I know the feeling. One day you're clipping along at a thrilling pace in your coaching business, in touch with your original calling and vision. Synchronicity abounds. All is well. Then suddenly, you feel paralyzed by doubt, unsure if this is the right business, the right time, the right decision. You question whether you have the skills or the chutzpah to make a success out of this.

The answer? Yes, yes, yes! You've just had a temporary loss of inspiration.

Meaningful Pursuits Come with Challenges and Doubts

Here's the first thing to know: it's natural and valuable to have doubts. If you weren't occasionally experiencing doubts, fears, tests and obstacles as you build your coaching business, I'd say you're probably not on a meaningful path. It's simply not sustainable to ride a high all the time. To get grounded, we must come to earth.

While uncomfortable to feel, doubts and fears are allies. They are instinctive feelings coming from our body's wisdom, an invitation to stop before we cross a threshold into the unknown. So we feel "frozen in fear."

The Magician Within You

Fear is the gateway to the magician archetype within each of us that. A magician seeks to know, and the opportunity here is to expand our knowing. This is where all the truly meaningful work is germinated.

Ask any creator or hero - scientists, inventors, artists and entrepreneurs - they will all say that their greatest inspirations sprang out of a dark place. Wrestling with fears and doubts is a necessary step to achieving greatness.

So, how do you stare down doubt?

1. Look compassionately at the doubt.

Let go of judgments and impatience. The less you resist, the more quickly you'll pass through the darkness to the light.

2. Stop and breathe.

Cease your forward motion for a time. Go within. Listen.

3. Give it a voice.

Honor the fear by writing down your raw feelings. Or tell your coach, trusted colleague or friend what you fear most. Ask them to simply hear you and validate your feelings, rather than offer solutions or rationale.

4. Do a quick risk assessment.

What is at risk here? What patterns, judgments, limiting beliefs or scarcity thoughts may you have to give up to move forward? These things were lovingly put in place by your psyche to protect you at one time. However, they may no longer serve you. Feel gratitude for how these "risk managers" served you once, and then lovingly let them go (as many times as it takes, with compassion).

5. Arm yourself.

Like a warrior, gird yourself with your original vision and calling. Allow the last vestiges of that frozen place to melt by getting in touch with your heart and spirit.

6. Be powerfully at choice.

Choose to move forward in the way that speaks to your highest good.

A World Driven By Fears

Bless us all. We are taught to be driven by our fears. The media, our government, and messages all around us encourage a herd mentality fueled by lack of knowledge and scarcity. If we allow fears and doubts to master us, we submit to our lower selves like cattle, corralled into the status quo where we fall into a stupor. But we are meant to be larger and more brilliant spirits than that!

The Courageous Way

What will move us away from the conditioning? The new adage - "feel the fear and do it anyway" - points in the right direction, but it's missing an ingredient. Loving kindness during our doubtful moments is the catalyst that can transform us into fierce and heartful warriors.

The next time you feel doubt, take these six steps to move through it more quickly. You may even find yourself feeling inspired all over again.

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Rhonda Hess is Founder of Prosperous Coach™ and a business success coach for professional coaches. She is co-author of the Coach Training accelerator, a comprehensive coach training manual, and senior trainer for Coach Training Alliance. She also wrote Working Websites for Coaches, an ebook available in Resources for Coaches. For more information about Rhonda, see: Contributors. For more information about Prosperous Coach, see: About Us.

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