How I Stopped Overthinking And Started Taking Action

The first step is always the most challenging part. We sit around thinking, "what should I do" - and then get stuck in more "overthinking."

I've found myself caught up in this cycle more often than not. I have so many big ideas, but getting started has been the most challenging part.

Here's how I broke that toxic cycle and how I believe you can as well!

When we get started towards our goals, nothing can stop us. But the most challenging part is getting started because of a series of human issues that most people experience.

I believe that once you get this, you will experience a massive breakthrough in your life! You will become an unstoppable force of action taking like I've become lately! I know you will!

I'd love to hear from you in my #GrowYourLife Facebook group about how this goes: facebook.com/groups/growyourlife

You can also schedule a free 15-minute call with me at jeremiahkrakowski.com/freecall .

1.) Realize that inaction is addictive.

This will be a hard truth for some people: The anticipation of taking action is addictive.

The POTENTIAL of action, the potential of doing something, is extremely addictive. We love having "potential" almost more than success.

This is why we hoard things and don't use them. This is why we don't take action. 

We prefer the idea of taking action over actually doing anything because of chemicals in our brain that get us high off potential!

They have found that people are more addicted to the potential of doing something more than actually doing it, and it's a very human thing. So you have to break this addiction on purpose.

Realize: there's no benefit from sitting around in your potential and doing nothing. You have to use what is inside of you and start to do something.

A big part of this addiction is the overthinking cycle!

2.) Break the overthinking cycle and get started!

When we sit around overthinking, we wire our brains to think that we are doing something productive. We are just sitting around daydreaming.

I believe that brainstorming and daydreaming in small amounts can be extremely productive. In large quantities, however, it can be the most toxic, unproductive thing that ever happens!

It becomes idle thoughts at that point!

Here's a hack that can help you break the cycle: take action 90% of the time, and reward yourself for taking action with SMALL brainstorming sessions.

So now, you can give yourself small doses of that addictive cycle (yes, not all overthinking is bad).

That good feeling you get from discovering potential - and thinking of new ideas - you can give to yourself in small doses.

It can be extremely healthy that way. You will be taking action instead of just thinking about ideas that you have. Then you will reward yourself with thinking of new ideas after you take action!

3.) Action is the only way that dreams come to life.

When we get started, instead of overthinking, we end up manifesting what we dream of. Those things that you've spent hours daydreaming about can only come to reality when you take action!

You have to realize that the only way you will reach any goal you have is to start doing something.

Start taking action.

I don't mean burning yourself out or striving to the point that you experience health challenges at all.

I also don't support using guilt and shame to motivate you to take action. Don't ever feel ashamed that you've been stuck in these cycles, do better next time.

Start to take action.

4.) Take ownership of why you are where you are.

Ultimately, it would be best if you took ownership of why you haven't moved forward. The only reason you've been stuck where you are is that you've chosen to stay here!

The only reason anyone is stuck is that they've chosen to be right where they are.

No one else is to blame for why you are where you are today - except you!

Might bad things have happened to you? Sure. But it's your responsibility to pick yourself up and choose to do something differently. You're the only one who will help you grow out of what happened in your past.

The book Extreme Ownership by Jocko Willink was instrumental for me in changing this cycle of blaming everything else around me.

You are not responsible for how other people feel, and other people are not responsible for how you feel!

It's time to step up and take ownership of your life instead of trying to blame things outside of yourself for it.

5.) Action beats fear.

Just because you are afraid doesn't mean that you should listen to that fear.

If you've been fear-driven for a long time, you have to be intentional not to allow your fear to keep you stuck or afraid!

It's time to get up and stop letting fear keep you in a prison of your own thoughts.

When we take action, we look fear in the face and tell it that it has no more power over us.

This may be the most challenging thing we do in our entire life! But it's the most worth it!

Do the thing that you're scared of while you are afraid. It may even hurt to do it. When I started taking action, I would get stomach aches, and my head would hurt while I took action! Now, those manifestations don't happen anymore!

6.) Figure out what you're really scared of.

The only reason we don't get started taking action is usually related to a hidden fear, deep below the surface.

In the book "The Big Leap," Gay Hendricks talks about four reasons main of us limit our actions:

1.) We believe we are inherently flawed, so we don't get started until we become "not flawed."

2.) We are afraid of outshining other people, so we shrink back and don't get started until it's safe.

3.) We fear the pain that success might bring, so we avoid getting started because of the believed pain.

4.) We fear that if we move forward, we will be disloyal to those who brought us to where we are today.

Most people have 1-2 of these things, but most never have all 4.

When you can identify which one resonates with you, you can usually trace it back to some experience that told you that you shouldn't get started.

You've allowed it to keep you stuck up until this moment in time. It's time to change those limiting beliefs. 

7.) Forgive the past and move forward

All of us have had challenging experiences. In the end, we have to forgive the past, both ourselves and other people - and realize that what happened before isn't going to happen again.

This doesn't mean that we go back to the same situation or even trust the people who hurt us. Boundaries are critical to have.

It means that we no longer allow our past to keep us stuck, and we are now moving on. 

Our past pain has been a comfort zone long enough; it's time to move forward!

We must not stay stuck and in inaction simply because things didn't work out perfectly last time.

It's time to get up and take action!

In conclusion, once you grow in these areas, your entire world opens up to you!

You may experience the same cycle again - but when you are AWARE of the issues, you can break the cycle a lot more quickly next time!

Don't allow the trap of perfection - and the need to do everything perfect keep you stuck. Things happen. Keep moving forward!

Don't beat yourself up when the cycle happens; instead, be thankful that you get an opportunity to do better this time!

Start taking action and get started today. That's where the magic happens.

How I Deal With Negative Thoughts In My Healing Journey

Learning to control your negative thoughts is one of the most valuable skills you can understand.

It's a skill that took me a while to figure out; with some inner healing work, some talk therapy, and a few good books to help me learn about Complex PTSD, I finally overcame these inner demons that had me so gripped for years in fear.

Let me share with you something that happened tonight, just an hour before I wrote this blog post to you to give some context:

Tonight, I made the mistake of breaking a glass jar in our house. It was a lovely jar.

My brain immediately went through a series of self-hatred cycles triggered by emotions, feelings, and ultimately, as I soon discovered, childhood memories.

I immediately was swearing obscenities (in my head) to myself, telling myself how much of a terrible human I was - for breaking a glass jar!

Yeah... How crazy... Do you see how crazy that sounds?

Then, as soon as these emotions hit me, and the self-sabotage cycle began, I realized what was truly going on!

I instantly told myself, "I have total control over this thought."

I'm not experiencing the pain of getting punished for breaking fine china or crystal. I existed in an emotional flashback.

At this moment, I calmed myself down - and realized that I was safe, secure, and not going to get punished.

I also told myself that I was a good, powerful, good enough, loveable person.

I didn't beat myself up for my self-hatred. I forgave myself for how I had cussed myself out just seconds prior and repented of it. I immediately got over it.

All of this happened in a matter of about 2 minutes!

This is what is called a Complex PTSD response, as talked about in Pete Walker's book "Complex PTSD" which is triggered by a strong emotional series of repeated events in our childhood.

When we become aware of why we react, we can step out of it and tell ourselves that it's all going to be ok.

I'm writing this blog post to you now, just an hour after these events transpired, to document what controlling our thoughts looks like!

You see, I went from the muscle memory reaction of powerlessness to having total personal power in just 2 minutes.

Previously, years ago, this would've taken me at least a few days to recover from. Working through my issues and getting healing for these pains inside, and creating success strategies when they come up again has revolutionized my life.

Two incredible books on this topic are:
Here are my Amazon affiliate links.

1.) The Body Keeps the Score by Bessel van der Kolk M.D. amzn.to/2L5KsvS

2.) Complex PTSD by Pete Walker amzn.to/3o2GBOO

These books helped me a lot in my healing journey, and I think they might help you as well.

If you're someone who beats yourself up for every little thing that happens in your life, check these books out!

We have to love ourselves, even when we make mistakes. You are not a horrible person just because you made a mistake!

We need to treat ourselves with kindness, the kindness we would treat someone else with who also makes mistakes!

We all make mistakes, sometimes big - other times small. There's no excuse or reason to beat ourselves up or be self-hating for these mistakes. I know some of you are reading this may have had a pattern of self-loathing. I believe that you can get help and grow out of it as I did.

Will the moments come back? Yes, just as mine did tonight. But in these moments, you will be able to use your success strategies to not derail for days and instead get right back on track minutes later!

We can all be more powerful than our past - and we can develop strategies to control our thoughts when they go towards negativity.

You are no longer a victim of your past if you so choose. I believe that everyone can grow out of the painful experiences and self-sabotage patterns that they have in their lives to live as powerful people.

Are you ready to be a powerful person? Let's do this together.

I recommend getting professional help on this journey, or at least finding someone you can talk to about these things.

A great site that I know of that has therapy services is: betterhelp.com

A free site that has people you can talk to is: 7cups.com

As we process through our pain and fears, we become more powerful than them. Developing strategies to deal with our thoughts and have control over our emotions changes everything!

Best Free App For Scheduling TikTok and Instagram Reels

Unless you’ve been living under a rock, TikTok and Instagram Reels are the latest rages in social media!

The value in them is, you can reach new audiences easier and get your message out to people in a fun, bite-sized entertaining way! You also don’t need to be professional at all with it!

All my favorite features are included in these fun pieces of content!

I’ve been creating TikTok and Instagram Reels content the last few months and started to get into a good groove with them!

Be sure to find me on both apps:

TikTok: tiktok.com/@jeremykrak

Instagram: instagram.com/jeremykrak

I thought, what better way to do this than to schedule my content.

I use Hopper HQ and Onestream. Live to schedule my other content, so why not find something that works for these apps?

Well turns out there are currently no tools out there for natively scheduling (meaning they don’t automatically post).

There’s a great app that I found tho called The Preview App. The free version is enough to do your TikTok’s and Reels!

You can download the Preview App here: preview.app

This app specifically schedules Instagram Reels, but it works the same for TikTok’s (I do both simultaneously).

The way it works is:

1.) you record your Reels or TikTok’s on your phone.

2.) Make your edits in an app like InShot here: http://www.inshot.com/

3.) Schedule the videos into The Preview App, write a short 1-2 sentence description, and add 2-3 hashtags.

When it’s time to upload, the way the app works sends you a notification on your phone. You open up the notification. This copies the description to your device clipboard and opens up your video to post in both Instagram Reels (through your camera roll) and TikTok. You might have to do it twice for the two apps!

It’s effortless to set up and use, and I love that it’s free.

I recommend downloading The Preview App and giving it a try. I’m so glad that I did.

The paid version has some other features, but I’m still on the free one! It’s awesome!

Sell More Without Being Annoying Or Slimey

Have you ever met a salesperson that you were annoyed with? I'm talking about someone that you just wanted to be like, "would you stop already!"

We all have experienced this, and many times this has left a sour taste in our mouths about selling. We are afraid to "be that person."

Unfortunately, this noble, good choice that we've made not to be an unaware salesperson leads us to swing WAY TOO FAR in the other direction.

You see, most people are trying so hard not to be annoying that they avoid doing anything that will sell in their business!

I see it all the time, business owners who have INCREDIBLE products and services not getting sales. I'm talking HIGH QUALITY, AMAZING PRODUCTS... not selling anything!

This whole idea of "not being annoying while selling" gets into our heads, and we get this vision of what we don't want to be at the forefront of our minds that affects - and damages our actions and choices.

Who's had this happen before? I know I used to. I would be so afraid of being that way that I wasn't even connecting with my target customer. 

Even with my incredible products and services, I was afraid of being "annoying" that I didn't put my stuff out there!

I wasn't sending emails; I wasn't reaching out to people and letting them know what I had for sale!

We can get so stuck in our head with the "right timing" and the "right way" to make sales based on our judgment of what it means to sell - how we've judged others - that we avoid even selling in our own businesses!

And this is usually the next place people get stuck telling themselves, saying, "I just don't know what to say to close a sale."

To this, I say that there's so much training and coaching out there on sales that are incredible. I've also recorded three podcast episodes on this topic that help you sell more. You can find the links to them below:

www.jeremiahkrakowski.com/grow-your-life-podcast/40-becoming-unstoppable-at-sales-growyourlife

www.jeremiahkrakowski.com/grow-your-life-podcast/29-close-more-sales-with-integrity-confidence-growyourlife

www.jeremiahkrakowski.com/grow-your-life-podcast/episode-2-how-to-sell-anything-with-the-words-you-say

Ultimately, you can't sell what you don't believe in, so:

1.) A healthy self-image is important. Believe in yourself, and others will as well. Mindset increases sales!

2.) Talk to your prospects like you do a close friend that you're raving about a product with!

When you give an authentic endorsement to a friend, you don't care if they buy or not, but you KNOW that they really should! 

There's a level of authenticity that we all possess when raving about something to a friend that helps us sell better.

Are there methods and cadences for selling that work better than others? Absolutely.

The best is when you know exactly what your prospect needs and desires are, you can mirror these back to them, and as a result, they will get from what you are selling (if it applies).

When I hear from a prospect who wants to pay off credit card debt and move into a bigger house, I know that if they coach with me, and I help them make $1MM in a business, they will be able to pay off that credit card debt and move into a bigger house! It's just a fact!

So in my mind, my entire goal is to help that person reach that goal that they have in their mind.

Whenever I'm selling, I'm always thinking about "What does my prospect want?"

Testimonies and case studies are a great sales tool because when people see that someone else did it, they believe that they can do it as well!

Sales happen when trust and rapport are built. You are connecting with a real human being and helping serve their needs and goals!

When you can help someone get what they want, you will get what you want, the sale!

And when you do so with integrity and honesty, people will THANK YOU for spending money with you (I have this happen all the time, everyone who spends money with me thanks me for the opportunity!)

Would you like to be someone that people thank for spending money with you? It's possible! I've seen it happen for the clients I work with for years!

If you'd like coaching to become a better salesperson, online and offline, as well as advice on what direction to go in your business, schedule a free 15-minute breakthrough call with me here: jeremiahkrakowski.com/freecall

Fact: I don't sell on these 15-minute calls! These are intended to connect with you and see where your at to point you in the right direction. It'll be the best decision you make (ok, now I'm selling to you in this blog post - go! Schedule that call!)

Learn To Write Profit Generating Headlines The Easy Way

The most important part of marketing and advertising you can learn is how to write headlines. If you can write headlines, you can succeed in marketing and advertising.

This is the number one area that most people struggle with that affects their ability to sell online.

I often re-write headlines to increase results 5-10x above what the previous headline was getting for my coaching clients.

Part of the problem is, as I've mentioned in other blog posts: mindset and overthinking. Over analyzing what a good headline looks like is a surefire way to create a crappy headline.

When you get stuck in your head about making the perfect headline, it almost always comes out extremely bad. That's a topic for another time, but ultimately, good headline writing is about being able to throw a bunch of darts BLINDFOLDED at a moving target and hoping some of them stick.

A headline is all about grabbing people's attention. If you're not getting the attention of your target customer, you've lost most of the battle.

I'm not talking about random attention for being crazy or doing something stupid - I'm talking about actual locked in, focused, paying attention, listening, engaging with what you are paying attention to.

A good headline both GETS and KEEPS the attention of your target customer.

Getting their attention is useless if you can't keep it.

So we want to write our headlines in a way that speaks directly to:

1.) The problem the customer has

2.) The solution we offer

3.) Projects a vision of their future after they engage/buy what you are selling.

4.) Sometimes even build your credibility and authority.

These are what a good headline does, all in one to two sentences.

Example of a good headline that does this:

After working with 120,000 business owners, I figured out the 3 things most people aren't doing to reach 7 figures in sales online.

This headline right here does all four things mentioned above!

Here's a variation of it:

3 Proven Keys To Make 7 Figures That Worked With Over 120,000 Clients Of Mine.

There are many different ways to frame a headline, depending on who you're talking to - or where the headline will be posted at.

Here's a big secret: You will not use the same headline on every platform! 

Your emails, landing pages, blog posts, social media posts, and ads will all use a different headline structure!

Because of this, you want to do some observation and intelligence recon. This is one of the biggest keys to getting better at writing headlines that many people miss/avoid for whatever reason.

Are you ready for this huge key?

Please pay attention to this...

If you do anything this year - this will grow your business.

1.) Join Other People's Email Lists And Read Their Email Headlines

2.) Pay Close Attention To Ads You See Everywhere For Headlines.

If you do this, your ability to write headlines will massively increase. Start to look at the structure of how the headlines are written.

These companies are spending millions to billions on these headlines. Learn from other people's work to get a Master's Degree in Headline writing!

I'm so serious. There are people who've I've told to do this for years that still don't. The ones who do are the ones who make the most money in their business, and the rest are always looking for a secret formula...

I just gave it to you.

You aren't plagiarizing or copying the headlines. You're observing them as a template.

When you do this, your headline writing will get better.

Get to work writing some headlines!

If you need some help going over your business, headlines, landing pages, emails, copy, ads, etc, schedule a free 15 minute call with me here: jeremiahkrakowski.com/freecall

Stop Overthinking And Start Taking Imperfect Action

For years, my habit was to come up with ideas and get stuck in my head processing through them. I was a chronic over-thinker because it was safer and less risky to think about ideas than to take action.

I used to get upset when people would say, "The world is for the doers" and "Dreams without action go nowhere."

Now, I'm one of those people saying the same thing - but with one KEY important addition: Action without dreams will die - so keep on dreaming big!

That said, we have to start taking action on things. We have to get out of our heads if we want to progress in our lives.

It can be a comfort zone, a response to trauma, a safety reaction, or we may even convince ourselves that it's a "wise planning method" to sit around, overthinking all the ways things can go wrong before taking action.

It's true. Failing to plan is planning to fail...

But sitting around always planning while never taking action is guaranteed to fail!

We can all accomplish far greater than we ever imagined by taking imperfect action than we will waiting until everything is going perfectly in our lives!

Here's an exercise for you: identity what your next step is. Take action on it.

Even if you haven't fully processed through or thought about how to take that action or what comes after it - take imperfect, unprocessed action towards your next step!

You don't have to complete your thought processes before taking action. Yes, I understand that it may be hard to grasp this fact right now.

If we can begin our thought process and then take action without having to figure everything out, it allows us to accomplish more in our business than sitting around processing and solving every problem that arises.

Taking action without all of the solutions figured out is the best thing you can do as a business owner.

It allows you to course-correct and adjust your plans as you go (which is the best thing to do) instead of being locked into one plan before you even begin!

This is the best path to take towards your goals that will get results.

I understand that reading this, everything inside of you may resist the idea of taking action without having all angles figured out yet.

I'd invite you to step out in faith and try it out.

Whatever fear or worry or "wisdom" tells you that it's wrong to do this, try to embrace the possibility of taking imperfect action in your life and your business.

This one thing will change everything for you. It may be the scariest thing you have ever done, but I genuinely believe that it's the type of breakthrough that will be worth it to open up many new doors and possibilities for you.

When you can identify your next step - and you start moving forward, taking action on it, even without every other step figured out yet, you'll soon experience an acceleration in your ability to develop new ideas and process through the right actions to make.

It might feel like your forgetting things, leaving them behind, or even dropping balls. But in fact, you're leaving all the distractions behind.

Change your perspective to realize that overthinking and overprocessing your actions is just a major distraction in your life that is preventing you from doing what you need to to reach your goals.

The time to take action is now, not later, towards your goals.

Will you please start taking action in your business?

Schedule a 15-minute call with me to talk about what actions to take in your business and strategize your next steps together at jeremiahkrakowski.com/freecall