Episode 44: What's Blocking You From Going Where You Want to Go?

In Episode 44, Sam dives into what may be blocking you from getting what you want and going where you want to go as a person and as a professional.

This episode follows on from Episode 41 about the false beliefs we have, Episode 42 about our relationship with time, and Episode 43 about our relationship with change, so if you haven't listened to the previous episodes go and do that first.

This episode is the start of a series on how you can get more proactive about how you spend your time, feel more in control of your time and ultimately your career or business.

Sam explores the internal external blocks that may be keeping you from going where you want to go, including the fixation we have with external factors that prevent us from dealing with the internal blocks that we actually can control.

Sam also covers the problem with wearing busy and fatigue as a badge of pride, as well as the small shifts you can make and how to create a little bit of space in your schedule to do this work.

Finally, Sam explains that we as accountants already have these skills because we use these frameworks with our clients professionally. Therefore we can apply them to our own personal work and remember that it is incremental shifts over time that truly bring sustainable change.

Listen to an excerpt

What we cover in this episode

• Why it’s key to ‘confront the brutal facts before they confront you’

• The power of drawing a line in the sand and reflecting on who, what, when, and where is working right now

• The external fixation that blocks our industry from making the changes we need to make

• The importance of focusing on the internal rather than the external blocks

• What internal blocks we have as an industry that we need to bring awareness to and overcome

• The problem with wearing busy and fatigue as a badge of pride

• Small shifts you can make to gradually move towards where you want to be

• How to create a little bit of space in your schedule to do this work

• Recognising the skills we already have as an industry to apply this framework

• Why we must then apply these skills and framework to our own personal work

• The reason you must approach this incrementally over time

• Deciding on the one thing you can take forward from this episode

Quotes

“Confront the brutal facts before they confront you.” ~ Jim Collins

“The first thing to do is draw a line in the sand…really think about the last three months and write down who the clients that you really enjoy working with, what type of people they are, what were you actually doing with them…and how that some of that work made you feel?”

“We’re very deep into JobKeeper in Australia and there's a whole lot happening. But honestly, if you're a Tax Accountant, there's always going to be stuff happening around the compliance areas. So just let's try to de-fog and let's go forward.”

“If you're feeling overwhelmed, because of everything that's going on, that's the line in the sand: right now I'm feeling overwhelmed. And in [x years] or later on, I want to feel much more in control.”

“You're going to have feelings, I want you to jump over those feelings. Don't look at why you're doing what you're doing, just look at what you're doing and how it's making you feel.”

“I can tell you that if you don't confront this stuff right now, or in the future and do it on your own terms, it will confront you.”

“I can already hear you saying now, ‘I don't have time for that.’ That's the first block. That's our [industry] relationship with time. But I can tell you that is a very much a scarcity mindset, and please trust me on this, we need to take time to make time.”

“A lot of the stuff that we do in our every day are the skills that we need to use internally [on ourselves]. I found that all the skills that I've learned through being an accountant really has helped me with my personal work as well, that the personal work is also the superpower that has allowed me to change significantly [professionally].”

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