Transforming obstacles and opposition into action

Good morning.

We're wrapping up journal number seven, of hundreds of these journals.

It's late 1997, and we're heading into 1998.

And one thing jumped off the page for me today... maybe the most important thing I learned in my first year at Strategic Coach.

I'd joined Dan Sullivan's Strategic Coach program that year. I'm still in it.

Dan has a prominent position on my Mount Rushmore of influences.

Journaling is really thinking about your thinking. But sometimes the strategy you use makes all the difference.

I noticed that before Strategic Coach, I was asking a lot of questions like "Why don't I?" or "Why can't I?"

That's completely natural.

One of the things Dan taught was something he called the Strategy Circle.

As entrepreneurs, we're constantly imagining a bigger future. Things we want. Things we want to pursue.

And our brain is really good at two things.

The first is this. As soon as you say "I want this," your brain immediately finds all the obstacles standing in the way.

Rather than backing away because of them... embrace it.

Let that part of your brain list every obstacle. Why can't I get this? What would have to be true?

You don't have to solve anything yet. Just itemize them.

When you're done, that's the trigger for the second thing your brain is really good at.

Transforming obstacles into ways to overcome them.

Take them one by one and ask, "How could I handle this? What could transform this into an action?"

Dan calls the core process VOTA. Vision, obstacle, transformation, action.

Follow that sequence and your brain comes up with the ways to do it.

I've used it in all of my journals ever since, to get the things I want done... and especially to get them into action.

Because sometimes the things that stand in our way do just that. They stop us.

Or we spin our wheels in the negativity of "I can't do that because of this."

Here's the parallel I found in my journal.

"Why" questions are built for finding obstacles.

"How can I overcome this?" is a powerful question.

You don't need to know exactly how yet. You just need to understand what would have to take place.

And I love that 30 years later, Dan is still building on it.

Anytime he wants a result, the first question he asks is, "Is there any way I can get this without doing anything?"

If not, what's the least I'd have to do?

And then, is there a who who could do my least?

That's a great little exercise, built on the chassis of the Strategy Circle.

It's a good example of something we've talked about a lot in these videos... turning your ideas into intellectual property. Tools and frameworks you can use yourself and share with others.

Dan has built an amazing organization called Strategic Coach around exactly that.

I'm a big fan, and you couldn't go wrong looking into it yourself.

So the next time you catch yourself asking why you can't... let your brain list the obstacles.

Then ask how.

Show notes: https://deanjackson.com/podcasts/tol/129-transforming-obstacles-and-opposition-into-action/

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