Michael Kithcart: Ease

Season 2, Episode 3

Summary:

What if you EASED your way through the year and as a result, you had greater results, more fun, better relationships, and more success? On today’s episode of Champions of RISK, I’m sharing how my word selection of the year has already helped me see what is possible when you do the work AND don’t force the outcome. You’ll learn the four C’s to Ease for an UNSTOPPABLE year!

Links:

If you would like to connect to get on your path to being unstoppable this year - click here: https://www.michaelwkithcart.com/lets-connect

Transcript:

 Hello, I'm Michael Kithcart.

I'm a high performance business coach and entrepreneur who left the corporate world to help more entrepreneurs and sales leaders become unstoppable.

Welcome to the Champions of RISK podcast where we examine the many aspects of risk.

So we can all face uncertainty with more strength and courage together.

If you've been asking yourself, isn't there an easier way?

Then this is the episode for you.

There's been a curious juxtaposition taking shape this January that I have to say, I haven't noticed before, on one side, there seems to be a more reflective start to the New Year, clients and people I've talked to and even myself, it just feels like there's kind of a this different level of energy entering 2021 than in years past.

More and more people are wrestling with their goal still, and you know, not having them be fully crystallized. I've noticed more people are just like, I gotta get out of town, I'm, I'm going on vacation in these first couple of weeks, and January.

And overall, it kind of feels like it's less about starting full throttle, like in some years past, and more like and easing into the year.

So there's that one side of things. And then on the other side, I'm also noticing that, like, there have been some big wins that have been achieved by clients where deals have come in.

And they're things like, I had no idea that this was gonna come in when I did.

Others have said that there's new opportunities that are emerging, like in areas and categories, and in ways that they hadn't even imagined there have been successful launches of things like new courses, services, businesses, and I'd say more than one person has said, like, Hey, I was not expecting this. And it just happened to come through.

So in this case, I want to clarify, actions definitely been taken. In these examples, they didn't just magically appear.

But it's almost as if easing into the year is allowing more to happen, which makes me think, what might be going on here?

And I'm especially curious about it, because my word for the year is Ease.

And I've been thinking about ease on lots of different levels.

So maybe this is just why I'm starting to notice these things.

But I'm wondering, you know, how could the combination of ease and action make for a more successful and satisfying year.

And so in working through that I really came up with the four C's to Ease for an unstoppable year, and I want to share these with you because I'm really excited.

And the more I think about this, and put it into action, and bear witness to it, these four C's to Ease really are things that we can we all do, maybe we're doing on some level, but there's opportunity for growth in each one of these.

So I want to share with you these four C's to Ease and pose a couple of questions in an effort to see if this doesn't help you have some breakthroughs. So the first C to Ease is clarity.

This is about really shucking through the fluff. And really identifying what's most important to you right now.

This is about getting clear on who do you need to be this year in order to get to where you want to go?

How do you want to be showing up? What, what really is important to you right now?

And what practices will help keep you progressing and performing at your best over this next year? Or let's I mean, like, take the pressure off, don't even think about it in terms of an entire year, just like for the next 12 weeks this quarter.

How do you want to show up what's most important to you right now?

And what practices could you put in place or do you already have in place that will keep that progress going?

Gaining clarity in these areas, I would say you know like really helps you come up with the lens in which you're going to look at things because there's a lot that's going to get thrown at you if it hasn't already.

But you can start taking the guesswork out of each day by going back to these key areas that you've identified.

Clarity helps you say yes to some things and no to others.

Clarity helps you realize that there's maybe some things that you're doing that aren't really that important to you right now, or you're doing them but you don't really necessarily have to be there's, there's somebody else that you could be delegating this to, or somebody that you could reach out to, that could help you with this.

But by taking out the guesswork in each day, it can make decision making easier. And remember, we're looking for some ease here.

So asking yourself these questions getting really clear.

And they really can change on a quarterly basis.

So I invite you to like, shorten up your timeframe here, of what is most important to you right now, that's going to help set you up for the rest of the year.

That too, will help with ease down the road.

And I think this is a good point to stress here is that sometimes having ease over the long haul, does require some upfront work, or maybe it's a little bit more than usual.

But if you can have that vision on why you're doing what you're doing right now, and that you see the potential that it is going to make things more simple for you down the road, or it is going to help you build momentum which creates ease, then you can like, then you're starting to attach with why you're actually figuring these things out why you are doing them.

So the second C to Ease is courage. And courage is so important, because in the absence of it, it really does hold us back. It creates more tension and frustration in our lives.

And let's be honest, it complicates things in a way that, that it really doesn't have to a lot of the time.

So courage is really about a willingness to do some things that make you uncomfortable in the beginning. But the more that you do it, the You got it, the easier it becomes.

So courage is also about a willingness to be able to say no, if you notice that you're saying yes to a lot of things that you have no interest in, well have the courage to start saying no, if you do the clarity piece, first, you start having a better vision of what you really are going to give your time and your energy to.

So that can help you have more courage to be able to say thanks.

But no thanks.

That's not what I'm focused on right now.

Courage is also about a willingness to ask for help from others, you know, we cannot get to where we want to go alone.

And so often we forget that asking for help really is courageous and necessary.

Being able to share what it is that you need, or that you're seeking in a way that will allow others to help you can make things easier.

And I realized that that does require being brave, because we don't always want to see, ask people for help.

Some people still see that as a sign of weakness, when actually it is a tremendous sign of strength.

So a couple of questions to be asking yourself, where you might be able to do identify places where you can build you courage, which will in turn, make parts of your life potentially easier.

Are questions like, Where are you holding back right now?

What's not being said?

Where are you backing down?

What situations?

Are you backing down in?

And what aren't you saying?

And what are you avoiding?

Is it a conversation?

Is it a decision that avoidance is making life more complicated than it needs to be?

Another area that can be helpful for you and examining where you're being courageous and where you're not is what do you tend to worry about or fear the most in life?

And once you can identify that, asking yourself what's the likelihood of that really happening?

These are about focusing on past and future of what you don't have control about you only have control of your present in the the now right now.

So examining this and figuring out where you can take action now not only builds up your courage muscle, but it also will help you take action and being more decisive which, You got it, will make things easier for you.

Not speaking your truth, avoiding hard conversations, not starting the business not leaving the job that you hate staying in a relationship that's really not helpful, healthy for you.

All of these things complicate life.

So if you really struggle with saying what you mean or confronting others, I want to give you a way to get started, right?

And that is to smart, start small and build up.

So look for a conversation that you haven't been willing to have yet.

But it is with a person that you trust, or the perceived consequence of our outcome of having that conversation.

Doesn't feel like life threatening, right?

Or doesn't feel so big.

Start small and and you notice how you feel after you actually have that conversation.

Because if you want more ease in life, I got to tell you, you're gonna have to get comfortable with courage.

Hey, if you're enjoying this episode, and you're thinking, How do I take what I'm learning and put it into practice, I want to invite you to join me for my February Champion You Group Coaching session for just $1.

Each month other high performers just like you meet virtually to support their personal and professional growth, through trainings, small group discussion and coaching.

February's topic just happens to be courage, which I just talked to you about.

So discover for yourself how Champion You Group Coaching can support you in achieving your own version of Unstoppable you 2021.

The link is in the show notes or you can go to michaelwkithcart.com/group. Okay, back to the four C's to ease for an unstoppable gear.

The third C is consistency.

Control consistency is the key to mastery.

It is the rhythm that you establish in support of your vision and your goals.

The other side of that is procrastination, procrastination makes all of our lives more difficult.

Consistency breeds ease. If that isn't motivation enough to really look at where in your life, are you building consistency, these are actions and behaviors that you take on a regular basis. Maybe it's not daily, right? consistency doesn't mean every single day consistency means on a regular basis. So whatever that means to you.

Maybe it's three times a week, maybe it's weekly, maybe it's monthly. But there is some established rhythm that is associated with it that you can count on, you're doing it on that regular basis.

So you know what I started the podcast off by saying people were still doing the work, even though they were getting some results that were surprising to them, like, Oh my gosh, it just kind of happened.

They still were taking action earlier that made it possible for those of this kind of say surprises to happen to them.

So how do you have consistency in your life?

What kind of daily rituals Do you already have in place that you could identify saying like, yep, when I do that on a regular basis, it builds momentum, I get better outcomes.

Here's a piece about consistency, maybe you haven't been thinking about? And that's like, how are you talking to yourself, you know, if you're consistently telling yourself that you are a rock star, I promise you, you are having different getting different results than if you are consistently telling yourself that you suck, or that you're not capable, or that you're questioning yourself, I just listen to it when I'm saying it back to you. So that is an area to look at how are you consistently talking to yourself?

Another question is what are the three things that will have the biggest impact on you achieving your goals this year. So if you want to look to consistency, and you want the clarity, right, this can help narrow it down, if you like sift through and I don't know if this sounds like you, but maybe you started with, like 10 goals, or you start thinking about all the things that you need to do on a consistent basis to get to where you want to go and that list ends up starting to get pretty long.

The next step in that is going okay, if I only did three things on a regular basis, which three would have the biggest impact on me having the kind of year that I want to have and the last area that I would suggest in looking around for consistency is where where do you already have it so that you keep doing it and then also ask yourself, Is there a potential to do it more frequently?

Keep doing it, but maybe you do it more frequently.

Okay, the fourth C to ease is confidence. And confidence can sometimes get misunderstood.

Confidence is not that you have all of the answers or the plan is all laid out. confidence comes from really believing that you will at least be able to figure it out.

See the difference there? It's like, now they have all the answers. But confidences Yep, I believe that I will figure it out. Isn't this is an opportunity to really trust in yourself, and your ability.

So just like earlier in that consistency thing, make sure that the internal speak that you have with yourself is in support of this.

Trust in yourself.

Trust in your ability.

And confidence can get broken when we fight against ourselves, right? And one of the biggest areas is like examining where might you be forcing something to be a certain way?

Like you're pushing and you're pushing and pushing, because you want the outcome? To be something specific? Where might you be forcing too much that you could let go of, and just trust that you'll get the right outcome that's needed?

What haven't you started? Because you think that it's going to be difficult?

You know that that is something that you want to examine and get deeper?

Like, what is it that stop stopping you? Where are you lacking the confidence?

On the flip side? Where do you already have confidence?

And how could you raise it? Let's build on what's already working for you. And in areas where you aren't feeling confident? What would make you feel just a little bit more like 1%? more confident? And how could you put that in play?

My favorite quote quote right now is "Confidence is courage with ease." Confidence is courage with ease. I love this. It's by Daniel Mayer.

I'll put that in the show notes. So these are the four C's to ease to making you unstoppable. And I'm really going to be curious, I'd love for you to once you go through the podcast to share in the comment section which C is the biggest opportunity for you in 2021.

Is it clarity, is it courage, maybe it's consistency or confidence, and maybe there's opportunity and all four but if you have put these all in motion, these four C's to ease will help you have an unstoppable year and I look forward to celebrating all of your great successes in 2021.

Thank you for taking time today to listen to the Champions of RISK. If one of your goals is a commitment to personal and professional growth this year, check out the Champion You Group Coaching. It's just $1 in the month of February.

Each month other high performers just like you are meeting virtually to support their growth through training small group discussion and coaching.

February's topic is courage. We just talked about this. It's one of the four C's to ease; how could you say no?

Discover for yourself how Champion You Group Coaching can support you in achieving your own version of an unstoppable 2021.

The link is in the show notes or you can go to michaelwkithcart.com/group. I'll see you next time.