Shira: Yes, I am already ignited.

John: Yes. Shira is a well being coach and author of Getting Unstuck Five Simple Steps to Emotional Well Being. She created the Stuck Method, a simple and easy to remember self-help technique that you can practice anytime and anywhere so you can stop being hijacked by your emotions and take better care of yourself and your relationships. Shira, take a minute and fill in some gaps from that intro and give us just a little glimpse of your personal life.

Shira: Sure, thank you. So I am married with four kids ages five to 15, and I live in Northern Israel, and just over a little about a year ago I was actually a stay-at-home mom working part-time in a job unrelated to my fields of training, which is psychology and occupational therapy. On the side at that time I was teaching Yoga and blogging about places in my life where I found myself getting stuck. I had no idea, no hopes, no visions of my blog turning into anything other than it was, which was basically a personal journal. But the blog somehow grew an audience, and in the past year I turned my blog into a business.

I published a book that became an Amazon No. 1 new bestseller, an Emotional Self-Help, I began to offer getting unstuck group workshops and one-on-one coaching, I became a regular contributor to the Huffington Post and appeared in two glossy magazine, I became a keynote speaker, and now this month I will be launching of soon to be many online courses, and all of this happened in the course of one year.

John: Fire Nation, I hope that this is an inspiration to you on what happens when you take action, when you put that one foot in front of the other. Shira did not know what was at the end of her tunnel. She didn’t know what was at the top of her staircase, but she took that first step and she moved forward. So on that note, Shira, just take a couple sentences and explain to us, Fire Nation, what’s your current area of expertise?

Shira: My current area of expertise basically is helping people get unstuck, and one tip that I will give entrepreneurs is that they need to know that everybody gets stuck. It’s not just their customers or their clients or their spouses or their neighbors or their kids who get stuck, but everyone gets stuck including entrepreneurs. And the two greatest places actually that I would say that I’ve seen entrepreneurs get stuck is stuck on fear and stuck on desire, and in both of those places getting stuck can cloud their reality to a place where they can either become frozen from fear and they can’t take their next step forward, or they become stuck on desire where they’re chasing after things that won’t necessarily bring them happiness.

So know this I think it’s really essential that entrepreneurs take time every day to quiet their minds and notice where they may be stuck in their lives or in their businesses.

John: So myself, Fire Nation, we all know that everybody gets stuck. What’s a practical tip that we can do to get unstuck? Give us something that we haven’t heard before.

Shira: So the best way to get unstuck is actually to be aware of it in the first place because most of us are not even aware that we’re stuck. And the best way to do that is simply to take time every day and quiet your mind whether it’s taking five minutes in the morning to just sit, whether it’s taking breaks during the day to step away from your computer. But it’s when we the mind that we can begin to awaken and realize where we might be stuck in our lives.

John: Okay. So we talk about meditation a lot and you said that was the first step. Let’s go to the ten-step. Let’s go to the 20-step. Like what’s something that we haven’t heard about getting unstuck?

Shira: So getting unstuck what I do I created this stuck method, so there’s five steps to the stuck method. It’s an acronym S-T-U-C-K and the first step is the Stop where you basically redirect your attention away from whatever stuck situation you’re in. And basically as you go through the five steps I don’t know if you want to go through it now or –

John: No, I just want you to give us just one tip that we don’t know like what’s something that we don’t know about getting unstuck that you might break out at some point in your book that would be something cool to share with us now.

Shira: So when you get stuck basically we get stuck on our limiting beliefs, so all of us have thoughts that come into our minds all of the time, and we tend to believe every thought that comes up into our mind. But the problem is that many of the beliefs that arise in our minds are limiting and they’re not true. So when we take a moment to check in with those thoughts and check the accuracy of those thoughts and ask ourselves is that a hundred percent true? That’s a really good place to start because then you will notice that the story that you have in your mind, the thing that you’re holding onto, whatever you’re attached to, and all of a sudden you realize it might not be a hundred percent true because you’re checking in with the thoughts that are surrounding that.

That’s basically going to lead you to an opportunity to open another perspective to your story where you can possibly take on a new lens or a new way of being.

John: When you were doing this research for your book, did you uncover anything that surprised you I mean something that you just didn’t know that you can share with us now?

Shira: Every single time I practice the stuck method I uncover something new every single time, and the fact of the matter is I practice the stuck method five to ten times every single day, and I’m constantly amazed by how many things I’m uncovering. What does uncovering mean? Basically it means that you assume that a situation was a certain way. You assume that this person did something to hurt you or whatever it is. It’s basically your narrow and your bias perspective, and that’s what you’re uncovering. You’re uncovering what were you thinking like the moment you were triggered or the moment that you’re looking at your story, what were you thinking?

And then basically from there it leads you to as place where you can consider a new perspective.

John: Let’s do a shift here. Let’s talk about your journey as an entrepreneur. Take us to what you consider the worst moment you’ve experienced to date, and really take us to that moment and tell us that story.

Shira: My business as it is today actually started with my worst entrepreneur moment. My first attempt with doing something with the stuck method was actually to write a children’s book on the topic. The problem was I wasn’t a children’s author nor am I today. In fact at the time I wasn’t doing any writing not for magazines and not for any other place. I hadn’t even started my blog yet, but I had this idea, and I even had an image, which was that of a monkey that was continuously getting stuck on branches as it swung from tree-to-tree. I spent an entire year using all my free time trying to write a 16-page picture book to teach kids how to get unstuck an entire year and I couldn’t do it.

I wasn’t successful. The book was boring. It was didactic and no kid that I read it to was interesting in hearing it a second time. It was a complete flop and I really actually felt like a failure, but it was actually also my best moment because what I wasn’t able to see during that year was that I was stuck. I was stuck on desire to create something that was beyond my expertise, and instead of noticing that I just stayed stuck, and it was finally when I woke up to the realization that I was stuck, that I was able to consider letting it go and start blogging instead. And of course it was the blog that brought this whole business to life.

John: So what do you want to make sure our listeners get from your worst moment? Dive in there. Tell us the big takeaway.

Shira: Just to take moments during your day to witness yourself, to stop, to notice where you are, to notice where you might be stuck, because again the tendency, especially for entrepreneurs, is either to get stuck in fear or to get stuck in desire. And when I say stuck, the person might still be doing things and moving forward and trying in so many different number of ways to be creating their business, and yet they’re still stuck and they’re not really allowing for the complete possibility for their business because they’re stuck. So really it’s about taking that step back every so often and just kind of witnessing yourself.

John: Let’s do another shift here and let’s talk about another story in your journey this one being one of your greatest ideas that you’ve had today, one of your greatest ah-ha moments. Take us to that moment. Tell us that story.

Shira: When I was preparing for my book tour this summer, I was a bit stuck on anxiety on how my presentations were going to go, and whether or not people were actually gonna buy my book. And of course I practiced and I prepared, but I still was partially stuck on fear because I had never stood up in front of large crowds before. So my greatest ah-ha moment came after my first presentation when someone came up to me and said, “Can I purchase four copies of your book?” I also fell to the floor laughing, and the next person came to me and said, “I’d like to buy one book for me and I’d like to buy one for my therapist,” and on and on down the line people were buying multiple copies of my book.

And the thing is I didn’t really motivate my audience to buy my book I just gave them a stellar presentation on getting unstuck. So my ah-ha moment was basically that I’m a really good presenter and I didn’t know it. I’m a really good speaker, and this is something that I can now add to my business.

John: See that’s important, Fire Nation, just to get out there and try things. I mean I’ve said this before but the first time I’ve ever stepped on stage like I thought I was gonna hate it. I knew I was nervous, and I thought I was just gonna “get it over with.” But I stepped up there and I was like wow I really enjoy this. You never know what you’re gonna like, what you don’t like until you actually experience it. The whole theme that we’ve been talking about here today with this interview has just been getting unstuck like taking that first step, getting that ball rolling because if you can achieve initial momentum that’s everything.

Get that ball initially rolling it’s so much easier, but it’s that first initial momentum, that first getting unstuck that is so tough, so Shira that’s my big take away from your story. What do you want to make sure Fire Nation gets from that same ah-ha moment?

Shira: You don’t know until you try. I had no idea that I was gonna be a great speaker until I tried. Another thing that they can take away from this of course is that you can practice for these things and you can come prepared and that will certainly create a different experience than if you just show up. And again and of course the same topic that we’re on it’s just noticing. Like I noticed back in June before I had left for the states to go on my book tour, I noticed I was stuck on anxiety. I was aware of it. It was like clear as day. It was clear as day, and I said okay I’m stuck on anxiety and I know what to do.

I’m gonna go through the stuck method and figure out a way to get unstuck from this so that I can give the best presentations that I possibly can. So there’s possibilities out there to get unstuck.

John: Shira, what are you most fired up about today?

Shira: I’m most fired up about the fact that the work I’m doing now is just beginning, and I’m fired up about witnessing the number of people in the world who are interested in getting unstuck, and the countless number of ways in this age of technology of how I can support them.

John: Well, Fire Nation, we are gonna get you even more unstuck in the lightning round coming up, so don’t you go anywhere. We’re gonna thank our sponsors. Shira, are you prepared for the lightning rounds?

Shira: I am prepared.

John: What was holding you back from becoming an entrepreneur?

Shira: Well, since this whole thing actually started with the book, I would say that when I pitched my idea to the publisher that I was stuck on not believing it was good enough.

John: What’s the best advice you’ve ever received?

Shira: Turn your blog into a book.

John: What’s a personal habit that contributes to your success?

Shira: My morning routine definitely contributes to my success in business and as a parent. But my habit of practicing what I preach contributes to my success even more so.

John: Can you share an Internet resource like Ever Notes with Fire Nation?

Shira: I’m very pleased with Convert Kits.

John: If you can recommend one book to join getting unstuck on our bookshelves, what would that book be and why?

Shira: I was thinking about the number of entrepreneurs who need to do public speaking and how many of them probably get stuck on fear like I was. So I wanted to share with them a book that I use to create my stellar presentations and actually don’t even need to read the entire book. It was basically the last two or three chapters that gave me the format of how to create a stellar presentation, and that book is called Presenting Magically by Tad James and David Shephard.

John: Love it, Presenting Magically. Well, Shira, let’s end today magically with a parting piece of guidance the best way that we can connect with you, and then we’ll say goodbye.

Shira: My parting piece of guidance comes from Adrienne Dorison who I know she was interviewed on your podcast.

John: Yeah.

Shira: She’s a business coach that I look up to and I’ve learned a tremendous amount from, so she says, “You can’t birth an adult you can only birth babies.” So many of us have an idea for a business and we get stuck on desire to turn that idea into the big final business immediately. But just like in reality we don’t birth adults we birth babies. We care for them, we learn from them, we grow from them, and we should be doing the same with our businesses. So your listeners can find me on my website thestuckmethod.com. I also have a Facebook group called Getting Unstuck, and for your listeners I’m offering a free webinar on getting unstuck for entrepreneurs only to your Fire listeners.

John: What?

Shira: I’ll offer that, yeah, I’m gonna offer the webinar about a week after this show goes live. So, to register for that they can go to my website thestuckmethod.com/fire.

John: Love that. And Fire Nation you’re the average of the five people you spend the most time with. You’ve been hanging out with STG and JLD today, so keep up the heat and head over to EOFire.com. Just type Shira that’s S-h-i-r-a in the search bar. Her shortlist page will pop up with everything that we’ve been talking about today best show notes in the biz, timestamps, links galore, and Shira, thank you for sharing your journey with Fire Nation today. And Fire Nation don’t forget about thestuckmethod.com/fire for that webinar for you from Shira. So Shira, again, thank you for just being here today we salute you and we’ll catch your on the flipside.

Shira: Thank you.