When people used to ask me the most difficult part of writing a book, the answer usually was not the one they had expected. “Sit down and start writing” was my response. Even Steven Pressfield in his book “The War of Art: Break through the Blocks and Win your Inner Creative Battles”, says “It’s not the writing that’s hard. What’s hard is sitting down to write”.

We all know that beginning something is hard. The stress arises when we do not begin. The stress arises when we do not do something that we should be doing. We see the problems around us, feel pessimistic and just do not begin. Stress is caused by things we do not do that are in our control. The current environment is very conducive to acquiring ideal new clients. However, we must do what is necessary: figuring out ways to set meetings and walking the client through a wow first meeting. Does it take effort to set meetings? Does it take effort to get better at the first meeting and then master it? Yes absolutely, it takes effort, but the best part is this is in your control. The real professionals who are doing this have achieved exceptional results in the last 7 months (and for some, their best ever).

Many of you are getting stuck (rather frozen) by the voice between your two ears. We all do at times, but we should learn to manage this voice (as this impacts our overall performance). The best way for you to manage stress is to Begin Doing what you should indeed be doing. If it’s writing a whitepaper, sit down and begin; If it’s crafting a referral strategy, sit down, go through all your client data, get insights from it and start writing; If it’s improving your first meeting /conversational skills, get a world class coach, practice and master the skills.

J.P. Morgan’s quote brings the above thoughts to life “The first step towards getting somewhere is to decide you are not going to stay where you are”.

The decisions you take will decide what you end up with. You will either have Results or Excuses. The choice is yours.