Prompts To Take Values-Aligned Action (For Overthinkers & Verbal Processors) | Episode 100

Hello hello and welcome back to the Purpose & Progress Podcast. And to episode 100! What a feat. (But also sort of not—refer back to episode 50 where I talk about Celebrating Milestones For Continued Momentum, but not getting stuck in arbitrary, externally-defined milestones.)

And that semi-winding intro is totally in line with today’s topic: an interactive episode for the overthinkers and verbal processors.

I polled my audience a while back about whether they relate to being a deep thinker or an overthinker. And 75% of people said hard yes, and the other 25% said sometimes. And I bet lots of people even got stuck overthinking where on the sometimes vs hard yes spectrum they are.

One of my past clients turned business friends even said, “I have learned that making no decision by way of overthinking, the decision is far more destructive than just taking a step and saying, ‘Oh, that didn’t work out, I’m just gonna change direction.’ It’s just much easier to pivot than to procrastinate on decision-making for me. But I know some people who aren’t like that and making a wrong decision is really hard to bounce back from. I’ve definitely learned that I’m much better in a place of action but sometimes I overthink. My husband is like, ‘It doesn’t have to be this hard.’ lol”

And I think she is all of us. Or at least, she’s speaking my language.

It took me a really long time to learn that making no decision is still deciding to keep the status quo. Or to let life change around us in ways we didn’t choose or want or envision. I’m still learning that sometimes. Often even.

It’s also amazing how much harder or more complicated we choose to make things, often for no real reason. And how it takes outside perspective to see the convoluted web we’ve woven.

I will say, the flip side of that complication and the overthinking is falling squarely in the deep thinking camp. We consider how our decisions impact ourselves, others, and the world around us. I’d argue that’s a good thing. We see things from all angles and see an infinite amount of possibilities. Not everyone has that power. It’s like in my perfectionist episode, just last week or Episode 99, linked below, where I talk about perfectionists seeing the gap between reality and ideal and joyfully striving to close it. That’s not bad inherently.

Caring, thinking, and feeling deeply is only detrimental when it prevents us from taking action. When we conflate the thinking and the researching and the planning with the actual doing. Because the best idea that’s never tested or shared doesn’t make an impact. It doesn’t change anyone’s life, including your own. And it doesn’t create a lasting legacy.

Actually, the perfectionist book I mentioned has a great quote about overthinking. She wrote, “Overthinking is a powerless act. Overthinking involves either dwelling on events that have already happened and about which you can do nothing (known as ruminating) or worrying about things that haven’t happened but could theoretically happen, through the lens of a worst-case scenario (known as catastrophizing). When you ruminate, you mistake replay for reflection. When you catastrophize, you mistake worrying for preparation. Trying to change your thoughts one by one is how you exert control; it takes a lot of energy to control your thoughts because you have to monitor and manage each thought as it enters your mind. Engaging a broadened perspective is how you exercise power. When you make a perspective shift, you automatically see things in a new way, a way you can’t unsee. Perspective shifts change your thoughts in one fell swoop.”

Take this podcast and how I’ve wanted it to morph, with very little change actually happening. I’ve spent so many hours thinking about it, writing podcast episodes about the shifts, hiring consultants, talking with trusted peers. And I think another shift is coming because I’m going through a big business and audience shift. I’ll share in a future episode. But almost nothing has changed on the podcast, despite me thinking and talking about it in circles. Because I didn’t take any specific actions to change much of anything.

And not only do I have the tendency to be a perfectionist and an overthinker, I’m also decidedly a verbal processor. (Which I didn’t realize until a few years into my business when I experienced coaching for the first time.)

And what I’ve found many verbal processors need is to be prompted. To open the floodgates. To give permission to what might feel like word vomit, but is actually you just organizing and synthesizing your thoughts.

So, the goal of this episode is to be interactive.

Do this in your head or via voice memo when you go for a walk. (This is especially useful for wandering minds and verbal processors, at least in my personal experience. Bonus tip, put your verbal responses into a transcription service (or if you’re using Voice Notes on your iPhone, it automatically transcribes it, just be sure to edit because if you’re not an enunciation queen, it’ll miss or mess up some stuff.) Sit down with your journal or Notion and hit pause between each prompt. Gather up a business bestie or small group and do this together, either body double style or as a full conversation.

And then once you actually work through the self-reflective prompts, actually do something with these ideas. Use them in your content, copy, sales conversations, elevator pitches. And anchor your decisions in your vision, audience, and values. The most important part is to take action, then adapt, reflect, and move on from there.

So, my deep thinkers, where we go. Some prompts you can use to figure out how you’re doing, where you’re going, and what you want to do next.

Where are your values shining through, explicitly or implicitly? Where is there a gap?

If you were to start any business, what would it be? And add-on: If your answer is NOT your current business as it exists today, what could you do to get closer to that dream business?

Would you retire today if you had $10 million? Would you keep working/building/tinkering, or would you cash out and live your best leisurely life? How does this response match your current business model?

How do I want to feel? And importantly, what makes me feel that way?

Sahil Bloom is new-ish to my radar and I wanted to pass along some questions from his Curiosity Chronicle, linked in the shownotes:

• Am I solving the right problem, or just the first one I noticed?
• What constraints am I treating as fixed that might be flexible?
• What would I do if I wasn’t afraid of being wrong or judged?
• What if I tried the opposite of what I’ve been trying?
• How would someone in a completely different field solve this?
• Am I trying to untie something I could just cut through?
• If this were a puzzle or game, how would I approach it differently?
• If this were someone else’s problem, what advice would I give them?

And then we’ll end with the central question of my business: How do you want to be known?

In my opinion, being able to ask the right questions is so often what we need. It’s a lot less about the answer and a lot more about unlocking the change in perspective.

So, if any of these prompts were useful to you, I have 2 ways to keep the prompt magic flowing.

1. I’m SUPER excited to host a Conscious Marketing Circle this quarter, starting October 15. It’s a 6-week peer feedback group to work through all your marketing questions, opportunities, and conundrums. So that you can re-imagine your marketing strategy and content to-do list in a way that voices your values and gets you visible by your own standards, on your own terms, in community with generous & thoughtful peers. I share tons of details about the really specific format, types of ideas we can tackle together, and the inspiration behind the group at ashleesang.com/circle, also linked in the shownotes. Reach out with any questions though! And note: it’s only open to up to 6 people.
2. I pulled some of these prompts directly from my monthly subscription offering called Conscious Marketing, Curated. It’s a twice-a-month email where I share all my favorite resources and lessons learned related to conscious marketing, human-first brand messaging, and values-aligned decision-making. And prompts like the ones from this episode. Plus, you get access to group meet-ups, personalized feedback from me, and a repository of my guided workbooks and templates. You can hop in for 1 month, 1 year, or one-and-done at ashleesang.com/curated or via the link in the shownotes.

I’d love for you to let me know if you have any perspective shifts because of any of these prompts. Or if any other questions came to mind that unlocked any action for you and your business.

Be sure to check out all the resources I mentioned in the show notes below or at ashleesang.com/episode100.

And come back next time (in 2 weeks!) because we’ll be in conversation with another ambitious and inspirational woman entrepreneur.