The waiting room is where we sit out life in a holding pattern waiting for certainty.

Working as an executive coach is very rewarding, and I feel truly fortunate to be serving powerful men and women to tap into their brilliance in this way. It gives my life so much meaning. 

 Something has come to my attention. I keep hearing the same stories, again and again. They revolve around the concept I'm calling the" WAITING ROOM." 

 So I wanted to take a few minutes to address this one story that people fool themselves into believing, and it has such a detrimental effect on their lives. 

The Holding Pattern 

 I'm calling it the" waiting room", but in reality, it's a holding pattern for uncertainty. 

"When I become more qualified, I will be ready."

"When we make it, we will start a family."

"If I keep working harder, my boss will notice my efforts."

And the worst one of all, "It's my thought I'm in this situation, so I just need to be patient and wait for something to change ...."

Do you see the theme, basically putting our lives' on hold' until the next thing happens, living in the' waiting room' throughout your life? 

Limiting Beliefs 

We all have our own beliefs, some empowering and some limiting. Have you ever considered how many of them are your own? How many could be inherited from social media, parents and teachers, next time a belief pops in your head, ask yourself, IS THIS BELIEF IMPORTANT TO ME? and IS THIS BELIEF SERVING ME? We often believe our thoughts are the TRUTH and develop our mindset around these thoughts… this is where things can go wrong.

 Beliefs we form as children are usually ones created when our parents tell us something for our protection. For example, "Don't talk to strangers", then we wonder why our children grow up to be scared of networking (where of course, you have to speak to strangers). I'm sure you can think of many more examples like this. 

Recently I've observed more and more coaches getting into this "I'm not good enough thought trap." They are almost afraid to be themselves on social media and share their wisdom and knowledge.

Because coaches focus so much more on social media, this brings more focus and attention to their perceived lack of success in their business. It feeds their limiting beliefs about their readiness to ask for clients, step forward, speak up with ideas or take up an exciting opportunity. Then they miss their chance for success by NOT TAKING ACTION. Instead, they stay in the waiting room. 

 Affirmative, if you believe you are not good enough, you will act like you are NOT ready, BUT VICE VERSA is also correct. If you create a belief, you are ready. You can step powerfully out of the waiting room into the life you are meant to have.

"But WHAT IF I'm not ready? How will this help" Ask yourself when you will be ready? Do you want to keep waiting? 

Perfectionism can be very close to procrastination. 

So let's say that you have a limiting belief-" I need everyone at work to like me to be good at my job" the idea (or thought) stops you from managing your team effectively. To move past this idea, you must adopt the counter belief, "I will be a better leader if I focus on managing the organisation with integrity and professionalism". - AND THE REALITY IS -people will like and respect you for it! - but changing your thought is just the FIRST STEP.

 So while SOME people are already on the journey to change, they journal their thoughts or ponder their beliefs, they are still in the" waiting room" the only way you move out is to TAKE ACTION and start taking steps to do something in a new way. The more you practice, the better you will get. 

 "If you are not taking action, your beliefs will hold you in the waiting room despite all your good thoughts." EFFECTIVELY Creating a pattern for yourself of unfulfilled dreams 

If you want to help yourself achieve new results, you can't keep doing what you've always done. I CHALLENGE YOU to step out of the waiting room. I LOVE helping people notice when they have put themselves in the" Waiting Room" by choice. 

I invite you to work on your thoughts.

IF, instead of hearing the negative voice in your head, you hear a voice telling you anything is possible? YOU listened to the voice of your best friend or a MENTOR. What would that voice say?" You're good at what you do, so it's ok to go for it? " 

It's TRUE ....... WHAT WE FOCUS ON, WE FEEL

TRY THIS: What thought came to mind when I mentioned you could be trapped in your own life's" waiting room"? 

What do you believe is trapping you?

What else do you believe about your feelings? 

When did you first decide this was true? 

What do you believe about the world that makes you feel this way? 

What if you no longer believed this was true? 

What then? 

What action could you take? 

Do you believe you will be successful? 

Fantastic! 

You have a new belief. 

But remember….

To move out of life's waiting room, you MUST take action and be your own best friend in your head.

 So, how do you learn to manage your inner voice that 'critic' that is mean and tells you to wait until you are ready?, that you are not good enough, not likeable enough, not prepared and sounds cruel about your body image and says things you wouldn't say out loud - You can quieten the voices here's what to TRY: 

•           Imagining it drifting into space, getting quieter, and then listening for a new voice inside you 

•           writing all the thoughts down and locking them away 

•           Imagine making the voice you hear into a cartoon character and separating it from you. They are mean today. It's a good thing I know I've got this ("I and IT") 

What's possible for you now? There are so many inner tools to help us live productive lives as long as we don't overcomplicate our goals.

Realising you're in the waiting room and identifying beliefs that are no longer serving you, plus learning to work alongside your thoughts, can result in TRANSFORMATIVE change. 

 Be kind to yourself and move out of your waiting room TODAY. 

 YOU only get every day ONCE. Make it count.