The Internal Resistance Files

Are you suffering from Generalised Personal Badness?

Spoiler alert: you are not

This will totally sense when you watch the video.

In order to stop avoiding things we know we want to do, we need to discover the real reason for our avoidance. Once we know the underlying cause, we can address it.

Sounds pretty obvious, doesn’t it? I mean, we’re not exactly unfamiliar with the logic of cause and effect.

Which begs the question: given that our brains are so smart and all, why don’t they take this obvious next step? Why do we focus on external fixes—endless date books, colour-coded calendars, proposed 5 am routines—instead of on investigating the root of the problem?

Why don’t we work as hard at comprehending our avoidance as we do at understanding all the other puzzles we need to master?

In helping countless clients and students with this problem, I’ve found there is one main answer to this question:

It’s because we think we’re bad.

We don’t always put it in exactly those words. Some of my clients describe it as feeling broken or like there’s something fundamentally wrong with them. Sometimes it comes with more specific adjectives, like ‘lazy’ or ‘unmotivated’ or ‘undisciplined’.

I call it Generalised Personal Badness, because I think the vagueness is part of the point. If our badness isn’t pinned down, it’s very hard to dispute.

In the following video, I’m going to explain why our brains become so convinced that we are suffering from Generalised Personal Badness when it comes to avoidance. I’ll demonstrate the failure of this view to explain what’s actually going on and why it’s so crucial to leave it behind.

To do that, I’m going to show you how this so-called explanation played out for my client Miguel, who was trying and failing to prep for crucial meetings that he knew he needed to nail.

Watch the video to take the first step in your own investigation.

And in the next video, you’ll see how we found the real cause of Miguel’s feet-dragging and resolved it for good. I’ll teach you the framework we used to find the real issue behind his avoidance and show you how to start using it yourself immediately.

I’m a prof, a writer and a coach. I help high-achievers outsmart avoidance so they can do the work they were meant to do.