Massive Action - Forty Blog Posts for Lent

My mentor and coach, Brooke Castillo, teaches the concept of massive action.

One example of massive action that she suggested to one of her clients who was single and wanted to be married, is that they should commit to going on 200 first dates. By committing to such massive action, they would be hugely increasing their chances of meeting their future husband, and they would certainly perfect the art of dating (if there is such a thing), and they would have a lot of life experiences during the process.

I love this example because it illustrates so clearly that by taking massive action, we are hugely increasing our opportunities to practice and learn and hence our chance of success.

One of my goals this year is to help 250 women to lose weight.

Some of them will be my clients, some of them will take value from the free coaching sessions that I offer, and others may simply read one of my blog posts and pick up something useful that they can apply in their own life.

And, one of the massive actions that Brooke encourages her coaches to take is to write 30 blog posts in 30 days. For most of us this is a huge challenge. And I have certainly been resisting. My toddler brain has been having a tantrum and saying ‘no way’, ‘I am too busy’, I’m not going to get enough sleep’, ‘I’m going to fail and if I do I will make it mean that I am not good enough’, that ‘there’s something wrong with me’, and ‘no one will want to hear from you every day’! I could go on, but you get the picture.

The truth is, probably no one does want to hear from me every day and that is totally fine, because if I can reach even a handful of people and share a thought that they can borrow, or a useful tip that can help them to choose not to eat the biscuits, or demonstrate to them that when something isn’t working it is an opportunity for learning, it will be a step closer towards reaching my goal of helping 250 women to lose weight….and it will be worth all the ‘tantruming’ thoughts about blog post writing.

So, this has been on my mind for the past month and the thought occurred to me yesterday as I was driving…should I do something for Lent. I confess I don’t usually do anything, previously the thought of not eating chocolate or biscuits was terrifying because I loved them, and it occurred to me that now that I don’t want chocolates and biscuits and don’t eat them it would be a bit pointless to give them up. I contemplated giving up cheese momentarily but then it occurred to me that instead of committing to writing thirty blog posts I could commit to writing forty. That certainly be massive action. It would mean that I would need to start tomorrow (now today) and there would be absolutely no way that I could put if off, even one day, otherwise I would have to wait another year for the opportunity.

And as I write this now (I must learn to type out the other 39 posts as I think…. rather than write then type it up), I am still wondering if I am going to have the nerve to click publish. I hope so. I am feeling so very uncomfortable about committing to this and I am experiencing a tonne of doubt. As of right now I have no clue what the other 39 posts are going to be about…although I have so much information and tools that I want to share. So, I will start with those.

Oh, and if you like the concept of massive action, here are further insights from my coach and mentor Brooke Castillo:

Massive action is the action that you are going to take and continue taking until you hit your goal

Massive action is the process of anticipating obstacles and being willing to fail and try again, and fail, and take more action, and do it wrong, yet try again and on and on until you reach your goal.

No stopping for any reason until then.

Mostly, we try and fail, stop and try something else and fail, and give up.

We test something once and then quit if it doesn’t work out.

That is plain old action.

Not massive action.

You’re taking massive action when you keep your sights on the goal, and you are willing to do anything to get there.

You will try different ways, you will fail, and you will continue tweaking your actions until you hit your desired result.

That is massive action, and it’s a rare thing.

Massive action has to do with creation.

So, how do you know if you’re taking massive action?

How many times have you fallen on your face?

When you are taking massive action, you will fall on your face again and again because you will be pushed up against your obstacles and forced to try big things.

You will fail fast.

Massive action typically involves embarrassing moments in front of a large audience.

You will fail where everyone can see you.

I encourage it.

Fail hard, fast, and for all the world to see.

Keep taking action until you get the result you want.

Sounds about right. This is an opportunity for me to fail in front of an audience.

So, what are your goals?

How could you take massive action to achieve what you truly want?

What action would you be prepared to take if you knew you wouldn’t fail?

I encourage you to declare your massive action today.

If you want to lose weight take your first massive action step and schedule a coaching session with me. All first coaching sessions are free, and if you want to know more about how you can work with me, I will share the details of my Spring 2019 Weight Loss for Working Mums Program that starts later this month.