than perfect inaction and a lot of us are waiting for it to be perfect or to know all the steps, and so we are just paralyzed, that's not what we want. So I've got five hints to help you take action. But before we dive in, I want to share with you something I'm very excited about. I am launching a small group coaching program for women called Sprinkle Forward. It's going to be an eight-week session that starts July 8th. We're going to meet every week, except one week in July when I'm on vacation I don't know that exact date and right now, until June 8th, the wait list is open. By signing up for the wait list, all you're doing is giving yourself an opportunity to get preferential treatment on getting into the program, because I am limiting the number of participants. That's the first thing, and the second thing is that you are going to be offered quite a sizable discount Now. Signing up for the waitlist doesn't commit you to anything. It doesn't mean that you're saying you're 100% going to join. It's just giving you those opportunities. So I'm really not sure why anyone wouldn't sign up for the wait list, unless you're listening to this after June 8th and in that case I'm sorry and hopefully the next time you'll listen and get on the wait list. But if you're listening and it's not June 8th, go over to my website right now, debbyrweisscom. There'll be a little banner across the top and a pop-up. It'll give you all the information. You just put in your name and your email and you're on the wait list.

Speaker 1: 2:20

Okay, With that, let's dive in Five hints to help you take action. All right. First hint my favorite actually to help you take action is join or create an accountability group. Accountability just increases your follow-through when show up, when you know that someone's counting on you. And the reason that I say this is my favorite is because any time I have had real success, it has been because I was part of an accountability group, whether that was losing weight with Weight Watchers back in the day where you actually had to show up in person got to know the other people in my Weight Watchers group and if I wasn't there they'd reach out and say where were you and they'd cheer me on if I was successful and they'd give me a hug if I wasn't, because they could relate to everything that I was feeling, because we joined this group for the same reason.

Speaker 1: 3:28

It also helped in business. One of the first things I ever did was join a mastermind and each week you had to show up, kind of like doing the tasks, and you would meet in small groups and share what you did, what you learned. And then I got to know the people and same kind of thing. They would hold me accountable in order to write my first book Actually my second one too I was still part of that same small group of first-time authors who were there to support one another. And when you showed up and you didn't do what you said you were going to do the week before, you didn't do the challenge or the homework, it wasn't like anyone berated you because you know what they were going to wind up doing the same thing next time. It wasn't that. It was just that it's this extra nudge that you think to yourself oh crap, they're going to ask me if I wrote 3,000 words this week. It's really like a threat. It's almost like, yeah, it would be very nice if we could all hold ourselves accountable and I think for certain things we can but this just is an extra level, and sure you could be that person who joins the group and then pays the money and doesn't show up. Pays the money and doesn't show up who's losing there, right? Yeah, that's always an option. You could be a dropout, but if you spend the money, if you're spending the time, if you are feel like joining something, it's for a reason, right? Because you know that this is going to help move you towards your goal. This is why I created the Sprinkle Forward group.

Speaker 1: 5:31

Now, I've already told you about it two seconds ago, but I'm just telling you that right now, I am a part of a small business mastermind. Actually, this is I think I've been a part of the same group maybe since October, and I look forward to that group. We are all supporting each other. We have an app where we can talk during the week and tell each other what's going on, where we're struggling, celebrate our successes, and then I look forward to seeing those people and I look forward to what the leader is going to teach us and how that will help catapult me to, you know, the next level and all the things.

Speaker 1: 6:16

I found that when I don't have that, when I'm not part of a group, it's almost like I feel lost out here on this little island of my own and it's just not the same. It's not the same as sharing the journey with someone and all having the same common goal and the same struggles, and obviously not exactly, but you know, in the general area Now maybe that's not you right my friends told me I'm a groupaholic. I don't know if that's a word in the dictionary or they made it up I'm a groupaholic. Maybe you're not Okay? So then that brings me to hit number two. Same idea find a mentor or a coach.

Speaker 1: 7:06

I also, when I first, several years ago, kind of broke out into my own business outside of my insurance agency, I hired a coach One because I had no idea what I was doing and what's the best way to 10x your growth is by hiring someone who's already walked the walk. And it's the same thing in the accountability groups, right? That's why you're joining the group. You know that particular leader's group because they've been where you are now and you want well, hence, what did you do to get yourself from point A to point B? And that's the idea of the mentor or the coach, where you work with them one-on-one. And it's still that same accountability, whether you're showing up every week and meeting online or in person, or you know every other week, whatever it is. If you're just messaging back and forth, if they're sending you check-ins, whatever it is, it's another level. It's someone else that you're sharing what your goals are, you're sharing what actions you're going to take, and they're going to come back to you and say, well, how did it go when you did A, b and C? And if you didn't do it, you're going to have to tell them. So and having that level of accountability it does, it creates a little more sense of urgency within each of us. It's human nature, right? So, number one, join an accountability group. Two, you don't like groups. Hire a coach or a mentor. Three, celebrate your small micro-wins.

Speaker 1: 8:58

I'm going to use my writing a book as an example. Am I going to wait until I wrote the whole book to say, yay, look at me, I wrote a book. No way. Every day when I was writing that book, I would schedule in a time for me to write, whether it was 10 minutes, 40 minutes an hour, whatever it was and every day that I stuck to that schedule I pat myself on the back because you know what. I showed up and I did the work and some days I would sit there and stare at the screen. I would sit there and stare at the screen, my fingers on the keyboard, not knowing what to write, but I showed up and eventually something would come to me, and a lot of times there were days where what came was not the best, but now I knew what I didn't want to see and the next day or the day after I could change it.

Speaker 1: 10:01

But it was celebrating those small wins. Just like when I was doing Weight Watchers, I celebrated every week that I actually showed up for the meeting, whether or not I'd lost weight, because I was not and am not a steady loser. I'm a slow loser, I'm what they call a turtle. It takes me a really long time. So most weeks, honestly, I did not lose weight, but I showed up and that was a win. And if you wait until you hit that big goal to celebrate. You probably won't make it because it takes a long time to reach that big goal, so we deserve to give ourselves credit for those small steps that we're taking along the way.

Speaker 1: 10:54

Okay, number four similar to number two. Tell someone your next step. Number four, similar to number two tell someone your next step. So you don't want to hire a mentor, you don't want to hire a coach? Tell someone else, tell your friends, tell your family. Saying it out loud, it creates clarity and commitment. Now, I'm not sure if you've heard this story before, but if so, I'm going to tell it again.

Speaker 1: 11:24

I used to smoke cigarettes Yep, many, many years ago, just when it was starting to become common knowledge that smoking was not good for you. And I loved smoking cigarettes. And in my mid-20s I was like up to about a pack and a half a day, and it was just around then that it was like oh no, I know, eventually I'm going to have to quit, but not now, because I didn't want to, because I loved it and I was young and I felt invincible. And then I got mono and I got sick so badly that I actually had to go out on disability for my job, and I remember I was sitting on the edge of my bed smoking a cigarette because, yes, back in those days we all smoked in the house. It was not even. It was ridiculous to think you couldn't smoke in your own house.

Speaker 1: 12:19

And I was smoking a cigarette and I was hacking up a lung and thinking to myself I'm not even enjoying this, what am I doing? So I said, ok, it's nine o'clock in the morning. I'm going to play a little game with myself. I'm not going to smoke until one this afternoon. 1 pm and 1 pm rolled around and I had no desire to smoke a cigarette. So I said, great, let's see how long I can extend it. And then I set a new goal for 5 pm. I made it that long and then I made it until bedtime and the next thing, you know, I woke up the next morning and it had been almost 24 hours since I smoked a cigarette.

Speaker 1: 12:59

I woke up the next morning and it had been almost 24 hours since I smoked a cigarette. Three days later, I still had not smoked a cigarette. And then I started to think about it. I will never let's hope that I will never have another head start like this. That it was kind of easy because I was feeling so crummy I know I eventually have to quit Maybe I should take advantage of this head start and just quit. I thought, nah, I don't know about that, because once I start feeling better I'm really going to want to smoke. So nope, I told no one. No one had any idea that I hadn't had a cigarette in three days. I kept it to myself because I was not yet committed and I knew that if I put it out there, everything would change. It wasn't until day six. Six days I hadn't smoked and I said that's it, I'm doing it. And I started. I told my mother and I told my brother and I, you know, started telling my friends and my co-workers and whatnot. And, of course, once I felt better, it did get really difficult. But I knew I had already come so far. I just couldn't turn back. And that was 35 years ago. 35 years ago. I have never had another drag of another cigarette, because I know that if I did, even though it would probably make me feel sick and give me a headache, I might want to start smoking again because I did love it. It wasn't until I said it out loud that I knew it was going to happen.

Speaker 1: 15:01

Hint number five start small. You don't have to begin, you don't have to know all the steps. That is why so many of us get frozen. You have a dream, you have a goal. You don't know all the steps to get there. And let me tell you something Even if you think you know all the steps to get there, I can guarantee that something will happen that will change that journey. But that journey will happen unless you actually step off the curb. It's not. You've got to start. You've got to start somewhere and, like I said, I went to Weight Watchers and when I went back the last time, where I lost a lot of weight and have now maintained it, instead of going there and saying every week I'm going to lose one to two pounds, as you know, this is your weekly average.

Speaker 1: 16:09

You know, whatever the heck they say in their little disclaimer, I'm not even going to try to lose weight, because I've tried that before and I've been successful, but I haven't been successful keeping it off. So all I'm going to do to start, I'm just going to show up for the meeting every week. I'm not going to track my food, I'm not going to exercise, I'm not going to worry about drinking water, none of the. I'm just going to do one small thing, which is show up every week, excuse me, and that's what I did. Whether you want to clean out your closet, start with one section. Start with five pieces of clothing you look at, because I'm telling you, once you do that, you're like, oh, that wasn't so bad. You look at five more pieces and then you look at the clock and it's only 10 minutes has gone by, and look at how much better you feel, because now you've looked at 10 pieces of clothing and you've made the decision keep garbage, donate, and what felt like a monumental task no longer does and it fuels you on right.

Speaker 1: 17:30

I can't say enough about starting small, because usually the big goal just feels too overwhelming and that's when we get frozen. All right. So, to recap, five things to do to help you start taking action, even if you don't feel ready. I want you to be sitting there thinking where do I need to make a change? What is a current goal of mine that I haven't really been moving towards, and think which one of these are you going to use? Join or create an accountability group, find a mentor or a coach, celebrate micro wins, tell someone.

Speaker 1: 18:19

Your next step? Or start small, and you know what? As I say it, it's not one or the other. Most likely it's a combination of some of them. Every step counts. And don't forget one last reminder you only have until June 8th to join the waitlist for the Sprinkle Forward group coaching journey. Okay, there's no pressure, no commitment. Do it so that you get the discount and you get in. If you decide to join, okay, I want you to DM me at debbierweiss and let me know what is one small action that you're going to take today. You are more than ready. You might not think, but you are more than ready to take action. So let's go one sprinkle at a time. You've got this. See you next week.