By February 27, 2012 Read More →

Nick Williams on home working and resistance

Nick Williams - Home Working and ResistanceNick Williams of inspired-entrepreneur.com, seen here in his home office in London, talks about falling ‘behind enemy lines’ when working from home, and how to manage our own resistance:

‘Yes, I have come to realise that when we move towards doing something inspiring, deeply meaningful to us or something towards our higher purpose, we are likely to experience fear and resistance. For most people, this process can happen unconsciously, and I have realised that we home working entrepreneurs can feed our resistance and keep it running through our isolation.

‘So always remember: resistance is a signpost, an indicator that you are on to something great. After twenty years of home-working, I can still acknowledge that when I am left alone for more than a couple of days, I can find myself, “Behind enemy lines,” and believing some of my own stories, fears and sense of limitation.

‘That is why I think we really need each other. We don’t see and invest in each other’s “limiting stories”. We can love, challenge, inspire and encourage each other. We can believe in each other more than we believe we in ourselves at times.

Resistance has shown up for me in so many ways: distracting myself, keeping busy to avoid the things I know I am really excited about, supporting other people’s talents rather than my own, editing myself and doing things that feel safe rather than authentic, and being a perpetual student to avoid being a teacher and leader myself.

I still resist, but have now built much more accountability into my life – I am accountable to others more and am better at setting my own deadlines and sticking to them. I still resist, but I now say, “I am resisting with awareness. I know I am doing it and will bust through it soon.’

Does this sound familiar? It certainly does to me! What does it feel like to be stuck behind enemy lines and how do you escape back to safe territory?

See Nick’s posts on working alone at home and dealing with setbacks.

Posted in: Procrastination

5 Comments on "Nick Williams on home working and resistance"

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  1. Kaitlyn says:

    Really important post. I know I’m notorious for getting a running dialogue of doom going in my head. I love to hear these stories because they help remind me that I’m not the only one.

    • Judy says:

      Me too, Kaitlyn – a running dialogue of doom is exactly what it is, hardly conducive to being creative and innovative, eh?

  2. Inge says:

    Wow, this is me! I just thought I was unmotivated. I seem to only run into people working from home who have trouble stopping themselves from working (and are always working too hard). I do my passion, I love what I do, but you wouldn’t think so if you see me doing my avoidance tactics.

    Not sure how to solve it. I have a business mentor, who keeps me on track, and forces me to take decisions, that helps. Another trick I recently learned when I don’t want to get started: promise myself I will only have to work on it for 5 minutes. Funnily enough, once stuck in, I hardly ever stop.

  3. Judy says:

    Hi Inge, I think this is one of the many aspects of working from home that we tend to blame ourselves for, instead of realising it goes with the territory. As Nick says, awareness is key, and it sounds like you’ve found a good trick already – here’s to just another 5 minutes!

  4. Dave says:

    Great article Nick! I’ve been working from home for 10 years myself, so I can Completely relate! There are So many distractions at home and on the computer that I am always battling my own self! So, this was a really great article as I can totally see myself in it 🙂

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