I just tried out a new exercise with a coaching client who
was obsessing (as she described it) about the fact that one of her clients hadn’t
yet responded to her email requesting more money for an upcoming job. I had her
write down every possible reason that she might not have heard back. Her list
looked something like this:
- She is busy
- She is away
- She is considering this and doesn’t want to write back until she’s had a chance to get budget approval
- She is so angry about my request that she no longer wants to do business with me
- She has found someone else to do the job for less
- She is sick / some personal issue has come up
- She doesn’t care / this job really doesn’t matter much to her
I then asked my client to consider how likely each of these
explanations was.
When she was able to, first, see how many perfectly reasonable
explanations there were, and second, to see how unlikely the 4th reason
listed was, she was able to relax a bit and be more patient.
What response are you still waiting for? Let me know if this
exercise helps you.
