07. Why Hard Work Isn’t Enough: Overcoming Business Resistance

Ever feel like you're spinning your wheels in your business, but can't quite figure out why? There's a hidden force at work that's sabotaging your progress and draining the joy from your entrepreneurial journey. It's not laziness, lack of skills, or even the market - it's something far more insidious.

In this eye-opening episode, we explore the number one killer of business growth and enjoyment: resistance. You know that nagging feeling when you should be working on something important, but instead find yourself organizing emails or scrolling social media? That's resistance in action, and it's costing you more than you realize.

But what if I told you that resistance isn't your enemy, but your greatest teacher? What if understanding and working with your resistance could be the key to unlocking unprecedented growth and fulfillment in your business?

Here's what you'll discover in this game-changing episode:

• Why pushing harder often leads to more resistance, not progress
• The hidden cost of resistance on your time, energy, and creativity
• How to recognize when resistance is actually trying to protect you
• A powerful reframe that turns resistance into your personal GPS for growth
• Practical strategies to work with your resistance instead of fighting against it

Is your handbrake on?

Picture revving your car's engine with the handbrake engaged. That's exactly what you're doing to your business when you try to push through resistance. It's exhausting, ineffective, and ultimately destructive.

But there's good news: once you understand the true nature of resistance, you can use it as a compass pointing directly towards your next breakthrough. Are you ready to stop spinning your wheels and start gaining real traction?

"What if resistance isn't holding you back, but moving you forward?"

This episode will challenge your assumptions about productivity, success, and what it really takes to thrive as an entrepreneur. You'll walk away with a fresh perspective on those tasks you've been avoiding and a renewed sense of possibility for your business.

Don't let another day of precious time and energy slip away. Tune in now and discover how to turn your biggest roadblock into your secret weapon for business growth and personal fulfillment.

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Transcript

Welcome to the Courage to Success Podcast, where things change radically.  Today, we're diving into something that's keeping your business stuck and yourself. It's the number one killer of your business growth and number one sucker of enjoyment in your business.  You know, Ah, there is the moment or moments during the day where you are working in your business, but you just can't just find a way to do things. 

There is something that's keeping you from doing it. So you organize your emails, you check in your promotions, you look at your desk, you look at things that are not really important in your business.  There is something that's building up and building up.  It's just not allowing you to focus on the things that are truly important for you.

It's resistance.  It's your internal resistance towards moving the needle forward in the things that really matters, that will make a significant change. That will allow you to grow, to organize yourself, to take the next step, and to create systems. Invisible war that we have inside our own heads,  when there is something that we know needs our attention, and we just avoid it. 

We just resist in doing it. And you just don't know why.  Why can you not do it? Why can you not concentrate? What's the issue?  It isn't that hard.  But what if resistance wasn't your enemy, but your greatest teacher in growth and enjoyment?  Could really change your business and your life? Stick with me, because at the end of this episode You might see a whole new way of looking at resistance and that it's working in your favor for that big project of yours that you've been working on, wanting to do, wanting to create. 

Suddenly,  you catch yourself taking the trash out.  Sounds familiar.  Here's what happened.  But suddenly, you're cleaning out your junk drawer. Taking out the trash, you're eating something, stretching, walking. What's really happening here? Lazy. Not at all. It's your subconscious mind stepping in as an overprotective parent  and saying, Wait,  is this safe? 

Are you ready for this? Safe for what though?  Ready for what though? That's the question that most people skip. What if resistance is actually working for you? Working for me? Yeah!  What if avoiding  to really go all in on that project  is keeping you from something?  A failure, a judgment,  or even success? What if it works out? 

What, I can really do this?  I thought this was so difficult.  I cannot do this. I'm not ready for it.  I haven't learned enough. I need to study more. I need to prepare more. I need to convince more. I need to sell more.  What if it's trying to protect you  from all of that?  All of that, what goes inside? Inside  your mind, inside your subconscious mind. 

But here's the thing, are you running away towards something or running away from something?  The resistance is the number one killer of business growth  and the number one sucker of your joy.  And you get yourself into the cycle, into the working longer hours. You focus your attention on things. that don't move the needle forward,  but on all the other secondary things  that are not important yet,  or now, or never,  and you get stressed,  miserable,  and you don't want to do your business, you don't want to be in that business,  and you're looking for ways to get out of it. 

You cannot outwork your resistance.  What resists, persists. It's your greatest teacher. Are you gaining momentum  or are you creating more resistance towards it? Really think about it.  Where are you right now? How will you know if your resistance is a useful shield  that's shielding you from something or if it actually is holding you back from creating? 

movement, from moving the needle, from creating change in your business.  Is a useful shield  in your business, or  is it a barrier that's holding you back? Hustle culture tells us just do more, work harder, push through.  And have you noticed the more you push through,  the harder it gets,  the more stuck you feel. 

Why is that? Hustling through your work isn't fixing the resistance, it's feeding it. Some people,  they thrive under pressure, they love pressure.  Do they?  Or do you? Do you enjoy yourself waiting for the last moment  to finish the work and you do an all nighter  and you push through, work through? How do you feel at the end of it? 

Do you have energy?  To do more? You feel depleted. You feel exhausted. And how sustainable is that? You're one human. You have one body. One brain.  Who's going to take care of it? Picture this. You're reviving the engine on a car, but your handbrake is on.  And your handbrake is on your business, on your resistance. 

And while you try to push through.  Through that resistance,  you are  burning yourself down to the ground.  And the more you press gas, the more you try to push through, the more friction you create.  And the more you are destructing yourself.  Sounds familiar? When you feel resistance, ask yourself, is it protecting you or is it holding you back? 

Is it holding your business back? Is it holding yourself back? And write it down. But what if you say to yourself,  What if it's actually working for me?  Is it? How is it working for you?  How is that resistance working for you?  It's keeping you predictable. It's keeping you the known.  It's keeping you safe. 

It's keeping you from opportunities. From growth.  from the next stage,  from the next phase in your business.  Is that quote unquote stability  worth the opportunity of you not  believing in yourself, you not believing in your product, you not believing in your clients,  that you can deliver, that you can truly change somebody's lives, help them with your product.

What if the next phase never comes,  but it was always there,  but it's resistance  kept you safe?  Is this where we want to stay?  But what are you holding on to that's holding you back? It's holding your business growth back.  And what would happen if you let go of it? What would be possible then? Just picture it. 

See it.  I want you to sit with the following question.  What's all the hustle about?  What's the cost of that hustle that you put  yourself through, your business, and your team? Are you gaining momentum or are you creating more resistance?  Resistance is the GPS to your next breakthrough.  What if resistance isn't holding you back?

with moving you forward.  Now stay with me here, okay?  Think about the areas in your life where you create the most resistance about.  Is it in your personal life? Is it that side project? Is it the next big project? Is it the deep and honest conversation that you've been avoiding, going after the bigger goal?

Or are you running from something deeper? Where have you learned that that is the only way to create results, that that is the only way to keep your business afloat?  Resistance wants to keep you in the familiar.  That's it.  Resistance wants to keep you in the familiar.  And here's another thing about resistance.

Resistance loves familiarity,  even if it hurts.  Why do we cling to what we know, even though it's not working?  Here's the uncomfortable truth.  It's your subconscious mind running the program,  and keeping you  in the familiar.  Here's the uncomfortable truth.  Your subconscious mind loves familiarity, and it doesn't care.

It doesn't give a damn.  Familiarity is Stressful, painful, unproductive, unuseful for you.  The only important thing,  how it's designed,  if it's known,  for you, for your life,  from your life experience, it's safe for you. Can keep you stuck for years,  can keep you sick. I've seen this over and over again with my clients. 

And especially entrepreneurs and staying in those broken systems where they are keeping it together,  pushing through, hustling through  or outdated ways of living because that's who I am. That's how I've always been. That's what I've always known. This is how I know how to get results. It's like staying  in a boat that's sinking.

But it's your boat, and you're staying because you've known it. It feels familiar, because it's the boat you always had.  It's familiar, it feels like home, but that is not. And here's the twist. What if resistance is steering you away  for a very valid reason?  What if your goal is not aligned with your vision? 

With your mission of your business, with how you want to lead your business, but you're chasing certain metrics, you're chasing the shiny object, the best one you think. What if your system  is resisting to do it for a very valid reason,  because you will twist yourself.  And here's how you can test yourself.

Are you resisting because it feels scary  or because it's not authentic and not who you are and not who you want your business to stand behind and be known for?  Really think about it.  Is your resistance a warning sign or growth sign? How will you know the difference?  I'm going to give you an example here.

So I was coaching my client and she has created different packages.  She hasn't started to offer them because there is a resistance  against her offers that she has created herself. Okay.  So there are three offers and the one  she was resisting to start offering it.  And what logically didn't make any sense,  we might say,  if you have created these offers, what's the problem with not offering  the offers?

Nobody created those offers, but you,  but the subconscious mind, it's not logical  and an emotional, you know, the emotional state will always win over the logical.  I asked her, what is the offer out from those three offers that you have created that you want to sell?  What is the package  that really resonates with you and why does it resonate? 

And it was the middle package.  So what we then did, we optimized that offer to be the obvious offer.  For her clients, even though she has three, but when you compare as a client, those threes offers the second one is the one that is standing out. The second one is the one that you want.  So, and this goes  into, and we did it by using buying psychology. 

So within a session, we resolved her resistance.  of her starting to offer, letting people know, Hey, I'm here, I've created something great.  Let's work together. And that resistance, so we didn't push through it.  We didn't work around it. The resistance  by highlighting the offer that she  truly wanted to sell.

That was the, this is the one.  You know, we create packages for our clients, but there is that one, like,  this is the best one.  And here's why it's the best for me. It's the best for them. And both have a benefit  is hearing you to it's something that you don't want.  How is it impacting you and how is it impacting your business decisions? 

So that you are truly aware of what to do  in those moments. Those are  the biggest where your growth edges are. Where your growth edge lies.  So think about that for a moment.  But most of us misinterpret as a stop sign.  To stop doing the thing. To not get involved.  To  not stay with it.  So we avoid it and we go and do something else that we think is productive  that just takes the edge off of that resistance. 

But remember, resistance is your GPS signal telling you, Hey, this is the direction that I need to go. This is the direction towards success,  towards happiness,  towards a better life. Your business,  where you just said, Pshhh,  I don't know if I wanna do this. This is difficult. This is hard. This is excruciating. 

It's draining me, my energy, and my will to work in my business. Fixing the resistance.  And sometimes our deepest fears comes from  being at ease. Being at ease in our business, being at ease with ourselves, being at ease with our clients.  Everything is information, that.  Everything is a guide that tells us what we can do, what is working, what isn't.

And now imagine,  what would your business feel like  if it was easy? Go there.  Imagine it.  And are you willing to try it?  To really feel new, different,  uncomfortable, even?  And pay attention to  how your mind is reacting, how your body is reacting,  and that deep seated belief that success is hard.  It has to be earned. 

If it's too easy, it's not real. It's not possible. No,  that's not a real business. It sounds familiar.  But what if that belief, that specific belief, is creating your actual resistance that you have towards ease in your business, towards you and creating systems  that can truly move the needle forward.  What if that resistance is preparing you for the next step?

Of you figuring out what would that look like, what would that be, and how you can achieve that. Kind of like the tension before the breakthrough,  before the epiphany. Then it feels like, I never knew that it could feel like this.  I never could have imagined that I would be saying this in my business, or that I feel at ease in my business. 

And it's a way of separating story  from the facts,  what is actually happening, and what is the story that we are creating around it, and what does it mean,  and what does it mean about us, our capabilities, our possibilities in our life. The most important part, the cost of resistance,  it's costing you time. 

The cost of resistance  and how to buy back your time. But  resistance is stealing your most precious resource. And that's your time.  You cannot get back your time ever again.  And  all those delays, distractions, preparations, overplanning, avoidance.  They're costing you more than you realize. I want you to think about how much time  have we all spent stuck in resistance towards taking action that would move the needle forward  in your business towards your goals, towards the next thing. 

Just think about it for a moment,  days, weeks,  even years for some of us.  It's wasting your precious  energy, creativity, time, where you could have created something truly magnificent and life changing. How long are you willing  to allow it to rule you, to rule your business? Alright, we covered a lot today.

Resistance isn't about being lazy.  It's a protective mechanism from your subconscious mind,  that it's doing all it can to keep you safe.  Hustling harder  won't fix it. Resistance can point you in the right direction.  Just remember, it's your GPS. It tells you that's the direction, that's the thing that you need to pay attention to.

This is my growth edge. This is where everything changes. My business and my relationship with my business.  If this episode made you stop and think  and see resistance in yourself in a way you hadn't before,  then it's time to take the next step. I give you pointers in this episode of where to look at.  Now get to work. 

And if you need help to  debug the subconscious blocks.  Get out of your own way  without wasting  precious time that can never be bought back.  I'm here to help.  Don't let resistance steal one minute  of your time. Remember, resistance doesn't have to run the show.  It's a GPS. It's telling you where is the work.

Let's get to work.  You have the power to rewrite your story.  Let's make it one you're proud of. Until next week, stay courageous, keep believing in yourself,  and let's take the next step.  See you soon.