A Sneak Peak into my book: From Doubtful to Decisive

This is a mock Cover - the real deal will come out next year!

For the last year, I’ve been busy writing a book. The tentative title, From Doubtful to Decisive, is an 8-Step guide that will help people get unstuck, make decisions, and start to see the results they’ve wanted – perhaps for a long time. The results can include taking action, releasing and letting go with more peace of mind, or having effective conversations that are long overdue.

Over the next several months I’ll be writing brief articles that correspond to the eight steps I describe in my book; steps that take you from doubtful, stuck, stressed, or frustrated, to decisive action, completion, and reflection. For this first installment, I want to share part of my prologue. See if this resonates with you:

 There is something on your mind. You’re aware that there is a task or project that you’re dreading, a problem to solve, or an issue that won’t go away without doing something about it. It could be something positive like a great opportunity, or something negative like health-threatening stress levels.

 You’re aware of feeling stuck, unable to get into action, and it takes up a lot of space in your head but you just can’t seem to figure it out or find the time to address it. You might even be consciously avoiding it, convinced that it is too much trouble. You’re missing the mental fortitude and clarity to move on.

Like a leaky faucet or rattling car engine, these thoughts, hopes, dreams, or fears won’t magically go away until you do something about them.

 It feels painful to be in this state of limbo.

You want to feel confident, clear-headed, and committed to a YES or a NO.

You need to make a decision to do or not do something and then see it through to completion.

You keep saying this time will be different.

You want to leave behind all the struggle.

 You might even start to take action but then you lose momentum. Life gets in the way or you get sidetracked by a problem that puts you back in doubt again.

 Sometimes you cross the finish line to completion - and I mean real completion: you’re in a new home with boxes unpacked, or the new business website is up and running, or you’ve sorted and filed the papers off your desk - with no loose ends.
Hallelujah.
After all that angst and struggle you can cross something off the list!

But do you maintain this new progress? Do you learn from your struggle?

 If you don’t take the time to reflect back on your hard-earned progress, the “old you” can slip back in and bring the same anxiety over the next issue. And if you don’t decide what it will take to maintain your progress or determine your next step, you might lose ground and slip back into old patterns.

 From Doubtful to Decisive describes eight key steps that will keep you active, engaged, and happy; no longer facing the same issues over and over again. It’s not enough to just go, go, go – we are all good at keeping busy. It’s key to be mindful about what we are doing and not doing, and why.

I won’t keep you guessing – here are the eight steps:

Awareness, Acceptance, Mindset, Assessment, Planning, Action, Completion, and Reflection.

In many cases, you can breeze through some of the steps and then dig deeper into others. It depends on the complexity of the issue and how often you apply what you learn. The more you do it, the easier it will become!

Remember, any desired change begins with awareness. Effective and long-lasting change is rooted in reflection and practice.

Every few weeks I’ll be posting another step in my “Action Cycle”. My next post will be about Awareness. I look forward to your input, so please let me know what you think.