I’m going to make a bold claim: Investing in your brain is the single best investment that you can make in your life and business.
There is no other investment that can offer 10x returns, with little to no risk. (Seriously, a stock broker would laugh you out of their office if you asked about a stock that offers this.)
But coaching can, because it’s designed to help you stretch your thinking in order to create more value in your business, learn to guarantee yourself your desired results, and compel you into productive, efficient action.
And it starts with one finished project, where you confront your time- and energy-wasting habits and make yourself more efficient, effective, and valuable in your business.
If you’re not interested in making the investment in Half-Finished to Done, LIVE right now and are totally onboard with your decision, I look forward to working with you in the future. These exercises will be super valuable for you in the meantime.
And if you want to be a yes for Half-Finished to Done, LIVE but are experiencing doubts and fears, these exercises will help you immediately.
Let’s start by understanding the problem and the solution:
The problem: You might have $1,000 for the program investment and feel reluctant to part with it, or you might not have the money on hand currently.
Either way, when you think of investing $1,000 into coaching, it feels daunting or risky.
Your brain is focused on the downside of investing ($1,000), rather than the potential upside (thousands of extra dollars in your business, hours saved, panic, stress, overwhelm reduced).
This downside is magnified if you’ve invested in a program or course in the past and feel like you didn’t get your money’s worth.
The solution: One of the most empowering skill sets that you can learn as a business owner is to guarantee yourself an incredible return on your investments into your brain…no matter what.
The benefit of this is that you’ll never say no to a program or course that you truly want, out of fear or doubt, because you’ll know that you’re going to get your money’s worth (and then some).
And the even bigger benefit: The ability to guarantee yourself an ROI on your investments is the same skill set that you use to guarantee yourself anything—like a finished project. It requires you to align your thoughts, feelings, and actions to your desired result.
The following exercises are designed to help you become the business owner who channels resourcefulness in order to get what they came for, in any situation.
10x your investment
This exercise is designed to show you new ways of problem solving beyond your default thinking, keep your brain on one task until you have a compelling solution, and show you the exact areas where you’re feeling uncertain.
Start here: If you were to guarantee yourself a 10x ROI on your Half-Finished to Done, LIVE investment, how would you do it? This means you’re responsible for generating $10,000 by applying what you learn in the program.
Here are some fun questions to guide you: What is the single most impactful project that you could work on in your business to generate 10k?
What is the easiest way that you could make 10k?
How could you create 10k by using the 3 skill sets of Half-Finished to Done, LIVE (deep work, Monday Hour One, project planning) over the next year?
If you get stumped, add this fun twist: If Oprah walked into your house and offered you two million dollars, no strings attached, if you created $10,000 using the principles from Half-Finished to Done, LIVE, how would you make it happen?
Notice any time your brain wants to tell you, “Well, I can’t guarantee that,” and respond back with, “Okay. What can I guarantee?”
Do this exercise until you feel certainty about your ability to generate 10k.
Opportunity cost
In order to sell yourself on the value of solving a problem, you must first understand how much that problem is costing you.
Think of an average day, week, and month, and take inventory of how much time you spend in low-value activities, like:
- Unfulfilling, soul-sucking procrastination.
- Internal conflict and arguing with yourself.
- Second guessing yourself.
- Fiddling with your schedule to try and make it “productive” and “right.”
- Tweaking and refining things to find elusive “perfection.”
- Shame spiraling.
- Spinning out in confusion, self-pity, and self-doubt.
How much time, energy, and money are these low-value activities costing you? Put a real dollar amount to them, even if it’s just a guesstimate.
Now, think about doubling the amount of time that you spend doing high-value activities, like:
- Creative thinking and brainstorming.
- Experimenting and gathering data.
- Executing on focused work blocks.
- Making Intentional, deliberate decisions.
- Re-affirming decisions that you’ve already made.
- Self-evaluating from a place of curiosity and openness.
- Rejuvenating rest.
- Playing.
Is reducing your low-value activities by 50% and doubling your high-value activities worth $1,000 to you? Why or why not?
Breakeven
Let’s say that for some crazy reason, you decide not to make a 10x financial ROI. How would a 10x improvement in your quality of life be worth $1,000 to you?
Think: Reducing the intensity and length of emotions like stress, overwhelm, fear, doubt, confusion, apathy, and panic, and doubling feelings like courage, motivation, focus, inspiration, dedication, resourcefulness, and calm.
Think about this in terms of an average day, an average week, an 8-week project sprint, and longer-term, in the next 1-3 years.
How would the way you show up change as your feelings change?
Absolute yes
Think of something that you would pay $1,000 for, no questions asked. It might be a different program or course, your kid’s summer camp, the newest iPhone, a medical procedure, or a vacation.
Now, jot down your thoughts about that thing. What would you be thinking that would make you certain that it’s a no-brainer investment?
You might have thoughts like:
- This is so worth it
- I need this
- I’ll get back way more than I invest
- They deserve it
- I’ll get so much value from this over time
- I’m going to find the money, one way or another
What would it be like to adopt those same thoughts about yourself in Half-Finished to Done, LIVE—and then prove yourself right?
Peace with the past
This exercise is all about revisiting your past investments, and making peace with them. Because if you understand and make peace with the past, you’re more likely to invest thoughtfully and peacefully in the future.
Think back to a specific program or course that you took that you consider a waste. How much did it cost?
Try on the thought “It was worth exactly what I paid,” then list 10 ways that thought could be true. This will require you to sell yourself on why the lessons you learned were so valuable.
Once you have your list of 10 reasons it’s true that you got your money’s worth, ask yourself, “Knowing what I know now, what would I have done differently in that program or course?”
This last question is a way to self-evaluate with curiosity, instead of judgment or resentment.
After you do these exercises, I encourage you to reach out to me and share what you discovered!
Ready to enroll in Half-Finished to Done, LIVE, the program for those who want to master a sustainable, fun, repeatable project process and start enjoying life as a project finisher?
