March is proving to be a full month for me. I’ve decided to undertake two big projects, each with the potential to monumentally impact my life as I know it.

They are projects I’ve been putting off for about a year or two ... but there are times you just have to grab the bull by the horns and, finally, now is that time.

I’ve told everyone I’m doing them, got people lined up to assist, signed up for an expensive internet course to help.

Here is what I’ve done so far: surfed the internet, caught up with people I went to nursery school with, flossed my teeth, cleaned the kitchen, hung out anywhere I wasn’t near my computer, made countless cups of tea ... basically anything but what I should be doing. Or, should I say, want to be doing, right?

Why wouldn’t I want to take these steps towards positive change? Is it the tasks themselves I’m avoiding? Or the end result?

Clearly if I’m choosing scrubbing pots and pans as a more pleasurable alternative, I don’t think it’s just the tasks.

Maybe I’m afraid of the outcomes. Am I fearful of the potential changes these projects will bring?

Consciously, the whole reason I am doing them is to make change. But seeing as I’m not doing them, perhaps subconsciously this is where the resistance lurks.

Is it that I’m afraid after all this work, things won’t change and it’ll all be for nothing?

That would be annoying but really I’d be no worse off. No, that’s not it.

I fear it’s more like, I’m afraid that positive change will occur and then I’ll have to rise to the occasion.

Expectations of me will increase, if only my own, and there will be no more excuses or claiming helplessness.

It’s very comfortable to stay small, to not fill our potential but, rest assured, assuming we could have if we tried. It’s a whole different rodeo to actually try.

I’m finding the biggest bull we’ve got to tackle and hog-tie is the ‘bull’ we tell ourselves: that we can’t, or aren’t good enough, or don’t deserve to be all that we are capable of. Fears, no doubt, coming from misguided lessons in winning approval or fitting in when we were little.

Yet, scary as it may feel, we can now choose to grow up and grab those horns.

What’s the worst that can happen? What’s the best that can happen? How will I feel about this in five years’ time?

Linking the tasks and outcomes to my greatest values helps: being a good role model for my son, having fun, putting something positive into the world.

Eventually, the associated pain of ‘not doing these things’ outweighs my fears of progress.

Wrangling our inner conflicts can sometimes feel like an internal rodeo, but learning to tame that bull can make the difference between being bucked off-track or spurring ourselves on to getting things done and our bright futures ahead.

• Julia Pitt is a trained success coach and certified NLP practitioner on the team at Benedict Associates. For further information contact Julia on 705-7488, www.juliapittcoaching.com