Treat Your Business

152 Stop Procrastinating! The #1 Habit Holding Back Clinic Owners (and How to Beat It)

• Katie Bell / Philippa Aldridge • Season 1 • Episode 152

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Welcome
Alright, let’s be honest, if you’re a clinic owner, you know what it’s like to have a million things on your to-do list and still find yourself deep cleaning your desk, making another coffee, or suddenly deciding now is the perfect time to reorganise your entire reception area. Yep, we’re talking about procrastination. I’m Katie Bell and this episode is all about getting real, busting through the fluff, and helping you move past the things that hold you back. If you’ve ever found yourself doing literally anything except the one thing that will move your business forward, you’re in good company – and you’re definitely in the right place.

Episode Summary
This week, I’m joined by the brilliant Philippa Alrdridge as we dive headfirst into the world of procrastination. We unpack what it really means, why it’s not just about being lazy, and how it’s actually a clever little safety mechanism your brain uses to keep you firmly in your comfort zone. We get honest about our own procrastination habits (yes, even me), and share practical tips for recognising when you’re stuck, getting curious about what’s really going on, and finally taking action – even if it’s just for five minutes.

We talk about the power of community and why surrounding yourself with the right people (the Thrive crew, obviously) is a game-changer for breaking free from old patterns. Plus, there’s a bit of Sheffield humour, some mum-life realness, and a big reminder that business is meant to be simple, not overcomplicated by endless overthinking.

Key Highlights

  • What procrastination really is (spoiler: it’s not laziness)
  • Why your brain tricks you into staying “safe” and how to spot the signs
  • The hidden costs of putting things off, from missed opportunities to extra stress
  • How to get out of your own head and into action, even if you start small
  • The magic of community and why you’re the average of the five people you hang around with
  • Practical questions and mindset shifts to help you move forward today

Episode Sponsor:  Jane.app

Clinic management software and EMR that simplifies bookings, forms, and reminders so you can reclaim your evenings. Book a demo via the link in the show notes. Use code ThriveOneMo for a one month grace period.

Thanks for Listening
If you loved this episode, hit subscribe and stick around for more honest chats, bigger insights, and plenty of truth bombs. 

Treat Your Business podcast is proudly sponsored by MBST, the groundbreaking technology revolutionising recovery and rehabilitation. Offering a non-invasive, drug-free solution for musculoskeletal conditions and nerve injuries, MBST works at a cellular level to stimulate regeneration. Expand your services and deliver long-term patient improvements without increasing your workload.

Learn more at mbstmedical.co.uk. 

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Treat Your Business EP152

Katie Bell: [00:00:00] But I guess safe doesn't always equal success. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Absolutely not. But it's still a it depends on success, isn't it? Safe? Safe means probably you didn't get eaten by the saber tooth tiger. So therefore that would be success. But in these terms, yeah. Yeah. And that's what we have to remember is a part of us deemed success as not dying. 

Katie Bell: Welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast, the show for clinic owners who want real, honest advice and tried and tested ways of doing things. I'm Katie Bell, and this is the new era of bigger insights and bolder conversations to help you grow a clinic and a life you love. Let's dive in.

Today's episode is sponsored by Jane, a clinic management software and EMR. The Jane team knows that when your workday is spent providing care to your patients or your clients, it can feel like there aren't enough hours in the day for the rest of your admin tasks. This can mean scheduling appointments become.

The hours tasks [00:01:00] turning what should be restful evenings into extra long work days. That's why Jane has designed user-friendly online bookings. You can give your patients freedom to book their appointments at their own convenience. Patients can also manage their appointments, fill out intake forms, and enable SMS and email reminders.

From their secure online portal, which saves you from having to do it manually to see how Jane can help you reclaim your evenings and weekends. Head to the link in the show notes to book a personalized demo. Or if you're ready to get started, you can use the code Thrive one mo at the time of sign up for a one month grace period.

Apply to your new account.

Katie Bell: Welcome back to the studio Philip Aldridge. Thank you Katie. It's great to be here. I am so excited for you to be here. As always, I love these conversations. We have decided together, I actually don't if it was a joint decision or I told you, but we're gonna talk about procrastination. 

Philippa Alrdridge: We're, 

Katie Bell: And I've ch I chose this topic, I think.

Katie Bell: I always try and think about what I'm hearing on calls, what I'm [00:02:00] seeing in our coaching sessions, maybe when we're at our live strategy days, what kind of comes up as a theme. And I always like to pull something like that in because I feel like it really resonates with maybe what's going on.

Katie Bell: With our clinic owners right now. And for any listeners who are, whether they're members or not, members of ours, they're gonna get some real value from this. Yeah. This episode, because I want them, I want you all who are listening to feel like you can really resonate. When we're talking about procrastination, I want you to learn what procrastination really can mean.

Katie Bell: And of course we're gonna give some great tips and advice and practical ways of them overcoming procrastination and being able to make decisions that might well be out of their comfort zone to help them move forward with their business and their life. Philip, my first question to you is, how do you define procrastination?

Philippa Alrdridge: Oh I went to the dictionary to start with. So if you go to the dictionary, it is the action of delaying or postponing something. [00:03:00] Yes. Okay. And we'll know that's what happens. But actually from a mindset point of view, procrastination means that you might be avoiding doing one thing, but you are doing other stuff.

Philippa Alrdridge: So a part of you still feels like you are getting things done, so you can justify avoiding the thing that you were avoiding. Procrastination is basically a habit, it's a safety mechanism, a coping mechanism to a perceived threat or stressor, which might seem a bit weird, when actually you're trying to write a, a marketing email or, trying to take on your first team member, but you're procrastinating over in that job advert.

Philippa Alrdridge: But it, the thing is never the thing, it's what it means to you. So if you are procrastinating over something, it's understanding. The stress underneath it. What does that mean to you? If you write that job advert and you get that team member, what other stuff is coming up for you? And for the majority of the time, it is about the fear of moving out of the comfort zone, the fear of change, [00:04:00] because our ego, our primitive brain, wants everything to stay the same.

Philippa Alrdridge: And I bang on about this all the time, but it is this simple. The problem with procrastination or the challenge with procrastination is that a part of us can trick us into thinking that we're still doing stuff because we are avoiding, it's different to overwhelm. Procrastination tends not to have the same emotional results as well.

Philippa Alrdridge: We are not feeling like we can't move forward at all. We're probably doing stuff. But not necessarily the stuff we need to do that's actually gonna change our business, change our lives, change everything to actually where a part of us wants to be. 

Katie Bell: Yeah, even that really resonated with for me, 'cause we all have procrastination, don't we, at different times in our lives.

Katie Bell: You don't ever, I don't feel like anybody in business who's not bullshitting themselves doesn't have elements of procrastination and I still have it, but I have to, [00:05:00] I know I recognize it really quickly. And I recognize. When I have to, so things that come up for me are like, okay, is this decision that I'm putting off making or I'm not doing?

Katie Bell: Is it because it's out of alignment with my goals and my values? Or am I trying to decide on something here that actually isn't right and doesn't feel good? Or is it because my natural personality. The natural way of doing things. We've got strategy days coming up and I promise I'm gonna be absolutely fabulous on the day, but my level of detail of what I'm gonna deliver, we will have to happen for me closer to the day because that's when I get in my creative zone and that's when I'm feeling like.

Katie Bell: I have to lean into what I know the clients are gonna need, and that also happens on the day for me. So I can't be too over prepared, but I know that of myself. Yeah. So that's my natural way of doing things. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. And that's your natural way of being creative. And I [00:06:00] would think that's not procrastination because Okay.

Philippa Alrdridge: You're still getting the job done. The job is still done. It's where, and it's still moving the business forward. It's where people are getting stuck in the same holding pattern. And even though there's a really easy way to get out of your uncomfortable comfort zone, like putting that ad out, yeah, which actually you probably do pretty easy.

Philippa Alrdridge: Lee, if you've listened to the podcast, if you are a Thrive member, you know all of those sorts of, but you still don't do it, why don't you do it? It's because what it means to a part of you that a part of you doesn't feel safe to move onto that part. And so it will say, yeah, but we can stay busy. Being busy over here.

Philippa Alrdridge: We don't need to go over there. We don't need to do that. We can survive here rather than thrive. Outside of it. Yeah. And it, it's something that for many people has been around for such a long [00:07:00] time, but what we then end up doing is we then sit in front of the computer going, I'm gonna write this job ad I'm gonna write this job ad I'm going, but I can't write this job ad until.

Philippa Alrdridge: All of my desk is really tidy. Yeah. I'm gonna write this job ad, but at first I really need to have some of that filtered coffee. 'cause that's really gonna help me really focus. I'm just gonna go and make that now and, oh no, I've gotta pick the children up now or I haven't met the job ad. Oh. But I'll try again tomorrow.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. And that. It's just, Mel Robbins talks about this as being procrastination is like psychological quicksand. The more you try to do the thing, the deeper you sink into it, and the more you struggle. So actually, if you're sitting there at the computer and you're thinking, I need to tidy to my desk.

Philippa Alrdridge: I need to get that filtered coffee. Or maybe I'll just groom the dog first, or whatever. What you are hearing is a part of you going, I'm not ready yet. I don't have enough information about why writing that job ad is going to be the best thing for us. So at that [00:08:00] point, we need to give ourselves some more information.

Philippa Alrdridge: And this is something that I've talked about with Thrive members quite a lot, is if you're going to do something new, tell yourself why and write it down. I'm going to write the job ad because. This is what's gonna happen off the back of it, and that's great for me. It has to know it's gonna still be safe.

Philippa Alrdridge: Then, why would we go and decide to go and hunt slightly further away from where we normally hunt? Yeah, it might be dangerous. We need to know it's going to be safer out there and it.

Philippa Alrdridge: It's linked to that stress. But the problem is when we are procrastinating, we are stressed. And at that point, certain parts of our brain that we need to help us get out of procrastination are actually being shut down because we are getting stressed. So your prefrontal cortex shuts down when you are stressed, you don't need to access it as easily, but the problem is you need your prefrontal cortex to get out of procrastination.

Philippa Alrdridge: So you get stuck [00:09:00] in this loop. And many people will find that, and people will have procrastinating, behavior patterns. If I'm really procrastinating, I am procrast cleaning, so you know, I will clean. And at that point my other half knows. It's not a good idea to interrupt me at that point.

Philippa Alrdridge: It's just a good idea to just let it go. Yeah. Okay. She's got the toothbrush out. She's cleaning the grout. Okay. I'm gonna walk away slowly and preferably gonna back off. Yeah, because that's some serious procrast cleaning happening. People will know this, people will go, oh, I start jet washing something, or all of a sudden I wanna start macrame, or whatever.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. Or all of a sudden, I really wanna help my children with their maths homework. Yes. When normally that's not your job or whatever. Or you are probably redesigning the reception area at the clinic. 'cause that really needs to be done rather than X, Y, and Z. It's not about being lazy, [00:10:00] it's about recognizing that a part of you has created this clever mechanism to keep you safe, and then it's then about being curious.

Katie Bell: So is the procrastination always a bad thing? 

Philippa Alrdridge: No. It's not a bad thing. 'cause a part of us has developed it saying this. There we go. I'm off now. I'm off Now. If we call it a bad thing, we shame it and as soon as we shame it, we then immediately start to shrink again. You're not going to solve The challenge.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. The problem, as it were you are then shaming yourself. It's being curious. Oh, this is interesting. A part of me is procrastinating over this. I wonder why that might be okay. What's part of me worried about? What's part of me scared about what? What's coming up for me? A part of me knows that writing that job ad is going, this is gonna be so much better if we've got team, we can help more people.

Philippa Alrdridge: But a part of me is really worried about what will people think of me? Who are they gonna think I am taking on team members? Yeah. Oh, I suddenly [00:11:00] feel that time when I sang on stage at school and everybody was like, who did I think I was? It brings up patterns of stuff. The bottom line for most mindset challenges is, am I good enough?

Philippa Alrdridge: And it relates there. So it's not a bad thing. It's thanking that part of you that's come up with this clever mechanism to keep you safe and going, okay, this is interesting. This means I'm actually on the right path here because a part of you knows this is gonna lead to change. Yeah. Excellent.

Philippa Alrdridge: Okay, so what do you need from me? 

Katie Bell: But I guess safe doesn't always equal success. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Absolutely not. But it's still a it depends on success, isn't it? Safe? Safe means probably you didn't get eaten by the saber tooth tiger. So therefore that would be success. But in these terms, yeah. Yeah. And that's what we have to remember is a part of us deemed success as not dying.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yes. Which. In this day and age, we probably don't have to worry quite so much about [00:12:00] being eaten by a saber tooth tiger. I don't what everybody's reality is. That might be a real thing. You've clearly not lived in Sheffield. No, obviously not. But yeah, so it's, but it's understanding that nothing will change if nothing changes.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. You're just there. 

Katie Bell: Do you see it happening? Is it really common in certain personality types? 

Philippa Alrdridge: I think in those of us that are high detail people yes, can find ourselves stuck in it because we need more information. But also, so you will see it sometimes in your blues and your greens.

Philippa Alrdridge: 'cause they want lots of detail, but also in your blues because they wanna keep people happy. Yeah, they don't like to go the boat. You've got your yellows. Yeah. Who like to be liked, but also highly competitive as well. So more often than not, we'll just go, oh, I'm just gonna get on with it and hope for the best.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah, I'll be fine. I'll be fine. And try and ignore that part of you that's going were going to DIE yeah. Reds, yeah. Reds need so much evidence. If the evidence is right, [00:13:00] they will go forward. But if the evidence isn't right, they won't. So it just depends on where people are at. And I did something with the members a couple of weeks ago on grit and the idea of the how grit and that ability to keep going, that perseverance and passion together.

Philippa Alrdridge: For lots of people who are within Thrive, they have that, so they know that they need to move forward, but it's also getting to know yourself as well. So knowing what will come up for you. Like when is procrastination most likely to. Kick in for you? Is it early on in the process of change or towards the end of the process of change, or is it overwhelm that comes later for you?

Philippa Alrdridge: But obviously this is getting quite deep now and I don't want everybody to think I love that. I love that. Yeah. 

Katie Bell: So we, we see because let's be like, really, let's be bold here in, in how we see this show up. 

Katie Bell: '

Katie Bell: Cause we get the. [00:14:00] Privilege of working with lots and lots of clinic owners and helping them overcome this, and also helping them or highlighting to them when perhaps I always say on Q and as somebody else ask me a question about something, and my first question always is, what's really going on here?

Katie Bell: Because that's not the real question. There's always, and it's usually I've not done this or I haven't got this result, or this hasn't. Worked, but it's usually because they are busy taking all the actions that are easy, safe, comfortable, quick, instant gratification, rather than the actual one thing that we've probably told them to do that's gonna make them feel uncomfortable temporarily.

Katie Bell: But it's going to get them towards their goal, which is usually. More time and more take home pay. Those are usually the two things that we're aiming for. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. 

Katie Bell: So what do you see when you are [00:15:00] leading the mindset sessions, Philippa, that make you go, oh, okay, this is procrastination at its best, but.

Katie Bell: The, this is the reason why. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. I see a lot of blaming. I see shaming. I see. So blaming it on something else. So not taking responsibility for one's actions. Yeah. Or inaction. I also see a lot of justification, you know of I couldn't do it because. Yeah. And it's a little bit like, I couldn't do it because the dog ate my homework.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. But on a different scale, I couldn't do it because we didn't have a receptionist that day. So I had to still go onto reception. Or it hasn't happened because this just isn't gonna work for my business. Yeah. Or it, there's a lot of little mechanisms and phrases that pop up that start to think there's some blaming, there's some relinquishing of a responsibility and [00:16:00] there's justification happening there.

Philippa Alrdridge: So it, it's like a part of you. While a part of you is doing this is justifying how to keep you in your comfort zone. Because we know the fundamentals, those foundations that are going to make such a massive difference to your business. Because we have done it time and time again. We are not asking people to do something that we've just plucked out of thin air, but then a part of them is no I'm still not going to do it because that's not going to work for my business, or that's not gonna happen because I haven't got the time for that.

Philippa Alrdridge: But actually. We have to remember short term pain for long term gain. And some of us forget this, and I quite often liken it too. If you want to. Run a marathon, you have to put the little bits of training in or the horrible training in whatever way you wanna put it. You are going to have to go and run on horrible days when the wind and the rain is [00:17:00] sideways.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. But it's gonna be so worth it at the end. And to be fair, most of the things, this is my perceived experience, but we ask you to do and thrive, are never going to be as horrible as running a marathon. 

Katie Bell: Definitely not, because that's horrific on every level. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah, exactly. Exactly. But it's trying to start to for me, I'm really curious about when people start to say, and I quite often repeat stuff back to people.

Philippa Alrdridge: So what I heard you say was, duh. And people will go, oh, that's not it, is it? No. Yeah. All that justification. And it's also if people start to get, a bit more emotional about things as well, I then think, and people think I'm. Not nice because I take pleasure and I get excited when people get emotional because I then, I know a part of them is really fighting to avoid it.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. Yeah. 'cause it doesn't have enough information. And your reds obviously then need far more evidence to know that it's gonna work. Yeah. You [00:18:00] and the your greens need to make sure that it's been researched, all of that sort of stuff. And your yellows need to know that they're going to win.

Philippa Alrdridge: And blues just need to know that everyone's still gonna be happy at the end of it. 

Katie Bell: Yeah. And isn't it funny how the things that we are often procrastinating on are, I wouldn't, can I say always? I'm gonna be bold and say always are always the things. That are going to change your life and your business.

Philippa Alrdridge: It is the thing that you are avoiding is the thing that's gonna set you free. Yeah. It, and it's so often that it really isn't, 

Katie Bell: and it might feel big and it, or it might feel small. But we also, I think we're wired in particularly in, in. British people, I'm gonna lump us all together here, but we are wired to always think about what's gonna go wrong.

Katie Bell: And I always say to people, okay, let let's write that down. If a part of your brain needs to acknowledge what could go wrong when we put that job a out there, [00:19:00] or we fire that person, or we get rid of them outta the business, or we make this big decision, whatever, it's that we need to make, let's write down what could go wrong.

Katie Bell: But now let's work. Let's write down what could go right about this. 

Katie Bell: And often never really focus on all the things that could go right about it. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Absolutely. But I think also we, when we are in our stress response, our brain is obviously looking for all the dangers. Yeah. It is naturally starting to filter for.

Philippa Alrdridge: The worst case scenario because it needs to be prepared for the fact. Is it gonna need to fight, flight, or freeze? Yeah. Yeah. It needs to know what it's gonna be able to do. So there's no point in looking for the best case scenario because that's not gonna help me survive at that point we are in. If we're procrastinating, we've moved into survival mode.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah, but like you said, we have to get that out of our head. You can't leave it in there swimming around. You've gotta get that worst case scenario down on paper. And it might be, there are 20 worst case scenarios through all of [00:20:00] this, and you have to get all of that out and then ask yourself, in a court of law, could I stand up and deliver evidence that this is actually probably going to happen?

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. Yes or no? Oh no, I couldn't. No. Maybe 50. 50. Okay, so give it 50. But you have to do that for yourself to soothe that part of you that is scared. And then like you say, go and put down the best case scenario out of all of this. What's that like? How does that feel? Could that happen? Do you feel that could happen?

Philippa Alrdridge: I do. You could give that a percentage. What's the likelihood of that happening? 70%. Because I've just seen somebody else in Thrive have that happen to them or whatever it might be. But when we are procrastinating, getting it out of your head by writing it down or talking it out is so important because you gain a different perspective and when it's just in your head, you only have that one perspective, which is trying to help you to survive.

Philippa Alrdridge: It won't work. 

Katie Bell: I'm thinking here like [00:21:00] sometimes, I often think our voice in our business is our be our best and biggest strategy. I often think it's the one thing that we hide away from because we think nobody really wants to hear us. Or I might say things wrong or I might, fluff up my words.

Katie Bell: Welcome to the Treat Your Business podcast. That is me all over. I say the wrong thing, get my words wrong. I make up words, but who actually cares because. If I was to allow the fear of, people might not like me, they might not what I say, they might not find value in it I might not look in this in a certain way.

Katie Bell: All of those things that can swim about in your head before you get on a podcast like this, if I allow that to take over, I actually I don't make an impact on the world. I just stay in this really small kind of. Comfortable zone in Sheffield, where I possibly might be eating my saber tooth tiger.

Katie Bell: But I just stay there and I don't grow and I sometimes I have to say to myself, what am I really [00:22:00] scared about? By coming on here and fluffing up words or saying the wrong thing or not asking the right questions or not, whatever it is that's going through my head, I have to ask myself what am I really scared about?

Katie Bell: And it, it is usually people not liking you. Or people calling you out, or people other people say. And that goes back to, all the stuff we've talked about, looking at what 7-year-old Katie was dealing with. But then I have to say to myself could I cope with that if somebody. Said something negative.

Katie Bell: And my logic brain always goes, yeah. 'cause my logic brain goes, I'm not really that bothered what people think, but there is a part of you that, and it's often a small part, it's not the biggest part of you, but there's a small part of you that still wants to hold you back and still wants to keep you in that comfort zone.

Katie Bell: And sometimes when we talk that through on Q and As, and in our mindset sessions and our strategy sessions, when we actually talk about what we're scared of and then we go. Could we rise above that? Could we cope with that? If that was a scenario and [00:23:00] all of the clinic owners go, yeah.

Katie Bell: I totally could. So it's so now what's stopping you? And usually quite quickly they just go, excuse my language. I'm about to swear. Everybody fuck it. I'm just gonna go and do it. And then I say, and when are you gonna do it by? And how are we gonna hold your account? How are we gonna know that's happened?

Katie Bell: So it's almost a it doesn't take a lot to overcome some forms of procrastination, in my opinion. Would you agree? 

Philippa Alrdridge: Absolutely. And sometimes it's as simple as, i've got a little list here of things that you can do. It's as simple as going, oh, a part of me is procrastinating. That is enough.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. Just to acknowledge it for your prefrontal cortex to go and to kick in and you to be able to move forward and do something with it. Yeah. Yeah. Sometimes, many people will have read. Mel Robbins' book about the five second rule. For some people it will be as easy as going, 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, screw it.

Philippa Alrdridge: Let's do it. Yeah. And just getting on with it. Now, I know for a part of me, if I went 5, [00:24:00] 4, 3, 2, 1, to me, I would go 5, 4, 3, 2, 1. You can go and stick it where the sun don't shine, and I would dig my heels in and not do it. So the way I had this is about knowing yourself as well. If I'm trying to get on with something.

Philippa Alrdridge: I will say, okay, I only have to do it for five minutes. Let's do it for five minutes and see what happens. And I'll actually put a timer on my phone and it'll go off at five minutes. And if I want to walk away, I can walk away at that point, some people I know will actually say, I'm just going to write the first line, or I'm just going to set up the tripod.

Philippa Alrdridge: If they're gonna, it's a recording, a video or something like that. Yeah, just do one thing. But also it's. Remembering though, and I've, I think I've introduced these three questions before, but remembering how long, how much, how often. So how long do I wanna procrastinate for? Actually, a part of me would like to procrastinate for three hours, please.

Philippa Alrdridge: How much do I wanna do it? I really wanna procrastinate and not do anything to do with the [00:25:00] business, and I'm gonna go off and I'm going to. Do X, Y, and Z and how often do I wanna do this? Actually no, I just need to do it today to give myself a bit of space, that's all. So you create an agreement with a part of you?

Philippa Alrdridge: Yes. So sometimes it can be really easy of 5, 4, 3, 2, 1, or five minutes. Let's just get on with it. But sometimes it needs to be a little bit more, sometimes it needs to be, you've gotta talk it out with someone. Or you've got to write it down. But also sometimes it's, you've got to actually write about why am I doing this?

Philippa Alrdridge: To remind yourself? Because most of the time when we are avoiding doing that thing, it is because a part of us has forgotten about how it's going to make our life better, and we have to remember to soothe that part of us. We can also do things to. To strengthen our prefrontal cortex. Juggling, singing, dancing, movement really helps.

Philippa Alrdridge: So for lots of people when they're procrastinating, go and connect with your body. Do something that helps you to move and [00:26:00] that helps you to then get out of your head and to actually go a. Oh, I can do that actually, I don't what I was worried about. So there, there are lots of things, but also I think what we find in Thrive is that being able to talk to somebody, a peer, a coach, and just be able to go I'm be honest, I'm avoiding doing this and I'm really interested about that.

Philippa Alrdridge: Anybody got any advice? The yes. That is huge and it's not having that shame of going, I'm avoiding doing this as well. Yeah, just. That takes time to get to know yourself. And you have to want it. You have to want it. And I think it's knowing that if you didn't want it, you wouldn't be procrastinating over it in the first place.

Philippa Alrdridge: You would've just decided not to do it anyway and chucked it in the bin. 

Katie Bell: Yeah. So it's 

Philippa Alrdridge: obviously still important to a part of you. 

Katie Bell: And I think what you said there really highlights the importance of having. A community and mentorship. 

Katie Bell: [00:27:00] Because in business, I think too. Create success, whatever success looks like for you.

Katie Bell: And if you haven't listened to the podcast episodes that I've just done recently around defining success and what success means I encourage you and I urge you to go and listen to those. But I think you need strategy. You 100% need mindset work, which is why we are so keen to bring both into how we do things.

Katie Bell: But then there's this third element for me, which is community. 

Katie Bell: And that is when you are in a space, a safe space with other people, and you recognize parts of you and others. You, I'm gonna relate this to becoming a mom. And everybody keeps telling me to go to these fucking baby groups and I just dug my heels in.

Katie Bell: I'm like, I don't need any more friends. I'm 40. Like the, I don't need to sing wheels on the bus, go round and round a [00:28:00] million times. Certainly not when he's so young. Blah, blah, blah, blah, blah. But. What I realized is that being around others, this is gonna sound awful, who are having worse night sleeps than you are, or has a baby that has got more reflux than you do, or has a baby that takes longer to wind after a feed than you do can sometimes make you feel like you're not a complete failure.

Katie Bell: But also people have advice that makes you go oh, that's really interesting. Or, I'm struggling with that as well. I'm not alone in this. And it's the same in business, isn't it? We people often say, I only wanna have one-to-one coaching. And it's yeah, we, we know that can work in some respects, but actually surrounding yourself with a community of people, like-minded individual.

Katie Bell: Who will have often been there, done it, got the t-shirt, can provide you with the evidence that they've also lent into that uncomfortable part of them and move forwards and come out the other side is often enough for you to just go, I just need to do it then. It's work for you. It can work for me. You are no [00:29:00] different.

Katie Bell: And I think that's the beauty of Thrive is that we've created a community. Of fabulous clinic owners who are prepared to share and support each others to all succeed. 

Katie Bell: And I think, and I think that helps ation. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Definitely. Because it's a basic human need to feel that you belong. Yes. Yeah.

Philippa Alrdridge: And what you are talking about is belonging. Yes. Yeah. And when we feel that we belong, we feel safe, and we're more likely to be able to step out of our comfort zone. So community is massive and being surrounded by other people who are. Where you were where you want to be, you know who like you say. So some make you feel better because they're having a worse time than you.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yes. In terms of night's sleep for you. Some that, some of them have got through the other side of that, and now have brilliant night's sleep, whatever it might be. It's having those examples because that [00:30:00] social proof also helps to remind you again that you belong as well. Yeah.

Philippa Alrdridge: And so it comforts that part of you that gets stressed about the thing. Yeah. And what it means to you. 

Katie Bell: I love that, like this whole. These conversations always just go wherever we want 'em to go. Philippa. But I feel like that's really something I want people to just stop and think about is who you are, the average of the five people you surround yourself with.

Katie Bell: So if you wanna make more money, if you wanna get more time back, if you wanna grow your clinic, if you wanna. Whatever it is that you are as aspiring to, to do or have you need to go and surround yourself with people who are already doing it or on their way to it. And I think sometimes when people move from evolve into Activate or Activate into Elevate, elevate into Ascend, all of our four different program levels or even our non-members and want to become members. Often the thing that holds them back [00:31:00] a lot is that feeling of, I'm gonna be. This kind of really small fish in this very big pond. And I'm gonna feel lost and it's gonna be scary. And what if everybody knows everything already and I don't. And it's gonna highlight all the things that I'm not doing in my business.

Katie Bell: And I go and congratulations. That's exactly why you should be. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. 

Katie Bell: Like we welcome. To the pond. Yeah. Because if you are the biggest fish in that pond, and I have been there and experienced that in coaching, and I know you have Philip as well. When you become the biggest fish, it is time to move up or move on.

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah, absolutely. 

Katie Bell: Absolutely. And we are all for that and we, we recognize that in our members, but we also recognize when they feel the small fish in the big pond, we see a lot of procrastination. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. 

Katie Bell: We see a lot of blame, shame, all those things that you said. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah, absolutely. And all I'm thinking about is.

Philippa Alrdridge: The goldfish that I brought home from the fair when I was about 10. It was teeny [00:32:00] tiny. And I put it in our pond 'cause it didn't have goldfish bowl. Yeah. With our other goldfish. Yeah. Which were bigger. Yes. And that thing grew and grew. It was like it was stimulated by the space that it suddenly had.

Philippa Alrdridge: Until it grew to be the size of all the other goldfish, which was just weird for me. But then I'm thinking, I think it just challenged it. It was like, okay, so I've got to be this size. I'm gonna grow. And we see that, yeah. In our. Different membership levels of people growing to be like everybody else, but with their own stamp on it.

Philippa Alrdridge: But also remembering that some people will be doing really well in terms of bringing on team or with their marketing, but maybe something else is a great for them. So you are all growing at different times, as, as well. It's not like everyone who's been there a year has got everything sorted.

Philippa Alrdridge: It's remembering as well that you will, we learn from one other. I'm sort, [00:33:00] will that ever happen for us? I don't know. For me, no. Because you're never done, are you? You never done. You're never done. Because the job is never done. 

Katie Bell: The job is never done. So one of the things I think I just wanna touch on before we wrap up with reminding.

Katie Bell: Our listeners, how they can move forward with when they might recognize they're procrastinating, not making decisions in their business or in their life. One of the things I wanna touch upon is when you are procrastinating because something feels out of alignment. Or something doesn't fit with your values.

Katie Bell: Now, whether they're your personal values or the values that you have in your company, and I think this often when you are new into coaching or into ex really knowing oneself. I don't think we often recognize this quick enough. Sometimes we. Force ourselves to make decisions and do things that feel [00:34:00] off and feel icky.

Katie Bell: What are your thoughts on that, Philippa? 

Philippa Alrdridge: I think this also comes from getting to know yourself and doing the mindset work and getting clear on what your values are. Because I think lots of people, when we see this in Thrive, when they first join us and we ask them what their values are and they're like, I don't know.

Philippa Alrdridge: And I think for lots of people, that's one of the. The things that make things a whole lot clearer is as soon as you know your values, you've got that internal compass of yes or no. Yeah. And I think that's also when you can say, okay, so let's do a little bit of future pacing here. If six months time I've done it and it's worked out this way, how do I feel about that in six months time if I haven't done it?

Philippa Alrdridge: And. Nothing's changed. How do I feel about that? So this is where a bit of visualization comes in as well, and connecting with yourself. If you still don't feel connected to it, you've got no emotional connection to it in six months part time. If you've done it and it's worked or it still doesn't [00:35:00] feel right, that's when you know.

Philippa Alrdridge: That's not for me. Yeah. I'm not doing that. But it's also knowing yourself that those are definite your values and not your family values. So lots of people say was hat things to me about, you've gotta work really hard. I've got this really strong work ethic, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah, blah.

Philippa Alrdridge: And I couldn't possibly reduce my clinical hours, and they're really because. But that's not their values, it's what they've grown up with. So again, it's making sure you are really clear that you are working your decision making system on your own value system, not on your family value system, which a part of us will try and remain loyal to.

Philippa Alrdridge: That's all fun as well. But that's another podcast. 

Katie Bell: Sorry. Absolutely. There's, oh there's so many avenue avenues we could go down here. Philippa. What, one more question that's just come to my mind. What are the hidden costs here of procrastinating? 

Philippa Alrdridge: Oh, in terms of like time, [00:36:00] money, missed opportunities, your health, what does stressing and procrastinate, 'cause you are, whether you realize you are stressed or not, you are experiencing stress at that point.

Philippa Alrdridge: What's the impact of that on your health? So the. There's so many costs there in terms of not just business growth, but personal growth. So lots of different levels. And also if you are stressed and procrastinating about this, then what's the cost? When you gotta turn up back home and cook dinner and you realize you haven't got pasta or whatever it is.

Philippa Alrdridge: What then happens then? So it's on so many different levels, emotionally, physically, mentally, spiritually, business. Personal, there's lots of costs, whereas actually the yes, it does soothe a part of you, but this is where those three questions, how long, how much, how often come in so that you still have the choice rather than it being something that's become out of your control and it's just running, as just a habit.

Katie Bell: [00:37:00] I'm gonna be brave here and I don't want to, I don't want this to come across that, that this is me blowing my own trumpet. People say how do you become a success so quickly and how did you become a success so quickly in the clinic? How did you grow so quickly? And in Thrive, we've seen huge growth in the time that, that, the business is still relatively young.

Katie Bell: And I'm always like, oh, if I was asked this by Oprah, what would I say? And I can honestly say I think it, and you know me, Philippa really well. I think less and I do more. So I don't overthink things. And sometimes that is a problem. I know that you need detail, Philippa, and I forget to tell you things, but you know that of me and you just ask the right questions.

Katie Bell: But I do try and just take action rather than overthink the action. And I just get really, I'm just really okay with, sometimes it's gonna work and sometimes it's not gonna work, but the quicker we just move [00:38:00] forwards. The, we will get there faster.

Katie Bell: And so procrastination doesn't often show up in my life.

Katie Bell: I'm also a yellow, so I'm a high achiever. So therefore I don't sit well with procrastination, not getting shit done. Sometimes you have to lead into making sure the shit that you're getting done is the right shit. 

Katie Bell: But I think sometimes we sit and overthink way too much. Business needs to be simple and you just need to be consistent with your actions.

Katie Bell: And that's what we see in Thrive is when people just take action. Whether it's right or wrong, they often are moving forwards towards their goals at a much quicker pace. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Yeah. And when you were saying that, I kept thinking about Arnie's quote about want more success, fail faster. Yeah, a hundred percent.

Philippa Alrdridge: And that is it, but we've been brought up in a system, in an education system that tells us not to fail. Yeah. But also, and I'm not gonna go into the, all the different types of fear right now, it's [00:39:00] a really nice and comfortable excuse for a part of us might be a reason for another part of us to go.

Philippa Alrdridge: I'm scared of failing. Yeah, but actually that's not it. You are actually scared of success because you don't what it looks like. Yeah. But also we also see that the people who just go. Okay, I'm gonna do that because you said to do that and I'm gonna try it and see what happens. Yeah. Are the people who go yeah, that really worked for me.

Philippa Alrdridge: Or they question actually that doesn't really sit in alignment with my values doing it that way. Is there another way that I could do it? And so we might come up with another way of doing it. So again, it's about knowing yourself, but it's also about taking the action, like you say, not overthinking it, but also knowing that overthinking is a pattern that's kept you in your comfort zone.

Philippa Alrdridge: For some people that is just where they wanna be. There's not enough for them on the other side yet, but you've got to do the thing to get the [00:40:00] reward. Yeah. 

Katie Bell: Yeah. 

Philippa Alrdridge: Otherwise, you're never gonna get it. So 

Katie Bell: segue nicely into action. What is the one action Philippa that you want our listeners to do? If they are, if they are aware having listened to this, they're all procrastinating over something.

Katie Bell: Yeah. Over a decision they need to make in their business or in their life. What's the one action you would love them to take? 

Philippa Alrdridge: Get it all out of your head. That's what I want them to do. I want them to write it all down, get it all out, and then ask themselves, could I stand up in a court of law and say that's definitely gonna happen as a worst case scenario.

Philippa Alrdridge: If no, then we cross it out and then flip it to that worst, that best case scenario, and then think, okay, so which do I want? Which do I want more? Yeah. Do I want the worst or the best? You have the choice. The, as Cilla would say, on behind date for those of us that are over a certain age. Yeah. Or what was it?

Philippa Alrdridge: The guy did the, over the guy who did the over the talk, over Graham. The [00:41:00] decision Ray is yours. Yes. Yeah. Yeah. But he and also once, one other thing is remember how long, how much, how often we are, we do have the choice. Choice is the ultimate control here. And so many of us forget that. 

Katie Bell: And energetically, when you write it all down and you get it all out your head and you write down worst case scenario, and then you write down best case scenario energetically, if you only ever focus on what's gonna go wrong, it's gonna fucking go wrong.

Katie Bell: Oh, absolutely. Let's bring that in. That's the way the universe works. So why don't we just pretend 'cause the universe? Because your brain doesn't know true or false, it just. There's what it is. Why don't we just pretend it's gonna go right? Because energetically you will then be delivered more things that match that vibration.

Katie Bell: Am I right, wrong, 

Philippa Alrdridge: and take the inspired action to actually create those things and see the opportunities for the best case scenario. Whereas if we only focus on the worst case [00:42:00] scenario, that's all we're ever gonna see. 

Katie Bell: Oh, what a way to finish. Marvelous Philippa, thank you for giving up your very valuable time.

Katie Bell: Thank you. Impart your immense amount of knowledge that you have around this and you are such a valuable part of Thrive our members. Absolutely adore you because you are what makes such a massive difference to how their business performs. So a huge thank you. Thank you.

Katie Bell: And I know we're recording this ahead of the game, but I'm so excited to see you next week at the live days.

Katie Bell: Thank you. 

Speaker 3: Thanks for listening to the Treat Your Business podcast. Hit subscribe now and keep joining me for bigger insights, older conversations to help you build a clinic and a life you [00:43:00] love.

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Katie Bell

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