There are times in your coaching business journey when you’re going to hit up against some emotional struggle.

Unwittingly and seemingly out of the blue your progress grinds to a crushing and depressing halt and you don’t know why.

You might start back-peddling in a desperate attempt to figure out why things have stopped working or you’ll beat yourself up for not being consistent or able to follow through on your goals. Either way, it feels terrible.

I’ve seen the many hues of struggle (as well as experienced them personally!) because my clients tend to come to me when they feel like they’re hitting an invisible ceiling in their business and income growth and they don’t know why.

I’ve come to recognise what I call the “Gatekeepers of Growth”.

These are inevitable roadblocks that show up along your coaching business, and personal growth, journey.

I welcome them with open arms now and as much as my clients resist and kick back, I teach them to surrender and celebrate them for what they represent.

Here are the 3 main gatekeepers of growth and how you can recognise them, why they are as they are, and how best to navigate your way through.

The Plateau:

Symptoms: Following a period of high excitement, enthusiasm and learning, you suddenly lose momentum. You’re scattered, extremely overwhelmed and you can’t get back into action. It’s like you’re wading through treacle!

What’s going on? The Plateau is simply a sign that your mind and body have consumed so much new information that it needs time to integrate. Imagine pouring water into an already full glass – it’s going to overflow, it can’t take anymore!
This is why you’re struggling to concentrate, focus, and keep moving forward.

How to navigate the Plateau: Stop consuming for the time being and start creating. Even if it’s just baby steps but it’s important to take action and implement what you have been learning until it embeds and it literally ‘becomes’ who you are.
In time you’ll be ready for the next upward trajectory of more growth and learning. But the plateau is not the time.

The Dark Night of the Soul:

Symptoms: Oh man!! The dark night of the soul feels dreadful!! You’ve most likely emerged from a period of deep internal work such as a healing retreat or an insightful programme to raise awareness. It was a beautiful experience but now you feel lost, weepy, and depressed. You may start engaging in old and not so healthy coping mechanisms and behaviours such as overeating, drinking more or re-engaging in toxic relationships.

What’s going on? The dark night of the soul signifies the in-between phase between the old and the new. You’re shedding some layers of an old identity, due to that deep healing work, but you’ve not yet emerged into the new identity. It’s the no-mans-land in between. It’s intense and you feel dark but when you emerge, it’s more beautiful than you can ever imagine. You emerge into the light and life has shifted to meet your new self.

How to navigate the Dark Night of the Soul: Sleep, self-love, and compassion. You can’t do much else except with this awareness of what is happening you’re no longer inclined to fight it. Avoid making major life decisions during this phase because it may well be the old identity trying to reassert itself and it’s no longer who you are or what you really want.

The Uplevel Ledge:

Symptoms: This is frustrating and the one that can last for many months, and often years (sorry!). You feel like you’re stagnating, swimming in the same shallow water and not progressing.
Everything you’re doing is comfortable and you’re producing mediocre results and yet you want more. You just don’t know what to do because what you have tried hasn’t worked, at least for any length of time. There are noticeable highlights in your coaching business career but nothing that you’ve managed to maintain.

What’s going on? The Uplevel Ledge signifies your new normal comfort zone. You’ve experienced some success and you thought you had “made it” but then you hit some rocks in the rock that shook you. So now you’re playing safe. You may also have lost some trust in the coaching industry because you’ve invested so much and all those courses and coaches could only get you so far so you may feel reluctant to invest even though you want to.

How to navigate the Uplevel Ledge: LEAP!!!! Leap! That’s IT!! You are clinging to some false sense of safety and it’s keeping you small and scared and yet you’re stagnating and you hate it! So Leap!
What does the leap mean? It means letting go of the ledge and doing that thing that you’re most afraid of doing right now. Go ahead and bumrush your fears! Jolt your subconscious so it wakes the hell up and gets you out of this sleeping walking slumber.

Letting go of the ledge might mean making the next level investment in your business…

Or it might mean breaking up from a toxic relationship that is not serving you finally…

Or finding an accountant and sorting your finances out, or creating that collaboration or event you’ve always been wanting or hiring help in your business…

I don’t know what it is for you but it’s the thing that will get you moving out of stagnation and into enthusiasm, passion, and your next level growth!

I hope you found this article enlightening and maybe you recognised yourself and where you’re at. If so, I hope this helped you to see that what you’re experiencing is normal and a part of the journey.

With love

Sanae xx

P.S. – Book your call with me to discuss how I can help you take your coaching business to the next level of success:

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