Can you tell the difference between push and pull energy?

I was recently talking with a prospect who felt intense pressure to get her website up and have a complete marketing plan in place in about 6 weeks (and during “excuse time”, no less) [link to last article. As we spoke, I could sense the pressure of time that she was putting on herself and it felt really heavy.

People are attracted to us or not attracted to us based on the energy we put out.

As coaches, it’s important to be aware of where we are coming from. Plus, none of us became coaches and entrepreneurs to feel like we have a JOB where we have to do things.  It’s important to cultivate the experience that you want to have with your business.

The “Western way” is to set a goal, push, push, push, and get the goal done. It’s a goal-oriented mindset that thinks, “If I do this, then I’ll be happy!” In this space, we skip over the opportunity to actually enjoy our business. This is the epitome of push energy.

Steve Jobs always said that if it felt like a push for more than 3 days, it’s time to re-evaluate what you are doing.

When you push to get things done, not only is it not enjoyable, but you’re probably not going to get the results you hoped for. It’s hard to show up in your magnificence when you’re pushing and putting pressure on yourself.

How can you identify and shift into the pull energy of your business?

When you’re excited about something and feel inspired to take action, you’re in pull energy. The natural next steps bubble up effortlessly. You might think, “Ooh! I’m excited about this, I know what I’ll do!” It’s not a struggle at all; it feels fun.

For example, let’s say there’s a networking event coming up. When you receive the invitation, you feel interested and curious. You wonder, “Who do I want to meet? What do I want to get out of this?” When you find yourself naturally following the threads of inspiration, you are operating from a place of pull energy.

In this scenario, the opposite or push experience would be forcing yourself to go even though you really don’t want to, and thinking, “I really ‘should’ go… I need to ‘get’ more clients, I’m going to ‘make it work.'” You show up with your plastered-on smile and try to force something to happen. In the end, when you operate from push energy, it is an exhausting, usually fruitless experience. (And by the way, we’ve all done it. I spent the first half of my life pushing and wondering why I was never satisfied!)

When you live in pull energy, opportunities abound.

And when you are connected to your Big Why and you honor your values, those opportunities tend to pop up in unexpected and delightful ways. When you’re in push energy, they don’t—or if they do, you don’t see them or enjoy them because you’re too focused on your to-do list.

To clarify, we still want to be strategic in our business. It’s important to select action items that you know will benefit your business and that you are excited to do. If you get stuck and find that you’re pushing, that’s when it’s time to stop and reflect.

None of us coaches started our businesses to do things that we don’t want to do. We started our businesses because we wanted to have a really cool life and a cool business and if your experience isn’t lining up with that, it’s important to look at what is happening there.

Once you identify and shift into pull energy, you’ll resist the temptation to go into push mode.

With appreciation,

Tara Butler Floch