What's In My Way?: The Fifth of Six Questions to Create a Blueprint for Your Life
This is the fifth of six articles detailing the core practice of my coaching business, Integrative Studio. In addition, you can find article one, article one, “Who Am I?” here, article two, “What’s Going On?” here, article three, “Who Surrounds Me?” here, and article four, “What Do I Want?” here.
American actor, trainer, and author Uta Hagan created the system I learned as an actor for script analysis and character development. Her “Six Steps for Characterization” became my blueprint for personal life coaching.
I call it the Get Real System.
Life is a story, and we hold the pen.
After college, I began using this system to keep myself goal-oriented and purposeful in my work, hobbies, and relationships.
I have since adapted it to apply to life situations to help my clients get real with:
The circumstances they find themselves in (let’s call this the “world of the play”)
How they situate within them (let’s say as the “protagonist” of the play)
How they interact with others (let’s call them the “supporting players”) to get what they want in life.
I will go through these six questions over six articles to answer them for myself to model objectivity in evaluating life. I will invite you to do the same for each question.
Question 5:
What are my obstacles?
What is in the way of what I want internally (i.e., self-doubt, shyness, insecurity) or externally (i.e., other people, the weather, a system set up with difficulty to navigate)?
Again, it is crucial to KEEP IT REAL with yourself, especially when identifying internal obstacles.
Internal obstacles—
I wrestle with feeling unconfident in technical skills as I work to build my YouTube channel.
I fight self-doubt when I wonder how a single mom can grow her business to where it is a reliable income for herself and her daughter while still being as available to her daughter as she wants to be.
I feel overwhelmed by marketing at times. As a writer, I work hard to keep my language use purposeful and impactful. I sometimes forget the language my ideal client would use to describe a pain point. Every day it’s a work in progress to scale back how I explain what I do and not express it as an expert but share it with the layperson who wants more balance, ease, and clarity in life.
External obstacles—
I do not consider other coaches as obstacles to my growth. I feel like we all have something unique to offer. However, I do see the vastness of social media as an obstacle.
I get tired throughout the day and can have difficulty focusing or feeling motivated.
Now that I’ve laid out the obstacles, I can see them plainly and find the actions to do something about them. That comes next.
Now it’s your turn—what internal and external obstacles get in the way of your immediate objective?
Stay tuned for the sixth article in this series on the Get Real System, where I discuss question six: What do I do to get what I want?
Melissa Hurt is a personal development and communication coach with her Ph.D. in acting theory. She is the owner of Integrative Studio, where she teaches clients how to release stagnant energy holding them back from becoming their true selves. Get a free gift that starts you on your path to a bird’s-eye-view of your life so you can take action on the next best steps at www.melissahurt.com/opt-in-home.