Have you ever had a goal that you can't achieve? You try to lose those ten pounds, but can't bring yourself to choke down another bowl of salad. You want to write your first (or next book), but the weeks and months fly by with nothing on paper. You want to create a habit of personal quiet time for meditation each morning, yet you still oversleep. You keep saying to yourself "I must get out there and do it". "I will try harder next week". "No matter what it takes, I will pay the price".

Yeah right! The fact is that if you could just "... get out there and do it", then you would have done it and this would not be an issue for you.

As a coach, my ears perk up when I hear the phrases above. Words such as "just do it" are prime indicators that you are facing an obstacle, don't know how to get around it, and think that you need to keep on doing the same things to get a different result. I bet that you will get the same result if you keep on doing what you are doing now. You are stuck and need a fresh approach if you are going to make any progress.

 Forcing yourself harder to do something which isn't working for you, sure doesn't sound like fun, does it? You will be even more frustrated when you fail yet again, so stop trying to "just do it". Go and look in the mirror and say to yourself "just doing it isn't doing it for me".

 The fastest way to stop saying "just do it", and move to "got it done", is to work with your professional coach. An abbreviated conversation should go something like this:

 You: "I don't know what is wrong with me. I know that I can get up 15 minutes earlier each morning to meditate, yet I can't get up in the morning. I am going to set my alarm even earlier and just do it".

 Coach: "What held you back from meditating this morning?"

 You: "I don't know. I just didn't feel like it".

 Coach: "How would you feel if you were looking forward to meditating?"

 You: "I would feel inspired, and looking forward to getting up early and savoring the peace of the new day".

 Coach: "What would make you feel like this tomorrow".

 You: "I would be calm before I go to bed tonight. I would prepare my place for meditation, with my reading and have a clear desk before I go to bed tonight".

 Coach: "Can you do that this evening?"

 You: "YES. This is what was holding me back. I need to prepare the night before".

Every time someone says "I am going to just put myself out there", or "I am just going to do it", you know they won't (using the same logic as before, if you were going to do it, then we would not be having this conversation). If you truly want to reach the goal , then you will have to look deeper in order to move forward.. Work with your coach. Find out why you are not "just doing it" now. Look for a pragmatic change that you can make in your approach so that you can get it done, without telling yourself to "just do it".