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Coaching & Training Corner

Creating Problem-Free Zones In Your Life

Imagine an oasis of calm in your life - where everything is working as it should - where there is no drama, crisis, or unresolved loose ends.

In coaching, it's called a "problem-free zone" - and far from being an unachievable nirvana, it's quite possible to achieve - with some focus, support and hard work.

Start with identifying where your pain points are right now. Is it your weight? Your relationship? Your finances? Your children's academic performance? Your household clutter?

Then decide which you would most like to be a "problem-free zone." Depending on your personality, you might select your very worst problem to start with - because in addressing it, you will start to feel some real relief. Or you might want to start with a less troubling area - that when solved, will give you confidence to move on to more difficult challenges.

From there, brainstorm with the help of a friend, family member or coach on possible ways to resolve your problem once and for all. Then prioritize those ideas into a series of steps or actions you can take.

Then, stay as focused on taking actions toward creating that "problem-free zone" every chance you get until you achieve it. If you feel yourself getting distracted, gently pull yourself back by imagining that you have a big rubber band attached around your waist - and that it keeps bringing you back to the main task at hand.

An Example: Making Your Checkbook a Problem-Free Zone

Say, for example, you've never been able to keep your checkbook balanced, you're often surprised by unrecorded ATM withdrawals, and from time to time, checks bounce. This causes you constant anxiety, and sometimes, shame, and remorse.

Yet, you're so used to this uncomfortable feeling - that you just brush this feeling away and "tolerate it". The problem is that tolerating an uncomfortable situation zaps you of energy to tackle other more interesting challenges because "I really ought to stay in this weekend and balance that checkbook." It also undermines your confidence, "I'm an adult - I really ought to be able to keep my checkbook balanced."

Instead, why not work toward making your checkbook a problem-free zone - and put the problem behind you once and for all. You could take some of the following actions:

  • Ask a friend who is good at financial stuff to sit down with you and help.
  • Start a brand-new checking account - so that you don't have to waste a lot of time trying to figure out past mistakes.
  • Get financial software or online banking to stay on top of your account activity all the time - rather than waiting until the end of the month to balance it.
  • Immediately enter transactions when they happen. If you have a joint account, ask your spouse to put the receipts all in one place or send you an email when transactions occur on their end.
  • Set up automatic payments for your regular bills, so that you don't forget to pay them. (Just make sure you keep an adequate amount of money in the account to cover them!)

If you've been grappling with the problem of balancing your accounts for a long time, you've probably thought about, or even tried, doing all these things. But now since the problem hasn't gone away on its own, you need to apply some concerted effort to make it disappear.

You may have to take a couple of months to master your new skill, try a few different approaches, and develop new habits. But in time, once this area of life becomes a problem-free zone, you can move on to the next challenge without that piece of unfinished business dragging you down.

Sounds easy, right? But what about real life?

Once you establish a problem-free zone, will it ever go into the danger zone again?

Possibly. Life throws us curve balls -- good and bad. Your good intentions may by the wayside for a while if, for example, you get a promotion at work or need to care for a sick child. But in time, you'll get back to your good habits - because you'll remember how great it feels to have a problem-free zone.

You can also acknowledge in advance that life is rarely ever perfect, that good habits are hard to sustain in isolation, or that it is simply impossible for someone like you to ever keep some aspects of life in check no matter how hard you try. Knowing that you could line up some extra help for yourself - by joining a support group, paying a bookkeeper to handle your finances, or working with a therapist or coach.

However you address it, once you resolve the problem to the best of your ability, you will feel more peace, serenity and contentment.

And as you create more and more "problem-free zones" - as that basement gets decluttered, you finally start exercising regularly, or whatever - your serenity and contentment will grow. No, you'll never reach nirvana, but you will feel progressively better and that's way better than feeling progressively worse!

If you would like to create some problem-free zones in your life, contact me for business or life coaching.



Karen's ClickZ Columns on B2B Email Marketing