Ep 12: Clarity Comes from Action, Not Thoughts
Learn how to break free from analysis paralysis and start living your dream life. Host, Asha Wilkerson, shares her journey of overcoming fear and uncertainty to pursue her passions, offering actionable steps and empowering insights.
If you're ready to take the next step towards clarity and fulfillment, this podcast is your guide to unlocking your full potential and creating the life you desire.
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Takeaways
Analysis paralysis is a common experience where individuals feel stuck and unable to make decisions. The key is to focus on making the next move rather than worrying about making the right move.
Taking action is essential for gaining clarity and making progress towards goals. Each step taken provides feedback and allows for course correction.
Coaching can be beneficial for individuals who struggle with analysis paralysis and need accountability and support to take action.
The Soulful Homecoming Retreat in Ghana is a healing retreat designed for black women and women of the African diaspora to reconnect with their roots.
Chapters
(00:00) Feeling Paralyzed by Decision Making
(01:21) Overcoming Analysis Paralysis
(03:25) Exploring New Opportunities
(03:55) Taking Action and Making Choices
(04:57) Gaining Teaching Experience
(08:05) Becoming a Full-Time Faculty Member
(08:54) Taking Action and Gaining Clarity
(09:54) The Importance of Taking Action
(10:42) Consider One-on-One Coaching
(11:41) Overcoming Fear and Trauma
(12:07) Building the Life of Your Dreams
Resources
To learn more about starting your healing journey, head to ashawilkerson.com!
Interested in working with Asha? Click here to get on her calendar for a discovery call.
Follow Asha on Instagram @AshaWilkersonEsq
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Asha Wilkerson (00:03.018)
you felt paralyzed by decision making.
Asha Wilkerson (00:18.506)
How many times have you felt paralyzed by your decision making? You need to make a change, leave a relationship, switch careers or start a business and you have it all planned out, but you always find yourself at the starting line, unable to move. If this is you, it's because you're worried about making the right move, but all you really need to focus on is making the next move. Stay with me and I'll tell you exactly how to do that.
If you suffer from analysis paralysis, you're not alone and you don't have to suffer much longer. We're often so focused on making the right decision that we end up not making any decision at all. Today, I'll tell you about how to get out of that stagnant analysis stage and start taking action. Way back in 2015, I was running my own litigation practice and I was starting to feel stuck and miserable. I got up every day, went to the office and worked hard, but I still felt miserable to
taking on new clients and heading to court. It's hard to run a litigation practice when you don't like litigation. I wanted to do something different, but I had no idea what I could do. I looked at my law degree as a ball and chain rather than an opportunity to explore the world like I had anticipated that it would be. I couldn't see how my skills were transferable and narrow-mindedly, I thought I was only qualified to practice law and that if I wanted to do that outside of California, I'd have to take another bar exam,
which was completely off the table for me because I hated the bar exam. It took me two times to pass it and I just didn't want to do it again. So taking the bar in another state was a barrier that kept me stuck.
At the time, I thought I was unqualified to go into business and was totally uninterested in exploring that option, which is funny because a couple of years later, I went to business school and then ended up coaching businesses as a part of my business offering.
Asha Wilkerson (02:20.906)
At the time, I thought I was unqualified to go into business and was totally uninterested in exploring that option. Leaving behind law felt like such a waste of money, but little did I know I would end up in an MBA program two years later and add coaching to my business as an attorney.
Asha Wilkerson (02:43.242)
At the time, I thought I was unqualified to go in the business.
At the time I thought I was unqualified to go into business and was totally uninterested in exploring that option. Leaving behind law felt like such a waste of money, but little did I know I'd end up in an MBA program two years later and I would add business coaching to my skillset and to my offerings as an attorney. I couldn't see past my own limitations and felt totally and completely stuck. I'd spend hours ruminating about how miserable I was and how stuck I felt, but I couldn't come up with the right
career move for me. Then one day I had a serious introspective look at myself. I was sick of circling the drain and decided I needed to make some choices and take action. In the past, I'd lived by the philosophy of just try it and see what happens. I'd always told myself not to stand in my own way or to discount myself from something that I wanted. And I had to remember to do that again in this situation. I asked myself what I was good at and what I enjoyed. And I came up with teaching.
I didn't...
I asked myself what I was good at and what I enjoyed, and I came up with teaching. I didn't necessarily want to be in a classroom, but I knew that if I could somehow use those skills, I'd be more in alignment and hopefully start feeling better. At the time I had some teaching experience, but nothing formal. So I decided to create my own experiences to start working in my gifts and to become a better candidate for jobs and opportunities that required teaching skills. At that moment, I decided to just
Asha Wilkerson (04:20.62)
take the next step, which was to get more experience.
I didn't think I wanted to teach full time. I didn't have aspirations to become a facilitator or to take on a job with another company. I didn't know what the end would look like at all, but I knew that I needed to develop that teaching skill. So I started hosting my own workshops to teach business owners about employment law. I started contacting paralegal programs and law schools to inquire about their adjunct teaching pool. I started telling people in my network to keep me in mind if they heard about teaching opportunities. And I started giving trainings at the
local bar association and the chamber of commerce to business owners. I took the next step towards my goal without worrying about whether it was the right step. I didn't even know what my final destination was, but I knew the direction that I wanted to head in and I took steps in that direction. Then one summer, a friend of mine who ran the paralegal program at a local community college told me she was looking for somebody to cover for her while she took the semester off for maternity leave. We'd had a few conversations.
conversations and although I didn't have the formal teaching experience that I thought that I would need to take on her full -time position, I was determined to be the best candidate for the job and I was hired to teach full -time for my very first semester of teaching. The connection, that connection eventually led me...
That connection eventually led me to become a full-time faculty member and the department chair of a paralegal program in Sacramento. A few years later, when I look back at my first steps to gain more teaching experience, I had no idea that I would end up as a full-time tenured professor. Absolutely none. But it's because I started moving in the direction of my goals that I ended up with way more than I had ever dreamed of. If you're a perfectionist, a high achiever,
Asha Wilkerson (06:15.724)
or someone who puts a lot of pressure on yourself. It might be hard for you to think about taking one step without having all the other steps to your final destination planned out. You're paralyzed by fear. You're scared to make a wrong move, but I don't really believe that there are wrong moves. With each step you take, you gain more information, which allows you to make a more informed decision. There's a quotation I love that I've been thinking about for years and it says, "clarity comes from action."
action. Or there's another one that says, "clarity comes from action, not thought." I think Marie Forleo said that one, or at least she gets the credit. You have to take action to gain more clarity about a situation. Whether you were thinking of making a career move, leaving a relationship, traveling the world, going back to school, or moving to a new city. You will only become clear about whether the move is a good one or not when you take action And guess what?
what? If it doesn't work out? It doesn't mean the end of the world and it definitely doesn't mean that you took the wrong action. It just means that your action didn't take you closer to your goal. And you know what the solution is? Take another action based on the feedback that you have now.
So my advice to you is this, wherever you feel unclear, uncertain, or a bit confused, decide what the next action step can be and take it. Don't ask what it should be or what the right move is. Just make a move and see what happens. And then based on that feedback, make another one. There have been times in my life where I've benefited from a coach's guidance to help me make decisions in my life and my business. When I'm stuck in a
analysis paralysis, it can be hard to break the spin cycle so that I can take a step. Most of the time I'm pretty good at stepping and evaluating, but sometimes I need some guidance. If you are an over thinker or an over-planner, I want you to consider one -on -one coaching seriously. You cannot think or plan yourself into the life that you want. You have to take action. And if taking action terrifies you, or if you've been planning to take action for over a year and haven't taken a single step yet, you
Asha Wilkerson (08:32.972)
need help! In my one-on-one coaching container. I help my clients decide what action they want to take and then actually take it. The difference between doing it on your own and doing it with me is accountability and also safety. I hold you to the goals you said you wanted and I help you create mental and emotional safety so that you can take the steps toward your goal. Most of the time, the fear that holds us back is leftover from childhood or maybe adulthood trauma,
and I can help you identify what it is and weaken its hold on you so that you can take action and do it from a place of confidence and power. When you work with me one-on-one, you can take the steps you know you need to take to make your dream life come true. You will learn the skills necessary to become an action taker so that you can control and build the life of your dreams.
When you work with me one-on-one, you can take the steps you know you need to take to make your dream life come true. You will learn the skills necessary to become an action taker so that you can take control and build the life of your dreams. To learn more about coaching with me, let's talk. Head to ashawilkerson.com/coaching to book an inquiry call with me and I'll tell you exactly how I can help you change your life one step at a time. But before I let go, can you do me a favor? Can you rate, review,
and share this podcast, I'd really love your help in getting the word out to the community so that we can all heal and live free and live the life of our dreams. If you're an IG user, take a screenshot and tag me on IG at @AshaWilkersonESQ so we can share the love. Lastly, remember that it's because I've healed that I've been able to repair old relationships and start new ones from a different perspective. It's because I've healed that I've been able to leave expectations behind that no longer serve me. It's because I've
I've healed and I'm currently living my dream life out loud with no regrets.