You Mean We Have To DO Something?

I’m a strategist. I make plans for other people’s businesses. Plans for their brands, their marketing, their web sites, their information products… And I’ve discovered a simple truth, which should have been obvious to me a long time ago. Everyone loves a good strategy, and no one wants to implement it. The strategy is a story about a glorious new future -- full of promise, supported by powerful logic and clear ideas. Implementation is a chore. Worse than that, implementation demands decision, risk and change: the three demons everyone resists. I can’t think of a single business person I know who doesn’t resist getting into action, and to avoid any confusion here, I’d put myself top of the list.

It’s a fascinating study in one of the fundamentals of human chemistry. I have clients of every shape, size, age, gender, history and scale of business. They all balk at the doing part, ex-Marine Corps officers included. I don't mean people are lazy. On the contrary, business people are the busiest people in the world. But busy with what? Short answer: doing what they've done before. The trouble with a good strategy is that it demands taking action into the unknown, which we all like to dream about but rarely want to experience. What’s the solution? If I really knew, I wouldn’t be worrying about clients. I’d be a multi-trillionaire.

Meanwhile, here are two resources that have helped me: Steven Pressfield’s wonderful book, The War of Art, doesn’t really give you any tools to work with (unless you count a daily prayer to your muse), but his intimate description of the wiles and snares of resistance is so chillingly accurate, you feel like he is perched on your desk watching you work (or pretend to). More practical are the processes and trainings created by Dr. Stephanie Burns, who has researched the problem as thoroughly as anyone I know, and leaves most “motivators” standing in the dust. Check her out at stephanieburns.com