Ep #192: How Incongruent Beliefs Are Keeping Your Business Stuck

You are listening to The Life Coach Business Podcast with Amanda Karlstad episode number 192.

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 amazing. Welcome to today’s show. I am doing great. We are having a wonderful summer so far. There are so many exciting things that are happening, both in the business and personally and just having so much fun. Being officially into summer here and loving it.

I just wrapped up my High Level Mastermind retreat a couple of weeks ago. That was phenomenal and so full of breakthroughs, and million dollar conversations, and coaching. Clients are just rocking it. It is so much fun to witness not only the level of growth in revenue and just the business, but really the evolution of my clients as business owners, as CEOs, and witnessing them become more and more effective in their roles as CEOs. 

I am just in so much gratitude for my work. I’ve been thinking recently about all of this and what it is that I really do and the level of work that we do with our clients. I am really proud of the level of coaching and mentoring and advising and strategy that we offer. I truly believe that what we’re doing is changing the game. 

In fact, if you’re a coach and whether you are ready to scale your business from six or multiple six figures, and you’re ready to take it to that seven figure level and beyond, or maybe you’re earlier on in the journey, and you’re looking to take your practice from one on one clients into group format and really ready to take things to the next level. I really want to encourage you and invite you to apply to work with us, to really help us support you and guide you in this process. 

Because I can’t emphasize enough how important it is when you are growing a business that you have a level of support that helps you accelerate your business growth. The truth is that when you have this type of support in the support, for instance, that we offer, the truth is that it can be truly life changing. It can truly be business changing. 

That is really my mission. That is what I am most interested in with my work in helping my clients is to really support them in taking everything to the next level. So, again, not only just the tangible business strategy, but it’s also that inner work, that deep inner work of becoming the leader that your business needs so that you can create the business and the life of your dreams. 

I help coaches become million dollar plus coaches. I would love to help you as well. So go to the show notes of this episode. Or you can also go to my website at AmandaKarlstadCoaching.com. We will link up the application in the show notes. I would love to have a conversation with you about how we can help you take everything to the next level and ultimately create the million dollar business that I know you desire. So go to the show notes of this episode, or go to AmandaKarlstadCoaching.com. 

There’s a short application that you’ll be asked to fill out. At that time, you’ll also book in a call so we can have a conversation about where you’re at and how we can help you cross that six, multiple six, even seven figure level and beyond. 

All right. Today I want to talk to you all about something that came up recently that I have been doing some thinking about, that I have been looking at not only for all of my clients, but also just at the industry in general. I think this episode, this teaching, is really going to serve all of you. So what I want to talk to you about today is what I call incongruent beliefs. 

This was a concept that came to me as I was doing some teaching. I was creating some content around beliefs and around the power of beliefs. As I have been diving deep into my own personal work and my own personal beliefs, one of the things that came up is how often as coaches and entrepreneurs, that our beliefs are actually incongruent with what it is that we want to create. 

So let me explain. Let’s say that your goal is to build a $250,000 per year or a quarter of a million dollar per year business. So many of you have that desire. You have the desire to build a highly successful practice. That number might vary depending on where you’re at. But it’s something that you’re motivated to achieve. So for some of you, that might be that 250,000. For others of you, it might be 500,000. For some of you, it is a million and beyond. 

So whatever that number is, I want you to consider that you have that desire to create a business that generates that level of revenue, a business that is capable of generating that volume of revenue. Again, it’s something that you’re motivated to create. It’s exciting to think about. But at the same time, even though you want your business to be at that level, even though you might want nothing more than a level of success like that, the reality might be that you don’t actually think that it’s possible for you. 

Let me give you an example. So often, we see other examples of people doing what we most want, especially in this industry. At the same time, for whatever reason, it’s so common that we don’t also believe that it’s possible for us. This might be due to old beliefs that you might have, or that are rooted in things like worthiness and some of those deeply rooted beliefs. 

Or you might be feeling stuck or even plateaued in your business. The truth is that everything that you’re attempting to do in order to grow the business might not be working. Maybe you have some beliefs around what it actually takes to build your business to a certain level. There might also be a part of you that questions whether or not you really want what you think comes with growing a business to that high level. 

The point is that an incongruent belief or set of beliefs is something that isn’t in alignment with what it is that you want to achieve. Those beliefs that aren’t congruent with the outcome that you want, it’s almost like having one foot on the gas pedal and another foot on the brake. 

So if you imagine driving a car and having one foot on the gas pedal and the other foot on the brake, the reality is that you’re going to be stuck. Yet, what I see happens so often is the same thing is happening internally for so many coaches. As I work with clients, a big part of the work that I do is to help my clients align their beliefs and uncover the incongruent belief systems that they have, that are so often in the way of them achieving success. 

One of the ways that I see this come up so often, especially in the coaching industry, is that, especially with the coaches that I work with, there is a certain level of confidence in your coaching ability. So for most coaches, and especially those that I work with, there is a level of coaching ability that they have where there is a level of confidence in their skill level as a coach. 

So, right now you might know that you’re a great coach. But when it comes to actually growing the business or scaling the business, and when you’re presented with the challenges that will inevitably come up when you are growing or scaling your business, especially if this is the first time that you’ve done it, you quickly start to doubt or question everything that you’re doing. 

Before you know it, you might even start doubting your ability to build the business that you have the desire to build. I will tell you all, I see this happen. I observe this happen so quickly. The reason this happens is because you have your desire, you have that goal on the one hand. You’re motivated to achieve it. At the same time, there’s also a part of you, and for so many of you, a big part of you, that doubts your ability, that doubts whether or not it’s possible for you, that doubts whether or not what you’re doing will actually create the results that you want. 

The result of this, what happens, is that every time those beliefs, whatever that belief sounds like for you, anytime that is given airtime, anytime that is given time that is entertained, it’s almost like trying to boil a pot of water by constantly taking the pot off the stove or by constantly turning down the temperature, turning the burner down. 

So I want you all to really consider this, and take a minute and consider where you might be doing this in your business. Where do you have that desire, that dream to achieve greatness, to achieve a level of success that might even seem out of reach you?

At the same time, you are still choosing to entertain misaligned beliefs. You’re still choosing to spend your mental energy on thoughts that aren’t congruent with what it is that you want to create. This is a really important question. I want to offer to you the opportunity to get really present with this for yourself. Because one of the things that I see happen so often is that you might be clear on what it is that you want to create. 

If I were to ask you, what is it that you want to create in your business? The truth is that most of you would have a fairly good idea of what it is that you want to create. But at the same time, if we were to get really precise about what it is that you’re predominantly thinking about. For most coaches, the truth is that so much time is spent thinking about how it’s not possible, or thinking about all of the ways that it might not work, or why you might not have what it takes or doubting that what you’re doing is going to “work”.

When you get very honest about the amount of time that you spend, whether that’s doubt or confusion or even in a place where truthfully, you’re not fully committed to your goal. The truth is that for most coaches as you’re working to build the business, the majority of your precious mental real estate, your mental energy, is being spent on and being entertained, and in some cases consumed, with these incongruent beliefs. 

So no matter what it is that you do, even if the majority of your mental thought is focused towards these incongruent beliefs, no matter what strategy you have, no matter what roadmap you are given. In fact, you could literally have the roadmap to make a million dollars in your business, which is something that I’m very proud to say that all of my clients have. 

But if you don’t have a system of beliefs that are consistently fueling you towards your goal, that are consistently feeding your mind in a positive way, that are creating a consistent inner environment for you to win to achieve that which you want to achieve then it’s just like the example that I mentioned earlier, where you might be trying to boil water, but you keep taking the pot on and off the burner or your keep turning down the temperature. It’s not consistent. 

No matter what it is that you do, the water will not boil until you decide to keep it on the burner at that highest temperature, and you create the right conditions for it to boil. I will tell you the same is true in your business. While you might desire to build your business to a high level, you also have to have the right conditions. One of those conditions is having a level of awareness to what it is that you’re actually thinking about and getting very honest about it. 

It’s also choosing to focus your mental energy on the things that fuel you, that actually fuel the work that you do, that positively fuel the content that you create, that positively fuel the copy that you write, that positively impacts the marketing that you do, that positively impacts how you show grow up with your clients. This is an ongoing process, my friends, even when you reach that quarter of a million dollar level, even when you reach that $500,000 level, even when you reach that million dollar level and beyond. 

There will always be room to check in and to build deeper awareness around to what it is that you’re actually thinking about, and to the beliefs that you likely won’t even consciously know that you have so that you can become more aware and question any incongruent beliefs. 

Lastly, while there will likely never be a time where you won’t have any incongruent beliefs present in some way, the good news is you can still create huge success in your business. The secret will be the faster that you align your beliefs, the more aware that you become about what it is that you’re actually thinking and you’re spending your mental energy on, the faster your business is going to grow. 

Entrepreneurship is such an amazing journey, my friends. It is an opportunity, I believe, to meet your true self. To know without a doubt what it is that you’re truly capable of. It not only starts with what we talked about here today, but also to the degree that you continue and do the work and align your beliefs with that which you want so that you can create the results that you desire. I promise it’s all available to you. Have a beautiful week. I’ll talk to you all again soon. Take care. Bye, bye.

Hey if you’re ready for a real breakthrough in your business and want to grow and scale your business to at least six figures or more in annual revenue, I invite you to apply for my exclusive program The Mastermind at amandakarlstadcoaching.com/the-mastermind. I look forward to seeing you there. 

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.