Ep #16: Massive Action

Welcome to The Life Coach School podcast, where it’s all about real clients, real problems and real coaching. And now your host, Master Coach Instructor, Brooke Castillo.
Hey, everybody. How are you guys? How's everybody doing? Your summer going amazingly well? I hope so. I am so stoked, I just released my new product, How To Solve Any Problem. You can check it out if you want, it's the lifecoachschool.com/howtosolveanyproblem one word. I'm just so proud of this product, I think it's amazing, and what so interesting about it, I'm using it all the time, in my own life.I'd love it when I create something that I can use. I feel that way about the Life Coaching model that I use all the time, I love myself for creating that for myself, and I feel the same way about how to solve any problems. Check it out, I'm going to be doing a whole episode on it, coming up.In the meantime, I have a video there on that page, you can check out. Lifecoachschool.com/howtosolveanyproblem. All right, so let's get to today. Today we're going to talk about massive action. This is one of those topics that I am right in the middle of doing. It's perfectly time for me to talk to about it.
First let me kind of define the difference between massive action and passive action. A lot of us get caught, especially when we become life coaches and become familiar with the terminology of cognitive work and emotional work. We can get lock into that, and forget about the action piece.

We get client that come to us that are taking all this action, and they’re not getting anywhere because they haven't figured out the cognitive and the emotional piece. That's really important, once you understand that your thoughts, create your feelings, and your feelings drive your action.

Then it's time to really commit to taking action. To really commit to ongoing action, and that's what I call massive action. The definition that I use for massive action is taking action until you get the result you want. When someone says to me, I'm taking massive action on this.

It's usually my life coaching students or my weight coaching students that are building their business, and they'll come to me and they'll say I've taken massive action. I said, "Well you haven't taken massive action because you aren't still taking action until you get the result you want."

I understand that, that can be very frustrating to take action, knock at the result you want. Take action, knock at the result you want, take action knock at the result you want, there's always a reason, always an excuse to stop taking action. In fact it so much easier to quit than it is to keep going. Massive action is a commitment to keeping taking action until you get the result you want.

One of the examples I like to use is going to the grocery store. Can you take massive actions to go to the grocery store. Yes, because what happen is, you get in your car, and you start driving to the grocery store. Now if you hit a red light, and you have to stop you do not panic.

You recognize that red lights are part of the deal, and in fact before you even get in the car, you anticipate that you're probably going to have to hit some red light. You're going to have to stop, but you're going to have to break. Is that enjoyable? Is that something you want to have to do?

Of course not, but you know it's part of the process, and you keep going, and you keep hitting red lights, and you keep stopping and then you go again and then you hit another red light, and then you go again, and you don't make it mean that you're a failure or that it's taking too long, you don't mean any of that.

Some of you may even hit traffic on your way to the grocery store depending on where you live, and how far away that grocery store is. You do not use that as a reason, to stop taking action. In fact you're willing to take all the action you need to take in order to get to the grocery store.

That is what we want you to do when it comes to your goal. When you set a goal, and you commit to a certain result, you are going to hit obstacles. You are going to hit many, many red lights along the way. Most of us turnaround after the first red light. Oh my gosh, I have to stop there's other cars.

It's red, I'm just sitting here, I'm not getting any results. I don't have anything from the grocery store yet, I've driven all this way, and here I am, forget it. I'm not doing this anymore. Literally that's what we do when it comes to our goals. We hit one obstacle, and we throw our hands in the air. We say this isn't working, I'm out of here.

Now when it comes to going to the grocery store. We have some experience knowing that we can do it. The first time we try something we aren't anticipating the obstacles. We don't know what they're going to be. When they come, we make them mean something, that makes us quit.

Massive action for anything that you do in your life is the process of anticipating those obstacles, and being willing to fail, and fail, and fail, and stop and regroup and do it wrong, and try again and hit an obstacle and get a result you didn't expect and try again. That is massive action, and let me tell you something.

It is very, very rare. Most of us take action once. Then we give up, we try a diet, we try a food plan, we try a thought work, we try to do a cartwheel, we try yoga, we try everything once right? It doesn't work out the way we wanted it to, it doesn't give us an instant result, until we quit. Right? That is just taking action.

What I'm inviting you to do is to take massive action. I'm inviting you to keep taking action, until you get that result you want. Let me tell you my experience recently with massive action. I am currently working on a project with some other students that are in my school, and it's the first time I've done this project, I've told them, "Hey this is the first time I've done this.

You guys are lucky, because you're going to get a lot of experience and a lot of me, and a lot of time with me as I figure this out. I've been working very close, I probably put in about 40 hours’ worth of work. I mean that's really focus consistent work, working with them.

We did some work together and we did not get the first anticipated result. In fact it wasn't even close the first time. I was devastated, "What the heck is going on. Why aren't we getting the result I want?" It made me think about you all. It made me think about how brand new coaches trying something. Could one up again something work, so hard for something and not even get close to the result they want.

I could see how easily you would want to quit and say, "Okay I'm not even going to try that again." Because I'm very experienced with going to the grocery store when it comes to this work, we try it again we changed everything up, we rework it, we practice, we did ti again. Still not the result I wanted. That was around 2, still didn't get the result we wanted.

I'm thinking, "Throw my hands in the air, what's an easy way to just make this go away." One of the thing that's really important to me, is to focus on helping my students in a way where I can work with what they've got, instead of working with what I've got. When it comes to business, I'm a lot further down the road, I have access to a lot of other things other people don't have.

It's very easy for me to utilize those things and help my students get the result they want. I don't want to do that, because I want them to be able to see the results that are possible for them. That's why they’ve been trying all these different things. Now one of the things that I told myself was, "Okay I still have to get the result that I want. I'm still focused on it. I'm still committed."

Once I think about the future, I stop focusing on that red lights I've already hit. I start focusing on the future, my brain goes to work. It knows that these two things didn't work we're going to have to come up with something different. I give a time, to come up with that answer.

If I'm inclined to do research, if I'm inclined to talk to people, if I'm inclined to get different ideas, or take a training or whatever. I do that I follow that intuition but I still keep my eye on the ball. I'm actually right in the middle of this process, and I feel so excited about it.

I feel like I'm getting the feedback that I need in order to make it even better. I'm really am exciting about some of the pitfalls, we've ran into, some of the obstacles because I can see myself working with my certified coaches and sharing these experiences with them and letting them know, "Hey these are the things that we ran into."

This is normal part of achieving any kind of goal. Understanding that massive action as you keep moving, you keep swimming, you keep going, until you get the result you want, will really help you get your mind straight. Massive action you keep approaching it from different angles, from different ways.

Sometimes you have to regroup, go right back to the drawing board and try again. If that result is important enough for you, you have to find your way to tap into that positive emotion, that excitement, that commitment you have to massive action and then take the action required in order to get it done.

Even if the action doesn't look anything like you thought it would. You might have to completely change it up, that's a beautiful thing, and it's worth it. I think, it's one of those things that you can do for yourself that teaches you that you will honor your commitment to yourself.

Now here's the other distinction that's really important when it comes to massive action. There is massive action, and then there is passive action. So many of us get this two confuse. I just recently have been exploring this concept in my mind and understanding the difference and I think I have a better way of explaining it now. I wasn't to share it with you.

First of all passive action does not get you the results you want. It doesn't get you closer to the results you want. Passive action has to do with consumption, and massive action has to do with creating. When you're taking action you need to ask yourself, "Am I creating, or am I consuming." Here's what I mean.

I can read books on a topic, I can take classes on a topic, I can talk to someone about a topic. I mean literally, I could read four days on a topic and search the Internet on a topic, and then go to for more classes on the topic. That feel like action to me. I feel like I'm moving, I feel like I'm taking steps.

All I'm doing is consuming in those situations, even though it's active, it's consuming. I'm not in the process of creating. Passive action is kind of ... Another word I use for it, is like intellectual action. You're thinking about doing something, you're writing down ideas about doing something. You're talking to other people about doing something.

You're not actually doing something. That's really important to know the difference right? Because when you're taking massive action you're creating. When you look at your action, and you think, "Okay here's a goal that I have. How much action have I really taken?" We have a program, Susan Hyatt and I have a program called the Weight School.

We have so many amazing students come through that school, and they learn all about the concepts, they learn all about the different kinds of eating and the hunger scale, and how our thoughts create our feeling, and how our actions are determined by how we feel. They understand it inside out and backwards.

They tell us, "We've taking so much action, we've been reading and listening to everything." I said, "Okay well how much have you been applying what we've taught you? Have you been eating two to two, have you been keeping a food journal, have you been doing and creating in your life the results that you want based on what we've taught you. Are you taking massive action, or are you taking passive action."

What so fascinating is most of us don't even realize that we're just taking passive action. We think that the reading and the studying and the understanding is the action. It's not. It's not the action. Thinking about eating less, is not eating less. Learning how to eat less, is not eating less. Thinking about working out, planning your workout, is not working out.

That's the different between passive, and massive action. Think about a goal you have right now. Think about how much massive action you have taken towards achieving it. Here's a great way to know. If you've been taking massive action, you probably fall on your face more than once.

You probably fallen on your face 5, 6, 7, 8, 9 times because massive action is what pushes you up against your obstacles. Passive action doesn't require any failure, because all you're doing is thinking about what's possible, you're not creating what is possible. Huge, huge distinction.

Now I know this for myself, I am a huge consumer of materials. I love passive action, I love reading, I love taking classes, I love getting coached, I love talking to people, I love all of it. I will never give it up. I need to balance that out with my massive action. I can hide in passive action all day.

That another really important distinction. If you feel like you are hiding, in any way, but you're still taking action, that's passive action. Massive action, requires you to fall on your face usually in front a lot of other people. I want to encourage you to take massive action and fall in your face in front of other people.

Because that's how you get the results you want. You can just think about getting them, right. It is much easier to consume information to learn information to read information than it is to take action. I for one prefer to consume than to create because creating is very scary.

I also prefer to create because it's the only thing that gets me the result that orally excite me. I love creating results in my life. I don't necessarily love the process, of creating results. I don't like the part where I've fall on my face a lot of times in front of other people. I love the end result, and the journey create so many things for me.

It helps me evolve, it helps me learn that I can overcome anything. It helps me manage my emotional life. It brings me up against myself, it shows me where I still need growth. I just recently, it is actually just yesterday. Something had happened in my business, someone made a huge mistake.

I find myself wanting to scream, and yell, and lose my mind. I notice that, that desire to do that, had nothing to do with creating a good solution. It wasn't going to help me take massive action towards my result. It was just me spinning out. It was the opposite of taking action, it was not utilizing that energy toward something positive and something creative.

It was just turning it against myself onto myself. It's hard to recognize that in the moment, I was able to recognize it shortly after and turn it around and start thinking about the solution instead of the problem, and using all that energy, all of that emotion toward something much more powerful.

Toward something much more creative and useful in my life, and that was so exciting for me. I like to think about, resistance and railing against myself as all internal action that doesn't serve me. I need to pay attention to that, and not react to it, and then take action that's not reactive, take action in a way that serves and the people around me.

I wanted to end this with just talking about the gift of taking massive action. I think massive action is the thing that's going to introduce you to yourself. Whenever I'm dealing with weight-loss client, I say "Hey, if you stick with that food journal for 30 days. You will meet yourself." Hello there you will be.

If you commit to eating to two to two on a hunger scale, you will meet yourself in all those moments you want to eat when you're not hungry. If you want to build a business, and you commit to taking massive action you are going to go through it sister, brother. You're going to go through it, you are going to fail, and that's part of the process.

You're going to do it wrong, you're going to send an e-mail out where that link is not working. You're going to send an e-mail that no one responds to, you're going to offer a product that nobody buys, and you're going to use that as a reason to quit, or you're going to use it as a reason to make that product better, to get more customers to show up even more.

That invitation is always available to us. Right the invitation to quit, and the invitation to step into ourselves, to fail and fail how many times are you willing to fail to get that results you want. If you're willing to fail as many times as it takes then you're willing to take massive action.

Few people are willing to do that, that's why most people don't get the results they want. If I was going to sell you on something, it would be. You have what it takes to fail as many times. There is no emotion that you can't experience, right? Whatever desire you have to quit, is because you want out of that emotion that you're experiencing.

If you failed at something, let's say you've launched a product that not one person bought, right? This has happened to many of my students. You launch your product, you put your heart and soul into it, you try and sell it, nobody buys it. Right? That feeling that comes up for you, that feeling of discouragement, that feeling of shame, that feeling of fear of disappointment.

Whatever it is that comes up for you, that's what you want to escape when you try and quit. If you're willing to feel those emotions if you invite them in, if you say bring it on, I'm willing to go through this emotions, and I'm willing to create again then you will. You know that the worst that can happen, is another emotion and there is no emotion that you can't handle right?

Humiliation and terror, I think those are the worst 2. You can experience them, and if you're willing to experience them, there is no amount of action that will can discourage you. There is no amount of mistakes that can discourage you. You'll find another way, you won't give up. You'll take the action that's required to get the result you want.

That's why it's such a gift, your willingness to take massive action to recognize the difference between passive and massive action. Recognize when you're hiding, versus when you're resting. Like people will say to me, "Massive action just sound exhausting. I'm tired already."

I'll say, "But it's also exhausting to hide." I've talked about this before on this podcast. Think about hiding from someone that you're scared off, right? They're coming to find you, and they will get you, and they're going to find you right? That's exhausting, you're like tense, you're like hiding, you're like, "Oh my God I hope they don't see me."

That its own kind of exhaustion, showing up and getting the results you want, is its own level of exhaustion. Passive action, hiding, using passive action to hide is its own layer of exhaustion. If you're willing to be exhausted in a way that get you closer to that goal. Yes, it's exhausting to try and fail, to try and fail, I'm not saying it's not.

I'm just saying at least that type of action is getting you closer. Closer to the results you want. Not just spinning you around in circles, and circles, and circles. Here's what I want to invite you to do today. I want to invite to find a goal that mean something to you. Be willing to commit to massive action for 30 days.

I will do this for the next 30 days. If you're a coach write a blog post every day for 30 days. If you're trying to lose weight, write down everything you've eating. Everything you've eaten, every day for 30 days to open up your mind to curiosity and compassion. Pay attention to your thoughts, if you're just learning this work and you just started following me, and you want to learn more about what's going on in your mind.

Commit to writing down your thought every day for 30 days. Take the massive action, will you miss a day? Probably. Will you fail? Probably. Will you want to use that as a reason to give up? Probably. The difference between whether you get that end result that you're looking for or not is if you try again.

Will you try it again. Will you show up for yourself again, will you fail 100 times and pick it up again at 101. That's going to be the difference whether you get the result you want. Make excuses and quit, and go back to passive action and hiding, or be willing to do it again and again and again until you get the result you want.

Massive action is the secret sauce to whatever you want in your life. You keep taking action, until you get the result you want. Please come to the comments. Thelifecoachschool.com/16 and tell me what you're committed over the next 30 days to taking action on.

I am totally all in with my students taking action on building their businesses, and trying as many things as I can until they get the results they want. That's what I'm willing to do over the next 90 days. What are you committed to doing for the next 30? Share it with me in the comments underneath the show notes.

It's been my pleasure to talk to you guys today, and I will talk to you next week. Massive action everybody. Peace.

Thank you for listening to The Life Coach School podcast. It would be incredibly awesome if you would take a moment to write a quick review on iTunes. For any questions, comments or coaching issues you’d like to hear on the show, please visit us at https://thelifecoachschool.com.