As a mentor, I hear this scenario so often.

• You ask the client what they are trying to achieve. That is often a clear and elaborate answer
• You then question what is needed to progress. That question may well be greeted by a grunt, otherwise recognised as the “ouch factor”. 
• You then analyse what they have done to move towards that vision. That is often a very brief discussion, at best.

So here’s the conundrum for the mentor. You are faced with a client who wants to succeed, but has effectively done by themselves. And that is all the more strange because the challenge on offer has been established by the client themselves. The territory is supposed to be within their on comfort zone.

I am no shrink, but time and again it turns out that many of us have been “programmed” either to consider success a dirty word or to understand that failure is no-go territory. We should be so perfect at what we do that failure is not on the table for discussion.

Click on utube and you will find speaker after speaker preaching the opposite. They will point to many mega examples of those who mucked up before succeeding. However, our “teachers” – at school or in the home – have ignored these stories. Maybe they wanted to cover up their own failures. Maybe they thought that preaching perfection while hiding reality was effective.

The bottom line is a large number of people are left wanting to succeed but to afraid of negative results. And where does that leave them? A lot of brain energy not being converted into a thriving commercial project.

Is there a solution? You bet. Get somebody to help you to shout back at those hidden voices and then go and do what you really want to do in life. Enjoy!