Idea… Vision… Plan…. Nitty Gritty.
Many of us get stuck in the lofty idea stage of a project: expanding on our colourful visions and dreaming big. This is the perfect place to start… but it’s not much good to anyone if we stay here.
Others of us get stuck in the planning stage: making lists and devising strategies. Again, very useful – but only if we actually see these actions through.
When it comes down to it, you’ve just got to get on and do some work.
I know this from recent first-hand experience. Last Friday night, thirty-five people came out on a bitter-cold January evening to watch an inspirational film, dance salsa and discuss peak oil over locally baked cookies. This was the launch event for Transition Cambridge in our village. The vision had been made reality and we left on a high, savouring the new connections made and feeling a genuine sense of community.
The behind-the-scenes reality is that I’ve been planning and preparing for this event since last September. That one event has been the result of 100+ small, tangible actions: “email him”, “phone her”, “attend this festival” and “post that flyer to them”. This nitty gritty makes all the difference – and it’s also where we can really run into difficulties.
It’s understandable that many of us baulk at the detail. It’s slow and somewhat boring and repetitive. It can be frustrating, it takes persistence – and because the process takes time, there’s lots of opportunity for the self-doubt and resistance to take hold. I can’t count the number of times over the past four months I’ve thought: “Why am I doing this?!”
Your job is to grab those pesky detail gremlins and stay in action regardless. These gremlins can be seen as internal mechanisms set up to protect ourselves: What if our action steps don’t work and our vision collapses? Those ‘gremlins’ would rather we didn’t find that out and so they keep us in safety and our dream remains as a dream. Where there’s the possibility of pain, few dare to venture.
Aside from the fears and self-preservation, there’s another reason we avoid the nitty gritty: It’s just not all that sexy. Once the eureka moment has passed and the drug-like emotional high of an idea has faded away, we’re left in our office, toiling away, step after step after step. It’s simply not particularly glamorous. Are you okay with that? Can you put in the hard-graft, knowing what might await you at the end?
You can quickly assess whether you’re a detail-o-phobe or not by glancing at the action steps below. Do you look forward to that section of these blog posts? Do you actually DO the action steps? Or do you avoid the nitty gritty? If so, how does that impact your projects? Instead of taking a generic “It’ll all be okay” or “It’ll happen someday” approach, perhaps it’s time for you to dare to sit in the detail.
The World Needs Your Passion, So…
1) Make a note of your idea in its raw form – like “put on a community event”. Capture that light-bulb moment, that split-second insight.
2) Grow that idea a little. Pad it out, develop its colour and texture and depth, until it’s more like a vision. You may well want to ask your friend or coach to help you with this stage.
3) Now make a list of twenty action steps that would actually move this idea forward. What is literally, tangibly required of you?
4) DO THE ACTIONS! Commit to taking at least ten of those action steps this coming fortnight, so they’re done by the time the next issue of this blog, The World Needs Your Passion, comes out. As you get down to work, notice what resistance comes up. Is it a fear of failure, or a fear of success? Is it a feeling of being out of your depth, not knowing if these are the ‘right’ steps to take? Are you turned off by the tedium of the nitty gritty, do you long for the euphoria of the dreaming visioning space? Keep taking the action steps with awareness on the resistance and notice if it shifts as you move forward.
5) Leave a comment on this blog, letting us know how you find the nitty gritty. Love it or hate it? Which type of actions come easiest and which do you put off? What is your predominant resistance to getting down to the nitty gritty? And what is the impact when you get down to it and actually take the steps that need to be taken?
© Corrina Gordon-Barnes, 2010
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If you find yourself in the same patterns of resistance over and over again, and if you’d much rather be moving forward with the vision and getting down to the nitty gritty, you might really value individual coaching support. Find out more here.
If you’d like to explore and expand your idea with others and commit to some tangible action steps, come along to the next Kickstart Your Venture workshop on 24th April. Find out more here.
Uncannily good timing, Corinna
I thought I’d found a legitimate way to put the actions off for a while, but looks like you’ve seen right through that.
Cheers for this!
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James – Delighted to have busted those ‘legitimate reasons’. Oh how ‘being sensible’ can keep us stuck
Corrina´s last blog ..Are You Avoiding The Nitty Gritty?
I actually really like the nitty gritty, stuff – being a Virgo – my mind gets caught up in the little details all the time.
Where I often need help is prioritising the “game changer” tasks – like the really important contact who could increase my ezine list, or the amazing interview, or sending an article to the right magazine instead of the one that doesn’t intimidate me, otherwise I’ll plug away at the thousand things that *do* need to be done, but actually keep me operating small.
The things I generally put off have to do with money – tracking my finances, doing my taxes, chasing invoices!
You are so right, Corrina! The scariest thought on the death bed would be, “why did not I see my idea live? Why did I avoid to express myself and live my life to the full? Why did I shut who I was and kept running around doing things with no meaning to my heart?”
When we listen to our intuition and follow our passion the nitty, gritty stuff could be exiting and very satisfying, step by step bringing us closer to our dream and our life purpose – to serve others to the best of our abilities, gifts and talents.
Thank you, Corrina, if everyone of us had a coach like you our planet would be a much better place!
Thanks for another inspiring blog post Corrina!
Thankfully I am a detail and a list person, so getting down to the nitty gritty when writing my eBook ‘Loving Life-Loving Desserts’ came as second nature.
What was easy to do though, was to forget the bigger picture, while getting lost in the nitty gritty and those ever-growing lists! A bit like that story of the two stonemasons building a cathedral. When asked what they were doing, one replied, ‘I am building a wall’ and the other said,’ I am building a cathedral’. On some days it was easy to forget the vision, and just get bogged down in the ‘today, I am proofreading a document for the millionth time’ mentality!
Well, I mustn’t complain too much – some days my to-do list was ‘re-test and taste the Chocolate Torte recipe’!
Denise & Johanna – I’m struck by some similarities here with you two – the love of detail, with other kind of challenges: knowing which are the ‘game changer’ tasks and also keeping an eye to the big vision. I wonder if there’s a connection here: by remembering the big picture, you can more clearly identify the high-priority tasks?
And funnily you’re two people who’ve recently inspired me by producing very interesting looking e-books! So your results are testimony to your ability to get down to work.
When you next post, do click the ‘Comment Luv’ button (as I have) as it directs people to your blogs – and from there they can find out more about your work, including your e-books. You’re both doing delicious work!
Corrina´s last blog ..Are You Avoiding The Nitty Gritty?
Irina – What a beautiful thing to say, thank you.
Sounds like there’s something scarier than the scariness of taking the steps. The deathbed mentality is in my mind at the moment as I’m reading Gay Hendrick’s ‘Five Wishes’ in which he asks: ‘What would I need to have done to call my life a success?’
I’m so glad you’re coming to the Kickstart Your Venture workshop on 24th April – and also that you’re referring your friends too. I look forward to meeting you then – I have a feeling you’ll bring a lot of inspiration in to the room.
Corrina´s last blog ..Are You Avoiding The Nitty Gritty?
Thanks for your comment Corrina. What an honour to inspire you (usually, it’s the other way around!)
Yes, Denise’s site is very inspiring. I love her concept! Great to make contact with like-minded people.
Have a great weekend
Yes.
Your post is timely for me also as I brought this very topic into a session with my coach earlier today.
One of the things I notice is how easily I get caught up in information gathering mode. The internet is such a FABULOUS tool for connecting, sharing, learning… and can also be very seductive.
‘Unplugging’ is a huge challenge for me. Yet that’s what’s needed to focus attention on those nitty gritty action steps that support me in being of more service through my life’s work.
So I’d better sign off now and get on with it… ;o)
As always, I appreciate your wonderful energy and insightfulness, Corrina!
Best,
Rita
Rita´s last blog ..LifeCoachRita: "There are two ways of spreading light: to be the candle or the mirror that reflects it." – Edith Wharton
Rita – I’m wondering if behind that ‘information gathering mode’, we have a fear: of failure, of success, of change or the unknown. All the time we’re being seduced by the juicy info that’s out there, we can happily ignore actually getting on and doing it. We can be the safe student rather than She Who Offers And Risks. I’ve noticed that myself, for sure. Thanks for sharing this insight.
Corrina´s last blog ..Are You Avoiding The Nitty Gritty?
Another great piece Corrina! For me, I am almost obsessive about lists and I’ve very good at getting down to the nitty gritty, I have a list for everything and really helps me to focus! I notice I’m becoming better at doing the things that have been on my list for a while too! The thing I have realised though is that I am so busy getting on with ticking things off the list that I forget/ don’t allow myself to acknowledge the things I have achieved. So for me it’s about taking a step back from the nitty gritty to look at the bigger picture.
Yes, I absolutely recognize the truth in that, Corinna!
All the fears you mentioned are familiar. And we could probably throw the unquenchable need for perfectionism in the mix too…which is rooted in fear come to think of it. What’s also interesting is how exhausting these dynamics become!
Recently I made the decision to remove myself from mailing lists that don’t serve my IMMEDIATE GOALS. What a relief to make that shift! That small step has served to bring my awareness back to the place of conscious choice. Now my focus is more easily held is on getting support and taking actions specific to marketing and developing my business. YAY!! And I also notice that staying on track is a choice in every moment.
This is such a great topic and I’m enjoying everyone’s posts and insights!
Thanks
Rita´s last blog ..LifeCoachRita: RT @Beckywitz: "Just trust yourself, then you will know how to live." ~ Goethe