Neuroscience of Coaching – Episode 18
Avoiding Analysis Paralysis (Krista Martin)
Krista Martin: Becoming a CEO is almost like you’re getting married every single day with the number of decisions you have to make, you know, the type of linens, the color of the dress, the type of fabric. But really what I learned the hard way was that the more simple you can keep things, the faster you can grow.
Dr. Irena O’Brien: Hi, I’m Doctor Irene O’Brien, and you’re listening to Neuroscience of Coaching. I’m a cognitive neuroscientist with almost 30 years of study and practice in psychology and neuroscience. And as the founder of the Neuroscience School, I teach coaches and other wellness professionals practical, evidence-based strategies to use in their own practices. In each episode, I invite a seasoned coach to discuss a topic that clients struggle with. And together, we provide you with science-based tools to help your clients reach their goals by working with their brains to create results that last
Analysis paralysis. It’s something most, if not all, people have experienced at some point. If you haven’t heard the term before, it simply means falling into overwhelm while trying to weigh a decision to the point that you’re afraid to decide. The trap in this comes from our false assumption that more information or input will solve the dilemma. So we ask for more options, do more research, run the numbers, and anything else we think will make us safe in our decision. But all of this additional data and feedback often just makes us more unsure, and then we feel even more stuck.
Obviously, the magnitude of the decision will make analysis paralysis more or less likely. Deciding what time to go to the store is not the same as whether to change jobs. But research does show that certain traits in thinking and emotion are strongly associated with analysis paralysis. Perfectionism clearly raises the stakes of a decision. People pleasing will make certain decisions harder because we might have to let someone down or create a bad situation for them. Black and white thinking causes problems because many decisions require nuanced thought, levels of complexity and trade-offs that rigid thinkers have a hard time with.
Lack of confidence in decision making will, of course, magnify underlying fear and apprehension, as lack of confidence does with most anything. And last, empathy. This wonderful characteristic can be a challenge because we may worry about negative emotions that others will have as a result of our decision, leading us to want to avoid it. Fortunately, there are ways to address these traits, which we will get into today. And, of course, we have neuroscience as our guide. Even the simplest of decisions is the result of complex brain activity involving the interaction between multiple networks.
First, we have the prefrontal cortex, which governs planning, reasoning, and making choices. And second, we have the limbic system, which processes emotions and past experiences. As you might imagine, these two parts of the brain can be at odds with each other in a decision. The prefrontal cortex might create a mental spreadsheet that demonstrates the logic in moving to another city, but the limbic system might call up an emotion from a previous experience that didn’t turn out so well. So given the totality of the personality involved and other factors, this combination of thinking and feeling could easily lead to a fear of making a decision.
So on the show today, we’re going to deconstruct analysis paralysis, look at ways to mitigate or eliminate it, and explore the underlying neuroscience. And I’m especially happy to have this conversation with my wonderful guest, Krista Martin.
Krista Martin is the president and founder of Make Your Mark and the Six Figure Impact Academy. As a sought-after speaker and business strategist, she teaches her clients how to fill their coaching programs through speaking and scale their business to multiple six figures. Through her corporate and entrepreneurial career, she has discovered how keeping things simple allows you to create faster results and have more fun. When she’s not coaching and speaking, she supports homeless animals and shelters with the goal of all pets living in a happy and healthy home. So thank you so much, Krista, for joining us today.
Krista: Oh, Irena, I’m very excited to be here.
Dr. Irena: Yeah, it’s so great to have you here. So before we get into our topic today, why don’t you give us a bit more about your background and how that led to the work you do?
Krista: Oh, yes. I guess I started out, which is crazy, I think over ten years ago, building my business, and I focused on serving a younger version of myself. And what I mean by that is a coach that’s earlier in their business building journey than where I was. And really realizing too that there’s so much excitement and passion around coaching. But most coaches don’t know how to get clients. They don’t know how to articulate their value. They get stuck in making decisions. They’ve never been a CEO before.
And I’ve even joked before about how becoming a CEO is almost like you’re getting married every single day with the number of decisions you have to make, you know, the type of linens, the color of the dress, the type of fabric. But really what I learned the hard way was that the more simple you can keep things, the faster you can grow. And specifically, leveraging speaking has been one of my favorite ways to serve and support clients because that worked and helped us grow quickly from 40 to over 220 in twelve months.
And I’ll tell you, the whole piece with that, is that it was the same talk and it was over and over and simple. Then we grew to half a million and seven figures, all with the idea of how to leverage speaking in a new way and keeping it simple. So, just very excited to join you today, as many of my coaches in a younger version of myself would absolutely resonate with analysis paralysis.
Dr. Irena: What an interesting trajectory. So, I’m interested to know, when we talked about what topic we would explore today, what in particular made you want to explore analysis paralysis.
Krista: It’s something that I’ve realized many of our clients who are coaches are struggling with. I talk about the CEO mindset as a new muscle that we’re building. We’re learning to make decisions without all the data. And Colby, which is an assessment you can take that shows how you’re wired to make decisions. I love that assessment, and what it showed when I took it was that I love systems. So that’s what I’ll go to first, and then I’ll go to data. So I know very well how easy it is to say, oh, I’m just going to go research that. And then six months later, I’m still researching, but I have the best spreadsheet, you know, and all the data.
But yet, to grow a successful business, you have to be willing to make decisions before I had all the data on, you know, as my husband said to my teenage daughter the other day, before I reached the end of the Internet with all my research and being able to say, this is good enough, or I’m 51% confident in this decision, which really felt uncomfortable because I was a self-proclaimed perfectionist and definite people pleaser. And to say this is the path forward was really empowering for me and really what allowed us to grow.
And so I see that holding many coaches back from being afraid to decide and also not realize, not deciding is still deciding. It’s saying, I’m okay staying where I am, and they’re not realizing that as well. So that’s why I’m excited about it. And to say, I’ve been there, done that, and I learned there’s beauty on the other side without all the information.
Dr. Irena: Yeah, I can really identify with that as a researcher in neuroscience or in any endeavor. You’re an empiricist at heart, so you can’t ever have too much information. And so then going to building a business is a completely different mindset because you’re right. You have to make decisions when you don’t have all the answers.
Krista: Yes. It’s one of the messages I share with clients or reminders is this idea that if you’re not making at least a few mistakes each day, then you’re not moving fast enough. It makes most of them break out in hives and, like, fall out of their chair. And I’m being extreme there, but meaning that it’s also becoming friends with things not working out perfect or however we anticipate. Because usually in business, at least my experiences, things don’t usually work out exactly as I plan, but they either work out that way or better. And it’s learning to say, okay, what’s the better and what did I learn versus I need to go get more information because the research itself, unless you are a researcher, doesn’t grow your business.
Dr. Irena: Yeah, exactly. So I wonder if you have people who struggle with kind of imaginary problems. So let me explain. When I’m starting something new, I have these imaginary problems. Like, I have to find an answer to every possible thing that could go wrong, and I really have to stop myself from doing that because, I mean, you could just go on forever.
Krista: Yes, you really could. And I would say that’s a beautiful thing because it shows you’re a strategic person and that you can see all the possible ways it could go wrong. And then the challenge that I would give to you, if you are a client, is to look at what’s the minimum amount of information I need to move forward. Like, what are the three or four questions that I need to have answered or mostly answered, which is also uncomfortable, and then getting clear on that.
You know, usually it’s three or four things versus the 14 different things. And then to say, when will we make the decision? By, like, putting a line in the sand, and ideally sooner than you might want to say in two weeks. Instead we’ll say, well, you know, what are the three or four questions you want to have answered by tomorrow? Which kind of makes that person who loves data kind of feel a little scared. But it also teaches that you’re going to learn and grow regardless of what decision you make. And there’s really rarely a bad decision as much as it is you getting clear what’s really important to know. How long am I going to give myself to research it, and when will I decide by?
Dr. Irena: And also, if that decision didn’t work out, it’s not a life-or-death situation here. Now, you know that, okay, this is not the way that it’s going to work. So I have to switch gears and try something else.
Krista: Yes, yes. And, you know, it’s funny, I do have several clients that are working on refining their ideal client and are newer in their business. And they’re like, how did you find your niche? You know, how did you get it? And I said, well, I got it wrong a bunch of times. I went all in. I thought I wanted to be a career coach. And I thought, no, I’m an executive coach. And I thought, what the heck? I don’t want to be a career executive coach. So I thought I’d be a mompreneur coach.
But the only way I really figured out wasn’t by researching. It was by taking action and committing that, okay, I’m going to choose this target market for 90 days or this ideal client group, and then I can redecide. And like you said, nobody’s going to die. You know, I used to joke and say, if no animals or young children were injured in the process, we’re fine. We get to live to fight another day.
And that actually just showed us, you know, by not liking the career coaching, for example, I knew, okay, that’s a dead end for me. Let’s shift to the left and let’s try this other group. But I wouldn’t have really known that career coaching wasn’t for me had I not really tried it. I couldn’t have researched myself to get to that answer, I guess.
Dr. Irena: Exactly. Like, I’m on my, how many careers have I had? This is my third career or maybe even fourth career. And, yeah, and it wasn’t like I decided ahead of time to get into these different careers. It was an evolution.
Krista: Yes. And that’s the beauty of it, too, is you look back and you think, I didn’t even realize I was shifting a little or redeciding. A perfect example of this is I’ve recently, I guess, within the last six months, started a second business that’s really focused on animals and bringing strategy to the animal welfare space. And I needed a logo for that because I needed a pretty quick website set up. And I noticed my decision-making process for that logo versus the very first logo in my business when I started make your mark ten plus years ago. I mean, that was a six- or eight-month process of what does this color mean? What does that angle or squiggle on the logo mean?
And this I realized, okay, one, it’s not permanent, and two, I choose one that feels good for now and I have full permission to change in the future. So it was really interesting to even notice the difference for me. And then it was, okay, I’m going to create one quickly get it up for the purpose of moving forward, because I know that’s more important than getting stuck on the exact perfect logo or color. But before that did stop me, you know, and kept me in a stuck place for quite a few months.
Dr. Irena: Yeah, I’m glad you said that, because I was going to say that most decisions are not permanent. Right? You can change them.
Krista: Yes.
Dr. Irena: If that doesn’t work out.
Krista: Yeah, we act like things are permanent or, you know, written in concrete or something. I’m like. It’s just scribbled on a piece of a sticky note. We can rewrite that or choose differently, but our brain wants us to think that, nope, you’re committed for life. You’re married to that target market or that niche, and everybody in the world sees you. Nobody in the world is probably, well, a few people, but not that many people are actually paying attention, you know, but our egos, no, everybody’s watching and they’re going to think this or that if you change your logo, when in reality, it’s really not nearly as life or death as we’ve made it out to be.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. One thing that I like in the online world is that the word test always comes up. So I love that word. Right? So that we’re always testing. We’re always testing our decisions. Right. And that’s all it is. It’s just a test.
Krista: Yes. And another client I worked with, she loved thinking of it as many experiments, that we are just similar, and it just took away the weight of, I’ve got to get it right. It was like, this is just a test or an experiment. You know, we’re making a guess. This is going to result in three clients saying, yes, or that this will happen. And then we get real data that we can then look at and make new decisions from that place of having actual data versus made up data in our brain, from our research.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. So as I said in my opening today, rigid thinking, perfectionism, empathy, people pleasing, and lack of confidence in decision making can all feed into analysis paralysis. So what experience or knowledge do you have in helping clients work through those traits to become more decisive?
Krista: I love making decisions because I really believe decisions create momentum, because usually when we’re stuck, we can tie it back to not making a decision or resisting making a decision. And so working with clients, reminding them of the importance and power of making decisions to move forward, not making decisions forever. And one of the ways that we help clients is creating with them a roadmap as they’re building their business. So what I mean by that is we’ll show these are the areas to focus on when you’re in zero to $50,000, for example.
These are the areas to focus on when you’re 50 to 150. And this is what you look at later. Because what I see happen so often, I’m sure you see this, too. Both being in this online space is that it’s easy for people who haven’t had a lot of practice making decisions and knowing how to decide what’s, you know, their best path is they can get overwhelmed because they see, for example, a seven-figure launch strategy, that they’re trying to figure out all the pieces for it. And maybe they have yet to sign their first client, you know.
So it’s their energy and attention is focused in what I would say is the wrong place that then leads to frustration and more self-doubt and, you know, because, oh, look, I made the wrong decision or I spent money on this technology that was way too complicated, when it’s really kind of demystifying the process to, these are the core areas to focus on in a systematic way, and here’s why. And then to also give permission and normalize that this isn’t a skill set that most people are born with. It’s a skill set we get to build as we’re stepping more and more into that leadership and CEO role in our business.
And that tends to make people feel better versus feeling in judgment of themselves. Like, I should be able to do this faster when some people do make really fast decisions, and other people similar to me, that are wired to want to research, you know, till the end of the Internet, and then it’s just setting those parameters. And my role as a CEO is make decisions and take action. It’s not to research. Even though that’s what my brain might be saying.
Dr. Irena: I like how you break it down. So zero to 50,000, you need to develop these skills, you know, 50,000 to the next milestone. It’s these different skills. Because when I look back on my own experience, yes. I mean, it was overwhelming, right? When you see people who are making six figures and what they’re doing to earn those six figures, and then there’s me, right? Just starting out, it was overwhelming. And I’ve been guilty of buying products and technology that I didn’t need at the time.
Krista: My guess would be most every coach or business owner out there has at least done that once, if nothing many times more than that. Because when we don’t have a roadmap, to me, that’s where my systems thinking comes in. That I like to help clients see this happens first, this happens next. And even though they may feel like they’re worried about stuff at level three, for example, but they’re at level one currently. I said, you’re going to have such different skills and strategies and knowledge that those decisions will be easy when you’re in level three.
So if we focus on level one and where we are, we’re building those skill sets or whatever we need, and then we’re moving to level two, and then level three is easy. We can’t do level three right now because we’re level one, you know, but people forget that because we’re humans and we want to be at level three. Or the product made it look so simple that we think, you know, we should be able to buy that. And it brings all the clients we could ever imagine, or whatever the goal is or all the systems freedom you’re looking for, but it really is looking at how we’re being called to grow. And I like to look at what skill sets am I being invited to learn next on my business building journey.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. So do you find that as people gain more experience with making decisions and as they’re growing their business, do you find that it’s easier for them to make decisions as they move on in their business?
Krista: Yes. At least from what I’ve seen is it’s that fear of, you know, I have to be married to this decision forever, or somebody’s going to die or the world’s going to be in a state of disarray just because I make this choice to realizing, okay, I made decisions, things worked out differently. Sometimes way better, sometimes way different than I anticipated. I lived, nobody died. And they also can see then that more research wouldn’t have necessarily helped them as much as the action was.
So it is self-trust that builds and also that self-compassion. And just knowing that, just like that logo that I talked about, I realized it’s not life or death. Now, I can see that for the second company, but for the first company, I didn’t know what I didn’t know. And I thought, well, you know, has all the impact on the world. It’s going to be either my step of success or my step of failure to get the exact logo right. So I do see clients, the more they practice it and realize they don’t die, the faster and more efficient decision making they make over time.
Dr. Irena: Some of that, their indecision is also due to, like, let’s take logo, for example. They’re branding people who will tell you that that’s one of the most important things you can do is to create your logo. But web designers will tell you that the most important thing you can do is create a perfect website, whereas that evolves, too. You don’t have to have the perfect complete website when you start. You can have the one page.
Krista: Absolutely. And I heard from a coach one time that was really uncomfortable for me as a self-proclaimed perfectionist for a long time, but was this idea of doing B minus work. I’ve always been an A or an A+ student, and if I didn’t get that, then it was like, what the heck? You know, we need to fix this. But knowing that with the level of information that we have on a daily basis, we need to make decisions and ideally be okay with, you know, Irene, I’m guessing this for you, but what I know of you, I suspect this to be wholeheartedly true. Even if you did B work, it would still be superior and amazing for your clients to receive, for your audience to receive, and not that we shoot for.
Okay, we’re going to lower the bar and slack off. But also noticing where am I requiring a work that maybe doesn’t require a plus work and where my hiding behind the idea that a plus work is required for the sake of being afraid to move forward and actually get out there and speak. For example, I got to get my talk just perfect when, you know, I encourage people to go out there and raise their hand to speak before they even have their talk finished, which usually makes them very uncomfortable. But they also realize that then if they one, they get it done on a deadline. But they also realize that things take time and they get to build this as they go, versus having everything perfect and lined up first.
Dr. Irena: So in the end, it makes business not that hard, right? Like you said, you like to simplify business, and that’s exactly what it does.
Krista: Yes, it does. It’s looking at where am I? You know, what’s relevant to where I am and what’s I like to say, what’s the fastest path? Not that we’re trying to speed through things, but what decisions do I need to make and how do I most quickly move to where I want to be? And so even looking through that lens, like I shared earlier, of not focusing on level three things, if we’re at level one, that also feels good to the researcher to know. I don’t have to know all those answers yet. I can trust that I’ll have the wisdom and the skills, or I can find new resources when I get to level three. If I need them.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. And that’s the benefit of having a guide, you know, which decisions that you have to make now versus a year from now when your business has grown.
Krista: Yes, but it is funny. To your point earlier, like you said, you can see 48 different ways it could go wrong and things to think through. So just knowing or having that guide to say, those are great considerations. These are the three that are relevant. Let’s look at these and the others. I always say put them in a folder for another day, you know, that we can look at, whether it’s a Google list or whatever, where you don’t store it in your brain, but put it on a piece of paper to look into later. And when we focus on where we are and what we need to, you know, really move forward based on where we are, we create momentum and results and we take action more quickly.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. Do some clients, are they just not able to make the decisions and then they just give up?
Krista: Yes, I would say there definitely are. And I always want to be clear, there’s nothing wrong with these people. And I say this very lovingly. But not everybody is cut out to run their own business. But a lot of times, those people are amazing employees working for different organizations where they maybe aren’t having to make those decisions, but they can leverage their other skill sets and brainpower, you know, in a million different ways in a lot of times make more than they could have made in their entrepreneurial ventures. And it’s not that they’re not smart. I attribute it to their brain being wired different. They need different things to make decisions, and I see decisions and taking action as the two of the biggest responsibilities as a CEO.
Dr. Irena: Yeah, some people are afraid to make decisions, but making a decision is scary because you are putting something on the line when you’re making a decision.
Krista: Yes, you are, for sure. And especially big decisions. Like, I remember the first time investing in my business over $10,000. I had never invested that kind of money in something that I would say for myself outside of a car or a house. And that was a big, scary step to take. But I had to think about my thinking in the sense of saying, okay, is this program or what I’m stepping into? Is this meeting a gap that I currently have in my business that I’ve already identified? And if so, am I willing to do the work and show up?
And then what does positive ROI look like for me, and am I willing to take the steps to get it? Because sometimes positive ROI is money. Sometimes it’s clarity. Sometimes it could look like, a bunch of different things. But when I think about my thinking in that way, it just puts it in a frame where I say, okay, yes, it’s business relevant because it’s teaching me, for example, to speak, to grow my business. And maybe that’s what I had wanted to do, you know, am I clear on what ROI looks like? Maybe that’s getting five speaking engagements and am I willing to show up and do the work and get clear? Maybe that means I show up to all the calls. I actually do the material and submit my work to get feedback
You know, whatever those pieces are, where in the past, maybe I hadn’t done that, and then I could give myself that green light. And that was also, not coincidentally, the year that we grew really fast was I shifted my thinking from not if I recoup this investment, but it’s, how soon do I. Is it in six months? Is it in six days? You know, so that energy shift of I hope that I recoup it financially was, of course I’m going to recoup it. And then I just looked at the options in front of me. What’s the fastest path to get there?
So it shifted me out of victim to making a powerful decision instead of deciding based on fear. And if I don’t do it, my business will never succeed. That doesn’t usually work, you know, whatever the program is or no matter how magic the mentor is, but it’s that internal shift of, okay, I’m going to do wildly uncomfortable things and I trust this person or this group or program or whatever.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. So you mentioning when you were buying the expensive program, I have a story that when I bought my first couple of expensive programs, that ended up not working out for me. So why did I buy them? Because I thought that they were the right decision for me. Because when my body would relax into that decision, I took that as meaning, oh, this is the right decision for me. But I learned after buying a few of those that my body relaxed just because I had made a decision. It wasn’t that I’d made the right decision, it was just that I had made a decision. And so I learned from that.
Krista: Yes. And the other thing that I love is thinking about in terms of money. Money is always energetically wild for most people. But realizing, too, that you’ve been able to build the self-trust that maybe you invested or purchased a program or product that wasn’t the right one at that right time, but you prevailed, you survived. It wasn’t like the world ended. It was almost like an experiment. You did a thing, then you evaluated the results, and you learned from it. You learned, oh, I interpreted my body relaxing as this, but it actually meant this.
So now, for me, to make the right decision, you know, requires a little bit more research or, yes, the relaxing feeling. But also, these other elements important. Important, too, which is really valuable information that you might not have gotten had you not invested in, you know, whatever the resources were. And some people get in investment overwhelm, I would say for sure, too. It’s like, oh, just fix the thing versus even getting clear on what is it that you want 1st, 2nd, or third.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. The other thing, too is that I wanted to mention is that making decisions is stressful. Right. And so minimizing the number of decisions that you have to make is a really good thing. So, like, what you do, right, with from zero to 50, you only have these decisions to make. And then in the next milestone, you only have those decisions to make.
Krista: It is. And looking at where you can create systems in your business so that you’re not having to redecide the five steps every time you onboard a new client, for example, it’s a system. These five steps already mapped out. Each decision takes energy. So there’s a real thing is decision fatigue, that a lot of business owners, especially new ones, get in that because they literally are remaking the same decisions every day.
Dr. Irena: Exactly. And that’s also the value of habits. Right? In your personal life and in your business life, because it just streamlines, it prevents you having to make all these little decisions all day long.
Krista: Yes.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. So have you suffered from analysis paralysis?
Krista: Yes, I definitely have. Many times where I felt like I was spinning in circles, even changing jobs when I was working in corporate.
Dr. Irena: Yeah, I remember, too, when I was working on my dissertation, you know, I just kept reading. I kept reading around my topic to do the, you know, to write the intro and to write the discussion, and I just kept reading and reading, and it just kept getting me more and more confused. And my thesis advisor finally said, like, you’ve read enough. That’s it.
Krista: I imagine your instructor probably sees that a lot. And, you know, Irina, one of the things I know, I love systems myself, but looking at, you know, whether it’s the levels of business like we talked about or it’s looking at, these are the five steps to do the thing. But I found that having a framework to follow helps with the decision making because you are on a path or a roadmap versus everything coming at you at once, where it feels like you’re just overwhelmed. And it can simplify and help you see what are urgent or important right now versus where sometimes we can hide in research mode.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. Like what you said. I mean, that’s been my experience, too, with having a mentor. Right? They help me figure out, okay, this is what I need to focus on right now and nothing more than that. And actually, what I even tell my students is that, yes, we can have that big goal, but park that big goal in the back of your mind. The only thing that’s important is what you have to work on now.
Krista: Yes, yes. And that’s so beautifully said because you can have that vision, but look at where we are today. You know, what three things are you going to do today that move you towards that goal versus research is powerful, but it doesn’t make money, you know? And one of the cool things I learned, data only exists in the past. So sometimes for clients, I’ve sent them out. If I know they’re wired to research to find data and find proof in other people.
So maybe it’s go out and find someone who has that six-figure business to find proof that it is possible and talk to them, because otherwise they can have that self-doubt and fear that, well, I’ve never done this, and of course they haven’t. That’s why they’re working with you or with me or whoever, because they’re doing new things. But it’s go out there and find new proof so they can fill their data bank with proof, even though it’s not their own proof, which is okay.
But it’s still satisfying that part of the brain that’s wanting to research or afraid all these things could go wrong, it’s go out and, you know, five coaches that, you know, are in a similar target market that made the amount of money you want to make and talk to them, you know, do market research with them. That would get them excited because they’re doing market, you know, research, but they’re also getting that data to make them feel good about whatever decisions they’re making towards their goals.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. And it’s minimizing that fear.
Krista: Yes.
Dr. Irena: Right. That people have. And yet you’re actually turning that fear into something positive.
Krista: Yes.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. So, do you have a particular story of a client or someone who comes to mind related to our conversation today?
Krista: Yes. You know, one client I can think of, I’ve worked with for, gosh, it’ll be almost four years, so. And we started working together when he was just starting his business. He had just left his recruiting corporate role, and he was very funny. And he came in, he said, I need a system. I need a process; I need a roadmap. And I said, well, you, you are in the right place because that’s, you know, one of my love languages. But what we really focused on for him was looking at, okay, what are the key things to focus on now and here we would map out cause I love Excel spreadsheets. And he was open to looking at them at least.
So we’d map out, these are his big visions we’d make up, okay, this is what five years is, three years and a year. So that part of his brain felt good. And then we brought it back to, these are the things for this month and this week. So almost like sprints of what to focus on. And we, he really focused on the core things that you need to grow your business in zero to 50, you know, in those different levels in the right order.
He’s now multiple six figures and he’s working less than any of my other clients, and he loves the work that he’s doing. But he also would say, and I’m paraphrasing for him, but just having that roadmap of knowing what to do and when gave him the confidence to go all in on doing those things.
Dr. Irena: What an inspiring story.
Krista: I love how it shows that. The value of trust in a process, too.
Dr. Irena: Exactly. Yeah. So finally, is there anything else you’d like to say to our listeners?
Krista: I guess I would love to say that what helped me the most, depending on where your listeners are in the journey, is, you know, when I was growing my business, and I talk about growing up from 40 to 220, that I really focused on one talk, you know, a really simple speaking process. But I realized coming from corporate, my old story had been that your growth has to be incremental because I had always been in a job that paid x, and if I worked really hard, I could make x plus two the next year was kind of what my mindset was.
And I share that story all the time of going from 40 to 220 in twelve months, because it’s proof for anybody who is open to seeing new proof that your growth doesn’t have to be incremental or it doesn’t have to be slow unless you say it does. So to be open to the opportunity to grow quickly when you focus on the right decisions in the right order, and then the freedom and the impact and the fun wins that happen with that just makes this journey the wild adventure of building your business. Absolutely exciting.
Dr. Irena: That’s such a great way to close out the topic today. So thank you for that. And so what’s the best way for listeners to learn more about you and what you do?
Krista: Go to makeyourmark.com and you can find out information about me. You can contact us there. We also have a free guide that is called Simplify to Grow, which really outlines your specific steps and where to focus, what skill sets to make at the zero to 50 or 50 to 150 and then above that range. So if you’re looking for help and ease and alleviation of decision making overwhelm, then that would be a great next step.
Dr. Irena: Okay, Krista, this has been such an interesting conversation. I’m so grateful you could join me today.
Krista: Thank you for having me. It’s been lots of fun.
Dr. Irena: Yeah. So thank you everyone for listening. Making decisions can be one of the most stressful things we need to do, and at the smallest level, we make thousands of them each day. But the fact that we make most of our decisions successfully is reassuring. While our predictive brain does cause trouble, so to speak, speak and creating the fear behind analysis paralysis, our predictive brain has also made us capable of good, quick decisions.
So look at your thinking and emotional traits, the ones I mentioned at the start of the show, to see where you might be vulnerable to analysis paralysis. Then look at how you can plug in the solutions that Krista and I talked about today to see which will fit best for your thought and emotional patterns. With some work and some patience, you might just find analysis paralysis to be mostly or entirely a thing of the past.
I’m Dr. Irena O’Brien, and you’ve been listening to neuroscience of coaching. You can find out more about me at neuroscienceschool.com. The Neuroscience of Coaching is a part of the Mirasee FM podcast network, which also includes such shows as Just Between Coaches and To Lead Is Human.
This episode was produced by Andrew Chapman. Danny Iny is our executive producer and Marvin del Rosario is our audio editor. To make sure you don’t miss great episodes coming up on Neuroscience of Coaching, please follow us on Mirasee FM’s YouTube channel or your favorite podcast player. If you enjoyed the show, please leave us a comment or starred review. It’s the best way to help us get these ideas out there to more people. Thanks. And we hope you’ll join us next time.