Ep #128: Awareness vs. Practice

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 128.

Welcome to The Life Coach Business Podcast, a show for coaches who are ready to up-level their business and take their impact, leadership, and results to a whole new level. If you’re ready to start taking powerful action and become the leader your business needs in order to grow and thrive, this show is for you. I’m your host, Amanda Karlstad, certified life and business coach, and entrepreneurial leadership expert. Now, let’s get down to business.

Hello and welcome everyone. I hope you’re doing well. I am doing amazing. I just wrapped up my retreat for my High Level Mastermind clients, and it was so good. We spent two days going deep on their businesses, on their mindset, on some amazing new content that I have created that honestly really is blowing my mind.

There were so many amazing takeaways and breakthroughs that happen, and just so many new levels of clarity and new strategies that are going to empower these high level clients to break through into that next level. I am so excited for what they’re about to create.

So if you’re a coach and you’re looking to take your business to a multiple six figure or seven figure level, I really want to invite you to apply to this program. This is an application only program. It’s a program that I’ve developed for established coaches. So coaches who have either already hit that first six figure mark in their business or they’re on track to hit six figures. So you might be working with clients on a one-on-one basis, you might have a full practice, and you’re really looking at launching a more leveraged program and really starting to scale.

I highly recommend you join us because I have really created this program to be the most comprehensive program in the industry that not only includes high level strategy, but high level coaching, high level mentoring, and also the highest level of mindset coaching that is truly. It’s a container where we are building million dollar businesses every day.

So if you have big goals, if you’re ready to scale, if you are ready to go to the next level in your business, and you know you need an expert level of coaching, of strategy and mentorship, and you want to be amongst a highly supportive group of clients, group of coaches that are highly driven, highly ambitious, highly capable. Then I want to invite you to apply as there are limited spots available because of the high level of support that I do offer in this program.

So we’re going to link up the application for that High Level Mastermind in the show notes. Know that it’s just a short application. From there, we’ll be setting up a call, and we’ll talk more. I’d love to talk with you and put a strategy together for you to go from where you are to either 250k, 500k, or even a million this year. All right, let’s dive in.

Today I want to talk to you all about awareness versus practice. This was something that came up recently in a coaching session that I was observing. It’s something that I see a lot of coaches struggle with. So I wanted to bring this teaching to you today because it’s something that I see a lot of coaches struggle with.

It’s one of the reasons that when I observe when someone is stuck, when someone is feeling stuck in their business, when you’re feeling like you just can’t break through. A lot of times it’s because of what I’m about to talk about.

When it comes to growing and scaling your business, one of the things that is required is your ability to become aware. To develop a very high level of awareness when it comes to your mindset, when it comes to your belief system, when it comes to the habitual and the non-habitual thoughts that you’re having as you go about your journey of building your practice.

Building a business, especially a coaching business, requires a very high level of awareness of self-awareness. The reason having a high level of self-awareness is so important is because every result that you experience in your business or the lack of reasons might be experiencing in your business are really the results of how you are thinking in your business, how you are thinking about your business, how you’re thinking about yourself.

How you’re thinking about your ability to build and grow your business, how you’re thinking about all the different elements in your business, and how capable you are when it comes to building your business.

So having this awareness to how you are thinking is essential. It really is the starting point for you to develop an awareness to your thinking to what’s happening on an internal level, that ultimately does create those results on the external level, the results that you’re experiencing.

So the first step in the journey is really about becoming aware. Depending on where you are and depending on what is happening in your business, depending on what is happening from a belief perspective, building and gaining higher levels of self-awareness is a process. I have found in my own journey of building my business that it’s an ongoing journey. It’s something that I think, as a coach, as an entrepreneur, where you’re continually working on getting better and better at your craft.

So when you’re in this process of taking your business from where it is to that next level, whatever that looks like, when you’re moving into new and different levels, one of the requirements to that is your level of self-awareness. Is your ability to be aware and to be looking at what is truly happening on that inner level, on the level of belief, on those thought patterns that so often are habitual, and that tend to manifest in so many different ways as you build the business.

So it’s definitely a process that is ongoing. It’s also something where, depending on what it is, once there is a high level of awareness that is developed, I have found that just having a certain level of awareness alone can help you shift immediately. This is really, really powerful.

But along with that, one of the issues that I see that also tends to come up when you’re building this level of awareness is that so often there tends to be this belief system. This very subtle belief process that most are not aware of, but there tends to be a belief, whatever the issue is, that it must be “solved” first. What I mean by that is whatever the issue is, a lot of times we tend to think that we have to “solve” for that belief first before we can take any action, before we can take that required next step forward that’s so important to the business.

I want to tell you all. Having to have everything figured out, having to have everything “solved” before you believe you can take your next step, it’s a lie. It’s a lie that if you choose to believe it will slow down your growth. It will slow down your growth tremendously, and what it will do is keep you feeling stuck in your business.

So the next step to this to being able to create what it is that you want in your business is what I call practice. What I mean by this is as an entrepreneur and as a coach who is in the process of growing and scaling a business, part of what is required, a big part of what is required, is being able to take massive action.

Massive action is a requirement to growing and scaling a business. Yet what I see happen so often is that many times when we’re in a situation where we need to be taking action, I see so many who stop themselves from taking the action. Who would rather focus on “fixing” whatever it is that is happening and spend time “working” on it versus taking the uncomfortable, the massive action, taking those important steps forward to what’s actually going to be moving the needle in the business.

I see this happen so often that whatever the issue tends to be, it’s very common to tell ourselves that, again, it has to be “worked on”
before we can take the action. Or whatever it is that is the issue, we have to resolve it before we can start. We have to have it completely solved before we can actually move things forward.

What I want to offer to all of you is that this is only pretending to be very necessary. It’s very subtle, but what happens is I see this happen where we start to believe it. We start to believe that we have to “fix” whatever it is that we’re thinking or whatever belief system we have before we can move forward.

I see this happen a lot where our brains like to stay in a place where they’re very preoccupied with the issue. Where it’s very focused on the issue. Where there’s lots and lots of conversations, lots and lots of iterations of the story about whatever issue it is. So the result of that is there’s lots and lots of time and energy that is spent thinking about the issue, that is spent writing out model after model and spending time journaling.

I’ve also seen where there’s a lot of time that’s spent on coaching on the same issue. Where it’s being brought to a coaching conversation week after week. While it might be a little bit different story, it might be presenting in a little bit different way, the truth is that a lot of times it’s the same story. It’s just masked a little bit differently. It might sound slightly different, but it’s all coming from the same place.

What I’ve learned in my years of coaching is that no matter what your story is, no matter what the issue is that is presenting for you, for all humans. The truth is that it usually comes down to just a few very core stories that we all have that are usually rooted in one core issue that we all experience. Yet they present themselves in many different ways. They present themselves in many different narratives and stories throughout our lives, and stories that we have surrounding our business.

I’ve learned something very profound about this. Part of our experience in being a human and having a human brain is that we have the choice in what it is that we believe. We have choice in what we choose to believe about ourselves, in what we choose to believe about our lives, in what we choose to believe about our abilities. In our ability to think about the circumstances that we experience.

I have learned that one of the greatest freedoms that we have is this ability. Is this ability to be able to choose, to be able to choose what it is that we want to believe about the circumstances, about what it is that we’ve experienced in our lives.

So the truth about this is this. The truth is that we all have a choice. That story, those beliefs, whatever they might present as, I want to challenge you that perhaps the truth is that they don’t need more “working” on it. Instead, what if you could make a decision? You could make an intentional decision that you’ve worked on it enough, and now you’re choosing to move beyond the story.

I want to challenge you to think about the opportunity that you have to decide that whatever it is, whatever narrative it is that you might be perceiving right now as an issue. What if you consciously made a choice that it was no longer an issue for you? What if you chose to see the issue for what it was?  An issue that your brain is offering to you. A narrative that your brain is fabricating.

The reason it’s doing that is because it’s doing its job, and that one job, which is so important, is to keep you safe. But what if one of the ways that it’s learned to keep you safe is to also keep you stuck in the story? So I want you to really consider this because this, my friends, is the power that lies between staying in the story and staying in a place of awareness and choosing to move into a place of practice.

Now, I want to be very clear about something awareness is extremely important. Building a level of awareness around your belief system, around your thought patterns, around your behaviors, your emotions is very, very important. But there comes a point where you have a certain level of awareness, where after you have done the inner work, where you have a certain level of awareness, which then presents you with a choice.

That choice is to decide whether or not to continue to entertain the narrative, to whether stay in that story any further. That choice is whether or not you’re going to spend more time “fixing” or working on whatever it is that you’re working on.

I will say many times you might not be able to jump right away to where it’s no longer an issue. But what I also want you to know is that you have a choice to be able to move to that next step on the ladder of belief. That next level of belief. That while you might not be able to fully shed whatever it is in the moment, know that you can always move up to that next step of belief in that moment. You can start to build new muscles of belief around that.

Here’s the thing. When you’re “working” on something, the truth is that by nature of that, by nature of that as the story, you’re also staying put. You’re also staying in that story. So the part of you that is holding on to this narrative, whatever that is, even if it’s not serving you, even if you consciously know that it’s limiting you, you still are choosing to stay in it.

So what I am offering to all of you here is that you have a choice. A choice to see that whatever it is that is limiting you. A choice that whatever the story is, whatever working on it means, having that awareness is great. That’s step one.

But you also have the choice and the responsibility as a business owner to get into practice. To also choose to get into the game. Because getting into practice, making that choice to move from awareness to practice, it will take you from sitting on the sidelines, from feeling stuck, from “working” on it to actually getting you into the game. To starting to build momentum in the direction you want to go.

One of the things that I see happen so often with my clients once they go through this process where they move from a place of awareness and they move into practice. There is something really interesting that tends to happen. It’s one of the things that I love to witness with them.

That is once they move into a place of practice and they start moving forward despite the fear that they’re having, despite the doubt, despite the emotion that they might be feeling, the awareness that they’ve had up until this point. What happens is they start to move into even new levels of awareness that may have not been available to them before.

Through this process, they start to see new possibilities. They start to experience new levels of awareness and new levels of practice. They experience expanded possibilities that didn’t exist before. With this movement into practice, they start to build new levels of capability. With this new capability, new levels of confidence also start to form.

So those limitations, which for so many for so long may have been holding them back, it starts to now dissipate. They start to in many ways dissolve because they have moved from this place of awareness now into a place of practice.

The result of this is this. They start building more and more evidence that creates and supports new beliefs. Which helps them to start building new belief muscles and creating new evidence around whatever it is that in so many cases has been holding them back. Has been holding them back for so long. Ultimately, those stories, they become obsolete.

So while yes, building your awareness is required. Having a high level of self-awareness is part of the journey. But what I want to encourage you all to do is to not only become aware, not only see what it is that you believe, especially when it comes to your business and your ability to build your business, but I also want to challenge you to get into practice. To get into the game. Stop waiting until you think you’re ready. Stop overthinking and over modeling what it is that you might be “working” on.

So I’m not saying to stop building your awareness. That’s very important. You want to continue to do that. You want to continue to refine your thoughts and see those thought errors and build your beliefs. Be intentionally spending your precious mental real estate on building a level of awareness that supports you.

But when the “working” on it is stopping you from moving forward, that is when you want to make a decision. That is when you need to make a choice and instead, move into practice. Start to build a new story, build new beliefs as you get into action. As you build these new neural pathways that support you, that support your beliefs and your ability and your capacity to build your business.

This is where you’re going to be able to make so much more progress. In so many ways find that what you might have, been “working” on for so long was really not as big of a problem as it seemed before. So build your awareness, but also move into practice, my friends. You all have lives to impact, and they’re all waiting for you. Have an amazing week. I’ll talk to you all again very soon. Take care. Bye, bye.

Thank you for listening to this episode of The Life Coach Business Podcast. If you want to learn more about how to build, grow, and scale your business and accelerate your results visit amandakarlstadcoaching.com.