The Untethered Lifestyle

Push vs. Pull

Newton used to say that for every action, there is an equal and opposite reaction. Being able to pull all the strings might have been what have set you on this entrepreneurial quest on the first place.

But strings are no fun when you’re the marionette.

Do you feel more pulled or pushed regarding your internet business?

Feeling pushed is to feel shoved.  Nobody likes that.  However,  a gentle but firm pull amounts to being carried along with solid momentum. It carries the idea of magnetism, attraction.

Which describes you best?

Goals Pull, Needs Push

Just getting by is a lousy motivator. Carry on with that mindset and you’ll never have enough and success will remain elusive.

Beware, it’s easy to lose sight of your goals when your needs starts knocking at your door.

If your goals are framed right, they’re positive.  Needs are usually framed in the negative.

“Paying all the bills” is a lousy goal.  “Not becoming a bag lady” is need-driven, not goals-driven and tends to be a “pushy” idea.

“Being financially independent, free from debt by 2011″ is a positive idea that has a sense of pull.  Feel that?

Passion Pulls, Duty Pushes

The never-ending struggle between “wanting-to” and “having-to” may characterize your mindset.  Or, maybe for you it’s the difference between “should do” and “can do.”

Duty says, “I’m getting out of bed today because it’s my have to go to work.”  You’ll just get by and your work will be below par, I’m sure.

There may be nobility in duty, but there is little drive in it.

Passion, however, says, “I’m getting out of bed today because I can’t wait to do what I love.  I’ve got a contribution to make that I’m excited about.  Now, let’s get to it.”

Future Pulls, Past Pushes

A past corporate life might have lulled you into the security of working within a structure.  Now, the sense of what’s “sure” pushes and prods you every time you start trying to dream.

The past says, “you’ve never done this before.” Or, “you tried something like this before and failed.  Remember?”

Now, that’s a nasty shove.

A clear vision of a successful future, however, will compel you to action.  And each deliberate, planned action will bear with it a sense of stepping forward into that future as it pulls like a magnet.  Let the dreams of the future be your standard, not your past.

Anticipation Pulls, Fear Pushes

As an entrepreneur, you’ll soon come to the realization that only your are responsible for making your dream happen no matter which side of the bed you wake up on.

However, there is such a thing as being shoved out of bed by some irrational fear that you’ve got to hack again at the thing you hate (your corporate safety net) or you’ll lose everything.

Fear can show up both in procrastination as well as repelling  a prospect.  You show me a coach who feels like he has to have that client and inside he’s desperately afraid he’ll lose them, and I’ll show you a coach who can’t close the sale because of that fact.

However, the same coach that can’t wait to simply help his ideal client succeed (and is sure that anyone who rejects his services is simply making room for the next guy who won’t), that’s the coach whose very anticipation becomes attractive to the ideal client he seeks.  Hey, the pull even works both ways.  (So does the push, for that matter.  Watch out.)

Fear is to some extent healthy, but I consistently find that the anticipation of enjoying the sweet savor of a goal achieved is a much better motivator.

A Plans of Action Pulls, A Notion Pushes

The Eureka! Phenomenon feels good in the beginning.  So good in fact, that many an embryonic entrepreneur simply goes from fix to fix, enjoying the jolts of what Michael Gerber called the “entrepreneurial seizure.”

Those notions are so good that they demand to be attended to.  It’s like having a brain full of small children all needy and clamoring for your affection and attention.  Real pushy.  Generally, one really hooks you, but can easily sit in n “notion mode”…  just pushing and poking.

But when you cross the line, take out the yellow pad, lick that pencil and start setting dates and writing “next actions” lists, something happens.

Almost like turning that magnet around North to South, the push becomes a pull and you can actually see how this thing is going to happen.  It’s so magnetic, that it’s the first thing on your mind in the morning.  You hardly remember getting up and showering.  You can wait to get to the next item on the list – the next task in the plan – the next step toward success.

Mark this:  the successful internet business entrepreneurs are marked far more by pull than push.  And the internet graveyard is littered with those who got pushed right over the edge.

Take Action:

Choose the one in the above list that you struggle with the most and take some time to re-frame your thinking.  Orient your mindset around what pulls, that which has a sense of magnetism and momentum toward a positive place in your life that you’ve envisioned.  Journal the process.

What About You? Leave Your Comments Below:

• Of which one of the above contrasts are you on the push side?

• Of which one of the above contrasts are you on the pull side?