GNT #067: Head Swirling? 3 Proven Ways to Think Clearly

read time: 5 minutes

But what about...
How does that...
So many options to...
That thing I have to do tomorrow...
And, squirrel!

Does it ever feel like your thoughts are jumping from one thing to another, making it hard to focus on deep problems?

You're not alone.

It can feel like your mind is a swirling bowl of jumbled spaghetti.

So jumbled that when you have deep work time scheduled, you end up going back to square one because it's hard to wrap your head around the problem.

And allowing the swirling to continue wastes precious time.

Last year I faced a major decision whether or not to offer 1:1 growth coaching in addition to working with tech B2B firms as a Fractional CMO.

Would I be straying too far from my B2B niche?
Would my schedule allow enough flexibility to schedule 1:1 sessions?
Was I crazy in meshing together proven business and creator growth strategies?

The questions and options were overwhelming.

And every time I set aside time to focus on the offer, I felt paralyzed by my thinking, unable to come to a decision or even next step to take.

It wasn't until I applied these thinking frameworks that I could clearly see the way forward and make a confident decision on my coaching offer.

In today's newsletter, we explore 3 powerful techniques to organize your thoughts, simplify your problem, and make decisions with confidence.

Let's do it.
 

1. Organize Your Thoughts with Mind Mapping 

Mind Mapping is a visual tool that helps you organize and connect complex ideas around a central theme.

It activates both the logical and creative sides of your brain.

And the visual aspect of it helps solidify your thoughts, boost your productivity through action (!), and helps you get a deeper understanding of the topic at hand.

When deciding whether to offer 1:1 growth coaching, I used mind mapping to layout and assess all those questions that were swirling in my head:

(p.s. This was my messy first draft last January.

It's OK if the first draft is messy. You're taking the clutter out of your head.

That's a messy process.)

I dug into areas like:

-Market need: Is there a genuine demand for 1:1 growth coaching?
-Time: Can I realistically fit these sessions into my current schedule?
-Financial: What pricing model should I use and how will it impact my revenue potential?
-Impact on brand: How does offering coaching align with my brand as a Fractional CMO?
-Client management: How will I manage relationships differently between individual coaching clients and larger B2B clients?
-Scalability: Can the coaching model be scaled effectively if it proves successful?

Mind mapping helped me clarify my options and directly influenced my confident decision to go ahead with 1:1 growth coaching.

Here's how to apply it to your head swirling topic:

• Step 1: Central Idea. Put your main decision or concept at the center of your paper.
• Step 2: Main Branches. From the central idea, draw branches for primary categories. In my case, "Market Need," "Time," and "Pricing."
• Step 3: Subtopics. Expand each main branch with specific actions or considerations.
• Step 4: Color for connections. Use colors and icons to differentiate branches and highlight connections.
• Step 5: Identifying Connections. Examine the mind map for relationships between branches:
  • Look for Overlaps: Identify where different branches might share common elements. For instance, "Events/Workshops" under "Future Scale" might overlap with "Lead Gen."
  • Link Dependencies: Determine if completing a task in one branch depends on completing another in a different branch. For example, "Pricing" might need to be completed before "Lead Gen."
  • Highlight Synergies: Spot opportunities where two separate ideas can benefit each other.
• Step 6: Refine, Refine, Refine. Create iterative drafts (I ended up making 4 versions after this one). Spot gaps or new opportunities. Revisit connections to ensure they are logical and beneficial.
  
  

2. Simplify with the 5 WHYs

This method involves asking "Why?" five times to get to the root of a problem.

It's simple yet profound.

For example, I realized I was hesitant about offering growth coaching because although I have my framework for new Fractional CMO clients, I hadn't yet gone through the process of creating a standard yet adaptable framework for growth coaching clients.

Concern: I am hesitant to offer 1:1 coaching because I'm concerned it might conflict with my VIP offer of Fractional CMO.

Why #1: Because it might drain too much of my time.
Why #2: Because I need to prepare for sessions, follow up, and possibly travel.
Why #3? Because each client might have unique challenges that require tailored solutions.
Why #4: Because I haven't yet created a coaching and scalable framework that accommodates different client needs efficiently.
Why #5: Because I haven’t allocated time to develop standardized yet adaptable coaching modules.

My Epiphany:
I needed to gain confidence for the offer by developing a modular coaching framework with templates that allows personalization without extensive time investment for each coaching client. 

What could be uncovered if you applied the 5 WHYs to your head-swirling problem? 

3. Make it Concrete with Reverse Brainstorming

Reverse Brainstorming is a creative problem-solving tool where you consider how to cause the problem or make it worse.

It helps you identify potential issues before they arise and figure out strategies to prevent them.

As I solidified my offer, I used Reverse Brainstorming to anticipate potential challenges:

What could potentially go wrong with introducing 1:1 growth coaching at this stage in my business?

(It's OK to not think positive thoughts with this one..) 

😜 

1. Overload my schedule so much that I get burned out.

HOW TO AVOID:

Implement a strict scheduling policy and time block my schedule to ensure each session is productive but does not overload my calendar.

2. Invoicing and payment process takes too much of my time and feels overwhelming.

HOW TO AVOID:

Use Stripe for self-service payments and a dedicated calendly landing page.

3. Set pricing either too high to attract clients or too low to sustain the business.

HOW TO AVOID:

Conduct market research. Set first few clients on the low end of the spectrum and increase to comfortable baseline with each subsequent coaching client.

What could go wrong in your scenario? What can you put in place now to prevent it?

Takeaway

I don't have the time or desire to be frustrated by scattered thinking anymore.

And when I schedule time for deep thought or work, I want to ensure it's worth my time.

Now don't get me wrong, unstructured and creative thinking can be really beneficial in some cases.

(I get most LinkedIN post ideas while driving and have to use voice memos!)

🚗 

But when I have to make a decision I use tools like these to stop the frustrating swirl.

We all face overwhelming days.

But with the right tools in our back pocket, they can become our most important moments.

See you next week.
 

p.s.

Did this newsletter hit home?

Feeling overwhelmed with getting more clients, building your offer, or growing your audience?

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