How To Get Stuck

As a coach, I spend a lot of time helping people get unstuck. 

Not that I’m complaining – it’s one of the most fun parts of my job.

And… it’s given me a LOT of insight into how most folks get stuck in the first place. 

(hint: more often than not, it’s at least partly self-inflicted)

Luckily… there’s one trick that works almost every time to get yourself moving again…

Hey, it's Dan Walker. And I was thinking you could help me with something today.

So, I've had a dream for a long time to throw this tennis ball into that bucket over there. And I've been thinking about it. I've been planning for it for a while and I think I'm going to go ahead and I'm going to give it a shot.

So, I've been watching some videos online on throwing tennis balls. I found

a couple people to learn from. Seems like I just need to take this ball and I

need to throw it over there. Okay. So, it seems like it should be pretty simple. So, let's go ahead and give it a shot.

All right. Ready?

You know, you know what, though, man. I'm a little bit nervous. I'm a little bit nervous, honestly. And maybe I haven't really studied enough. Like, I actually don't—I'm not quite sure. Like, it seems like the technique is to just kind of throw it like this, but what if it's better to throw it like this? That might be better. Um, all right. Hold on. Hold on. I'm going to do some more research and, uh, let's come right back.

Okay. All right. We're back. I'm feeling better. All right. So, we're going to take this pretty darn green tennis ball. You think I should—You think this is the right tennis ball to use? I mean, I've got this one. This one's a little older. It's a little smoother. 

Okay. Okay. Okay. Okay. All right. All right. Thanks for sticking with me. It's

time to go. Time to throw a tennis ball into the bucket. It's right over there.

It's going to be awesome. I'm hyped. Um, in this reel though, this guy's saying that I really need to make sure I throw the tennis ball at like a 48 degree angle. See, I got to go to the hardware store, figure out how to measure the angle of my tennis ball throw. Should probably do that before going.

Okay, so by now you're probably just screaming at the screen, just throw the ball already, right? The crazy thing is as a coach I see this happen nonstop. Someone has a good idea, a solid idea. They know enough to get started, but they wait, and they wait, and they wait, and they prepare, and they prepare, and they prepare because you need to know just the exact right way to do it. It's funny when you think about it like that. You know, if I were to ask you, what's the best way that I can get better at throwing this tennis ball into that bucket?

All right. I actually can't believe I just made that. That's if I were to ask

you, hey, what's the biggest factor in whether or not I can make that

ball into that bucket? You would probably say, “Well, it comes down to how much you've practiced, how good you are at throwing the ball into the

bucket, right?”

So, why is it when it comes to things like our businesses or

selling something online or doing a launch, why is it that we kind of discount that almost entirely sometimes, right? It feels like, well, you just got to find the right tip or the right trick or the right strategy or the right secret, you know, or have all the right tools. And it feels like it comes down to, you know, like that's so important to have all that before you really begin.

And don't get me wrong, all that stuff's super important. And I'm definitely not discounting the value of coaching. Like, if I were to have a coach here right now, there's a good chance a coach could say, “Well, hey, you know what? Have you ever thought about just turning and facing the bucket when you throw it? That could make a big difference. Like there's definitely things that you can get from coaching, from perspective, from training, but you can't count out the fact that if you want to get better at throwing the ball, the biggest thing you can do is just practice.

And it's not even just practice, it's just give it a shot. I mean, you saw there that literally was unscripted. I just—that was the first time I had tried throwing the ball and I nailed it. Can I do it again? Nah, that was more what I expected. But you know what? If I had never tried doing that, what are the

chances that I would have guessed that I would have hit that first try? Probably would have said there's a 5% chance that I could hit that first try. But that's also the point, right? You honestly don't know how hard, how easy something is until you actually try it. And you won't know the things that really make the difference until you just get started and learn from your own experience.

And hey, look, I get it. It can be really intimidating to just throw yourself out there and see what happens and get that feedback. But the brilliant thing about having a business that's based online is that you can get some really, really good and almost instant feedback as to whether or not you're on the right course. Like take these videos for example. This is a fairly new thing for me to be posting these YouTube videos. I'm not positive what's the best approach here. I'm not positive exactly what you're going to want to see or what you're going to like watching from me. Like, is it more lifestyle behind the scenes kind of stuff? Is it inspirational stuff? Is it things I've learned from coaching like this one here? Is it more advanced tips and tricks and tactics? I don't know. But the great thing is that I have a really easy way to tell which is just to try something to just make a video, put it up online, and see what you guys think. And you know, I'm sure if people love it, they'll leave a comment. If they don't, they'll probably leave a comment. If no one leaves a comment, then hey, oh look, did it get a bunch of views?

Were people watching the whole thing or were people clicking off early? You know, and the great thing is, like, as challenging of a thing as it can be, the fact that, you know, there's so much content and so much noise and so many people publishing online. The great thing about it is that if you put something out there and it doesn't hit, doesn't really work, doesn't really

resonate with people, then chances are it's going to be forgotten in a few

days. And like, who cares? What's the big deal, right? But if it works out and if someone ends up really liking what you have to say, well then cool. Now you've got a direction. Now you've got actual feedback. You've got a direction to go in that you just would never have known unless you just started moving forward.

So anyways, that's a lesson for you today is just give it a shot. Give something a try. If you've got a project, a launch, a business idea, a new product, anything that you've been thinking about for a long time, but you're just not quite sure where to begin. You're asking the wrong question. If you ask me, the question is not where do I begin, it's how soon can I begin.