The Entrepreneur’s Guide to Taking Action
Enjoy this sneak peek preview of my chapter on My IOA Formula For Success
Master the Art of Taking Action: My IOA Formula For Success
by Michelle Barr, M.Ed.
When you want something better, something more for yourself, the most important first step is to realize that it is up to you to create it. Then know you can do that starting right now. In working with my private coaching clients, I find that positive changes and new results can begin to show up within the first thirty days. By the end of ninety days of working consciously to create a better life, their lives are more satisfying, fulfilling and joyful.
No matter what you want to do, no matter what you want to work on, no matter what area of your life in which you are ready to make changes, the principles and processes to do so are the same.
There is good reason why people who teach success principles tell you to take action. It is the place where dreams become reality, where desires are made manifest. Taking action is the only way to bring your vision into your waking world.
Action is what manifests things for you on the third-dimensional plane, right here, to show up in your life. However, you do not want to take just any action. You do not want to just be doing, doing, doing. Instead, learn to receive inspiration and experience the power that comes with taking Inspired Action.
It is important to first develop your gifts, abilities and skills. Then, learn to use the IOA formula—Intention, Opportunity, Action. The IOA integrates these three action steps with the use of your intuition, your energy and your mindset. The result is magic!
This allows you to live into your dreams and vision here and now. You let them show up in your physical world. You learn first to reconnect your spiritual and creative energy with your physical reality. Then you learn how to master the art of taking action. Remember, not just any action—inspired action.
You may wonder if this formula is right for you or if it can help you right now. Perhaps you doubt you are ready or that all your ducks are in a row. You may have made space for this in your life plan for later. Stop thinking like this because I am happy to tell you that this strategy works whether you are a baby-stepper or a ledge-leaper. The results are the same because it all works with your energy.
You must get to the action. It takes third-dimensional action to create third-dimensional results. It takes massive third-dimensional action to create massive third-dimensional results. That means you have to come out of your head and come out of the ether and make things happen for you in real time. It is so much better that way. Really.
Get Unstuck From Your “Stuff”
My passion is to get people out into the world using their gifts. You can really become stuck when you put yourself out there and ask for something in return. This is when all your programs, beliefs, patterns and habits related to your value and your worth start showing themselves. You are stuck, having a personal or spiritual crisis or getting in your own way. However, you also have a vision, you know you have been called to do something and you are trying to step out and do it.
That is when mastering the art of taking action really works. That is when you can get in touch with your why, connect in with your vision, your mission, your dreams and your own personal truth, and act from a place of purpose.
The minute you hear that calling and respond, as soon as you step out and step up, when you have big dreams and big visions, you set big goals and intentions, everything inside you that is not in alignment with that comes up. I call it “your stuff,” and it is part of the process.
This part of the process can feel negative. It can come with thoughts like, I’m not strong enough to do this now or I’m trying to do this and look what’s getting in the way. You might think the universe, God, your source, your guides or your higher self do not want you to take action right now.
Taking action is a big shift to make and it makes all the difference. Your higher self or whatever choose to call it wants for you whatever you want for yourself. If you desire it, it is possible. It is part of why you are here.
Change Your Perspective
Realize that when your stuff comes up, it means you are doing the work to achieve your dream. Just beyond this part of the process is the gold, the life, the success, the freedom and the release you are seeking.
Looking at it this way reframes it. You can avoid going into crisis when this happens by realizing it is part of the process. Now you can work with it and use it as a catalyst for your personal and spiritual growth and development.
You have a feeling-guidance system within you. When you step up and say, I am successful, I’m a business person, I am going to be more, have more, and do more, you are telling the universe you are ready to be used. Expect the universe to respond in a big way.
Intention
When you have something showing up in your life, it always started with an intention. That’s great, if you have been consciously creating, but not always so much if you have been unconsciously creating.
It starts with desire. You have a desire and set an intention. You are always setting intentions, either consciously or unconsciously. What you ask for and what you believe and expect shows up all around you.
When a client comes to me with something she does not want showing up in her life, I go back to when it first occurred to discover what she asked for. It could have been a conscious or an unconscious request. We can always find a starting point that first brought the energy of this into physical form.
The key is to become more and more conscious about setting intentions. Get clarity and become centered, focused and grounded. The number one thing that people come to me with is confusion. Therefore, your first step is to transform your confusion into clarity.
Whatever you are asking, the universe is answering. Remaining in a state of confusion is a choice. If you stay in a confused state for any length of time, you are choosing that, and it is serving you.
You are refusing to see or respond to something. Go back and take honest inventory and figure out why you need to stay in this state. Then take steps to move into clarity. When faced with confusion, you can always do something to move out of it.
Take 100 percent responsibility to push through your confusion. Recognize it as resistance. Wherever there is a need and a desire, there is also the ability to fulfill it. Now.
Opportunity
There is always a way forward from wherever you now stand.
When you set an intention, you activate Ask and it is given. Every sacred text has a version of this. However, many people no longer believe it is true. Even though it happens every day, you may not understand it, and therefore you cannot see it and use it.
The moment you ask, it is given. Become hyper-alert and watch for what shows up—opportunity. It is up to you to see it and step into it. It does not always show up as you expect it to and it may not be comfortable. It will stretch you.
This discomfort and stretching is because you are asking for something you do not currently have. It is not in your environment because you are not yet a match for it. However, you have desire for it, therefore it is in your energy. You must bring it into physical form. You need to change something within yourself for it to show up outside of you. If you could already possess it, you would.
Do not get stuck here! A lot of people do. I urge you not to misread what is showing up first as a sign you are not supposed to have what you desire, or believe it is not time, or that it is not right for you. Spirit wants for you what you want for yourself. Spirit created you to be a creator and gave you free will. It is all here for you. You must choose it. Choose to be it, do it and have it.
As you seek to align yourself to what you desire, what shows up first can feel and look like a lot of crap. You are seeing everything that is not currently in alignment energetically with what you want to bring in. The universe is saying you can have what you want, however here is what you must release or deal with first.
When you see opportunity show up, stay with it. Hold space for what you want. Focus your will and stay the course. Here is another place where you might feel frustrated. Self-doubt can kick in. I encourage you not to turn away from what you are bringing in, because then you get into start and stop energy and what you desire stops moving toward you.
When that opportunity shows up, you want to meet it head on. Step up and take action. That is when you see the results and what you desire begins to show up in your world.
Action
Make a decision. It all starts right here. As soon as you do, you will set things in motion, and the Universe will conspire on your behalf. You have to take the first step. Every time.
Right after I created the body of work I call Master the Art of Taking Action, I had the opportunity to speak with Janet Switzer, business coach to Jack Canfield and many other well-known transformational leaders in the Human Potential Movement. As I was pitching her the work I was developing, she said, “I see what you do. Your message to people is, ‘Get over your garbage and take action!’” Yes!
When I talk about my work, I talk about how to master the art of taking action so you can get moving in the direction of your dreams and desires and create a better life now. I got from where I was to where I am now by learning how to get over my garbage. Then I had to learn how to take action in an empowered and intuitive way that best serves me. I want the same for you, and I want it now! Do you?
People like you show up as my clients and students, beginning to make new discoveries about themselves and their world and creating powerful shifts in their thoughts, feelings and beliefs. Yet, they are still stuck right at the point where it is time to take action. Can you relate?
Along this journey, here are some of the things I did that you can do, too:
- Dig deep.
- Chip away at the crap.
- Build belief.
- Take massive action—consistently.
- Reclaim your divine birth right.
- Embrace your purpose.
- Reframe everything.
- Invest in yourself through teachers, mentors, coaches and spiritual advisors.
- Allow the shift to happen.
- Up-level your environments.
- Connect with your passions and purpose and allow yourself the creative expression to integrate them into your everyday life.
- Be courageous enough to work on your emotional authenticity.
- Get clear with your money.
- Take honest inventory.
- Heal your issues that show up around your value, worth, gifts, self-image, need to be liked and self-promotion.
- Learn to manage your energy.
- Develop your intuition.
- Master your mindset.
- Recognize resistance and don’t back down.
- Love yourself.
As you clear away more and more of the mental and emotional clutter that can overtake your life and block you from your connection to your inspiration, you will discover, as I did, that you can create a better life now. Get over your garbage. Get over the constant beating up and second-guessing and sabotaging yourself. Get over feeling that you are not enough.
You are here, now, and who you are is enough for someone. Your journey is important, and it can have an impact on others only when you are willing to share it. The best part is that sharing it is what brings you the most reward—mentally, physically, emotionally, spiritually and financially!
These are all a part of the process to master the art of taking action. This is what I work on with my clients and students as I continue to work on it in my own life. It has been life-changing and game-changing for me, and it absolutely can be for you, too. My life now is unrecognizable from the life I was living just five years ago.
If you are ready to create a better life now, I encourage you to make a decision to do so. Next, set a conscious intention based on something you desire. Immediately, begin watching for an opportunity to show up. When it does, take action.
Michelle Barr, M.Ed.
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Michelle is a Business Coach, Intuitive Strategist and Mindset Mentor helping Entrepreneurs turn their life’s calling into a profitable, freedom-based business by showing them how to create a Vision of the life they want to live and then create a business that supports and sustains it.
Michelle serves both her local community and a global clientele from her home in The Texas Hill Country. She is a healer to healers and a leader to leaders. Michelle is a spiritual teacher, coach, mentor and guide for entrepreneurs who realize that their journey is one of personal and spiritual growth and development as well as business growth and development.
Michelle has a master’s degree in counseling and guidance. She worked for many years as a mental health professional and crisis and trauma response specialist. In addition, she has training and experience as a hospital chaplain and an ordination as an interfaith minister.
Michelle serves her clients best by meeting them where they are and has created programs, products and services for her conscious clients looking to create both success and significance. She is a master healer and an energy medicine specialist trained and certified in many alternative and complementary healing modalities. Michelle’s overall training, education, and experience has made her a personal transformation specialist. She serves her clients and students holistically, so they truly can create a better life now.