When I’m teaching clients how to sell, I tell them to sit in the pain with their prospective clients. It’s not until someone really feels the pain of their situation that they are motivated to transform their situation, and it’s only then that they become willing to hire from, or buy from you.

That’s what you do with prospective clients. But what about you? What is the area of transformation that you’ve been putting off? Where are you living at 90% (or perhaps only 50%) but not taking action?

This can show up in many ways. In business, for example: Perhaps it’s putting up with not making the money that you know you deserve, but not taking the action to raise your rates or reach more people. This happens when you don’t get the support or training that you need, because that investment would be out of your comfort zone.

Or maybe you’re only living at 90% in your life. You haven’t gotten in shape, or started that eating plan, or you’re still tolerating relationships that don’t support you, or you haven’t cleared the clutter from your home or office… the list can go on and on.

Here are three things to check, to see where you’re still living at less than 100%:

1) You’ve been telling yourself that effort is more important than results.

Imagine a child who is unwilling to put his face in the water trying to swim the length of a pool. He can dog paddle, splashing around using lots of energy, but he won’t get very far very fast, because he’s not willing to do something uncomfortable to move forward fast. For many entrepreneurs, this shows up as being unwilling to invest hundreds of dollars, or a few thousand, in order to make back six figures. If you don’t invest in yourself, you can put in a lot of effort and still get mediocre results. Don’t pat yourself on the back for working hard – instead, figure out what you need to do to get the results

2) You’re tolerating people or situations that don’t serve you.

Maybe it’s friends who encourage you to play small, or habits that keep you from being productive or deeply enjoying life. Maybe you know you need to start exercising or meditating, turn off the TV, or clear the clutter, but it’s just always been that way and it’s too darn much trouble to change. Or perhaps you need to walk away from that ‘friend’ who keeps giving you messages of poverty, lack, and unworthiness. Yes, it’s initially more uncomfortable, but worth the reward.

3) You’re sticking your head in the sand, and completely ignoring a potential problem area.

The big area for most entrepreneurs to ignore is keeping their books, and structuring their business like a business. Getting support from a bookkeeper, accountant, and/or financial advisor can seem boring and unimportant, but it’s VITAL to your success.

Just to be clear – I strongly recommend that you spend time every day celebrating your successes – that’s SO important to continuing to grow and create new success.

But you also need to look at what’s not working, not to beat yourself up or hold yourself back, but as a simple acknowledgement of what’s next for you. It’s not always fun to look at the areas that you need to improve. But once you make a commitment and get into action, you’ll feel great, you’ll be powerful – and you’ll get results.

I’ve had the privilege in my work to see and acknowledge people for playing big – for stepping up, and taking risks in creating the businesses and lives that they want. I’ve also seen people, excited and motivated in the moment, who then back away from their dreams.

I realized that there is a profound difference between those who, in a moment of inspiration, make a commitment to do something extraordinary, and people who want to ‘think about it’. Over and over, I see that the people who ‘think about it’ don’t take action, and don’t get the results that they dream about. Once I thought about this, I realized why this is true.

In order to take an extraordinary action, you need to be inspired, swept up in excitement, and thinking outside the usual scope of what’s possible for you. You need to be dreaming, and motivated, and willing to consider the possibility that you could succeed in a way that is not predicted by your past.

Here’s the catch: No one, NO ONE, keeps this energy and attitude 100% of the time.

We can work to cultivate these beliefs, and use all of our many tools to live in this reality. But the truth is that we will alternate these moments of ‘I CAN do this!’ with ‘I’m terrified that I won’t succeed.’

Those who ‘think about it’ will, at some point during their thinking, be overcome by fear. And because it’s so much more comfortable and familiar to live where they are, they will not take extraordinary action. Not now, and not in the future. If you’ve been congratulating yourself because you always ‘think about it’ please consider that you are holding yourself back from the extraordinary. Because it takes inspiration to step into something that is ‘unreasonable’ – like the idea that you could start with nothing, and build a six-figure business in only a year, yet I’ve seen my clients do this.

Those who commit in the moment of inspiration will still feel fear at some point. However, once committed, the way out of fear is not back into comfort, complacency, and being broke. The way out of fear is moving forward, into success, and into a transformed business and life.

If you choose to be someone who commits in the moment of inspiration, not just once but as a way of life, you will have an extraordinary life.

Will you occasionally make mistakes? Probably. But what you gain from leaping into opportunity will far overshadow any mistakes. What you learn from the challenges will transform you into a person who succeeds, no matter what. You will be a person who risks big, plays big – and wins big. Honestly, there is no other way.

In building a business, there are so many activities to be scheduled – Client appointments, sales calls, networking events, learning opportunities, and mastermind meetings, just to name a few. Often these take time, money, and advance planning, and you may feel like putting out the extra effort just isn’t worth it, even if you know that attending an event will make a difference.

I’ve seen this pattern over and over. Here are the limiting thoughts that are hurting your business:

‘I’m doing so many other things, I can get away with not attending this event.’
‘I won’t really get much from it. I never do.’
‘I can’t invest that much in myself. I might not get it back.’
‘It’s just too inconvenient to work everything out.’

For those of you who are looking for truth in what it takes to run a business, you can take these to the bank.

1. It’s never a convenient time to work on your business. Do it anyway.
2. The money that you need for your next important business investment is probably not already sitting in your sock drawer. Figure it out, and invest anyway.
3. You don’t need a positive mindset 100% of the time. You need to take action 100% of the time, and have a positive mindset during as much of that as possible.
4. It won’t happen as fast as you want it to. But if you do #3, it will happen.
5. Super-successful people will tell you that most success consists of showing up. And showing up. And showing up.
6. Believing in yourself, and taking action consistent with that belief, is the best business strategy you can have.

The difference between you having to close your business, and you succeeding beyond  your wildest dreams can be as simple as showing up. Even when it’s not convenient.