Permission Granted

You are waiting for news whether you have been successful with that mortgage or business loan application. The news comes “Permission Granted”.

You are waiting to hear whether your application to join that golf club / sports club you have always wanted to be a member of has been accepted. The letter comes: “Permission Granted”.

The opportunity to join that coveted preferred supplier list for your dream customer. “Permission Granted”.

Has your son or daughter gained entry to the university or school of their choice? “Permission Granted”.

How does it feel when you receive that news? Someone else, some distant body, some computer says “YES”. Relieved? Elated? Excited? At last you can move forward. Your plans, dreams, aspirations have just taken a step in the right direction. The one thing that had ground progress to a halt, the one thing that was holding you back has now been removed.

What is holding you back in your business? Lack of funding? Lack of the right talent? The need for the right contacts? Need more leads? Not enough profit? Not enough time? Too much risk? Lack of courage? Lack of confidence?

Write down the things you hear yourself saying as the reason why you have not made the progress you hoped to.

Put last two questions on hold for a moment.

For the others, ask yourself the question ‘What ARE the ways around that?’. If the voice in your head responds with “there aren’t any” or a similar response then respond with the question “IF THERE WAS a way to solve that issue what would it be?”   Keep asking that question for each of those blockers until you have a number of possible solutions for each.

There is always more than one way to solve a problem. In the language of the IT profession “there is always a work around”. If you keep asking for long enough whilst expecting the answer, your brain will deliver it for you.

But what about those pesky courage and confidence sapping questions “What if it doesn’t work?” “What if it goes wrong?”. Yes, it is important to appraise risk. So list the risks and come up with all of the different ways you can mitigate each risk”. When you make your ‘Plan B’s” your confidence in your ability to deal with whatever is thrown at you increases.

So by now you are feeling more in control. More confident. But…

There is still that nagging doubt. There is something still holding you back. What to do?

Have you ever had the experience when someone you trust, someone whose opinion you respect, a good friend looks you straight in the eye and says “you can do this”, “look at your track record, look at the level of determination and focus you bring to all of your projects, you always make it happen”, “you can do this”. Those simple words have a big impact. They lift you. They energise you. They boost your confidence. They give you permission.

Sometimes all we need to move forward is someone we trust to give us permission to go for it. Bizarre as that may sound, when we are given permission from someone, it gives us that last boost that we needed to get out of our own way and get on with delivering what we knew in our heart of hearts we could achieve.

YOU HAVE PERMISSION!  Permission Granted.

Time for you to get on with it. Deliver what your gut is telling you that you can achieve.