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💡 The Big Idea: Why You Have Trouble Following Through on Things You Say Are Important.

Back in June, I attended an Immunity to Change session led by Cat Mulvihill at Jay Clouse’s Lab Offline event.

Then last week, Cat joined David & me on the Focused podcast to talk about her Momentum Formula and the roadblocks that keep us from following through on what we say is important.

Somewhere in between, I was finally able to overcome one of the biggest obstacles in my professional life.

I started publishing consistently on social media.

That may not sound like a big deal, but I realized my lack of consistency was really tied to a belief about myself I’d never fully examined.

The Three Roadblocks

As a licensed Immunity to Change facilitator, Cat describes three different roadblocks that keep us stuck:

1. Logical - this is where you’re missing information, missing skills, or you don’t have the right tools to do something. You can overcome this type of roadblock with information, like a tutorial, a template, or a solid plan.
2. Biological - this is where the roadblock is internal and involves your brain, your body, your energy, or your environment. Dopamine, urgency, sleep, and blood sugar are all examples of biological roadblocks. You can’t reason your way past these roadblocks.
3. Psychological - this is deeper and usually rooted in what Cat called a dreaded identity. There is usually some sort of fear and hesitation. It’s not just the identity you want, but also the one you’re trying to avoid.

Cat explained that you should check these in order, because sometimes you really are only one tip or tool away from breakthrough. Sometimes the extended deep work session is unnecessary. But if you never get past the first two types of roadblocks, you’ll keep trying to fix deep-rooted issues with surface-level solutions.

Which is exactly what I’ve been doing for years when it comes to showing up consistently on social media.

I Don’t Want to Be a Hypocrite

For years I told myself social media consistency was a systems problem.

First, I thought I needed a better content calendar. Then I thought I needed a better repurposing workflow. After that, I thought I needed a tool to help me make carousels easily.

So I built all of that. And it works. But I still didn’t post.

After that, I moved to the biological blockers. Maybe I was doing it at the wrong time of day. Maybe I needed a trigger attached to an existing habit. Maybe I needed someone holding me accountable.

Again, nothing worked. I knew what to do, had the systems built to do it, and just couldn’t stay consistent.

It wasn’t until Cat had me sit with the question in Boise that I forced myself to look at what was really keeping me paralyzed — an internal belief I’d never said out loud:

I’ve spent years making the case that attention is a precious resource. I know exactly how these social platforms are designed to keep people scrolling. I warn people all the time against the slippery slope of the endless feeds.

But then I also say that I need to post consistently to build my creator business. Which is true. And I’ve always struggled to reconcile those competing beliefs.

Sitting With the Uncomfortable Thought

I picked social media for the exercise because it seemed low-stakes. I’m in The Lab, & I hear people talking about what they’re doing on LinkedIn and Instagram to grow their business all the time. And I understand the value of doing the same for my business, so I have to ask myself, why don’t I do it?

Then I got to the assumptions part, and it got way more emotional than I expected. I mean, c’mon, we’re talking about social media here. Who really cares?

But what I realized is that deep down there’s a part of me that believes that social media is inherently bad. And if that’s true, and I’m on social media, then I’m a hypocrite. As a result, the people close to me are going to think less of me. And ultimately, I’m setting a bad example for my kids.

Ouch.

Once I confronted those beliefs, I had to ask whether they were actually true. Is social media inherently evil? Is there really not a positive way to use this?

And if that sounds ridiculous to you, I get it. If you asked me that point blank, of course it’s possible to add value on social media. You can share things that are useful and not just clickbaity. You don’t have to try to get a negative emotional reaction out of people so they keep engaging with the platform. I can absolutely show up and be helpful.

But I didn’t realize that those internal beliefs were what was actually stopping me.

I had to wrestle with it, but once I did, I realized it’s not that big a deal. I can do social media well. As a result, I’m working with an assistant now and publishing a couple of times a day for the past couple of weeks. The systems I’d already built have finally started getting some use.

Because I confronted the psychological blockers that were keeping me from taking action.

An Unexpected Benefit

The realization didn’t stay with social media.

I realized I have another version of this with AI. You hear the statistics about how it’s making people dumber if they’re just using it as an answer machine, and I completely agree with all of that. But I also believe there are intentional ways people can use it to do better creative work. It’s an uncomfortable balance while we’re in this messy middle ground as all try to figure this stuff out.

And that’s ok. In fact, that’s even more reason for me to talk about it, because there are people out there looking for intentional ways to use it to help them do more of what really matters.

I didn’t expect it, but working through the social media assumption helped me understand and overcome my hesitancy with AI too.

Try It Yourself

Pick something you’ve been meaning to do for months and haven’t, then walk the three roadblocks in order.

Logical. Do you actually know what you need to do? Do you have the tool, the skill, or the plan necessary? If not, that’s your answer, and it’s the easiest one to fix.

Biological. Are you attempting to do something at a time of day when you have nothing left in the tank? Do you require deadlines? Is anyone expecting the finished work? Look at when you’ve followed through before and what was true about those times.

Psychological. If the first two are clear and you still aren’t doing following through, this is where your problem lies. Don’t ask “why am I so lazy?” Ask “if I did this thing, what am I afraid it would say about me?”

Write down whatever comes up, even if it sounds ridiculous. Especially if it sounds ridiculous. Mine was that I’d be a hypocrite setting a bad example for my kids because I was posting on LinkedIn.

As I said, ridiculous.

Then ask yourself whether it’s true.

Most of these beliefs don’t survive being written down. They only work in the dark, where you never look them square in the eye.

Go Do This With Cat

The version of this that I did was 75 minutes at a live event, and we still had to cut it short. But it was worth every minute.

If you want to try it for yourself, Cat is hosting a live Immunity to Change workshop on September 3rd, and she’s framing it as the same session that led to my breakthrough. If any of the above sounded uncomfortably familiar, I highly recommend you check it out.

She also wrote about all of this from her side in her most recent newsletter. Turns out that my “if I’m on social media, then I’m a hypocrite” line hit her mid-interview and she’d been struggling with the same thing.

— Mike

P.S. If you want to check out the Focused episode that inspired this newsletter, click here. It's a good one.