When Is It the “right” time?

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As I continue on my journey as a coach, accountability partner, motivator, mindset changer…I am starting to notice some old patterns in myself re-surfacing.  Primarily, the crippling theme of “perfection” is starting to rear its ugly head.  I’ll do this when…you fill in the blank – I have my final designation, I have this many $$, the kids are grown up, the mortgage is paid, after this one project is done, when I’m not travelling as much etc… you get the picture.

All the input I provide to my clients does not seem to apply to me!  Funny isn’t it?  For some reason,we can share our wisdom, provide our guidance and gently push our clients in the direction they want to go yet, when it comes to ourselves we seem to be exempt.  We tell them not to worry about everything being 100% in place, just go play, be curious and have fun.  Make mistakes and learn.  Be awkward!

I remind myself that Michelangelo did not create his beloved David overnight.  He chipped away lovingly at it until David revealed himself.  Through tiny shifts and maybe the odd occasional chunk of marble falling off, the beauty, strength and potential within was revealed.  It was a labour of true love. If we wait until we are perfectly ready, then nothing will happen.

You can think about what you want, talk about what you want, dream about what you want but until you take action, it is just a thought.

My “David” is far from ready however, being a work in progress is pretty cool too.  It’s time to take action!

Is it time to hit the “reset” button?

So, it has been one month, 30 days, 1/12th of a year – however you want to put it. It has been a month of doing nothing. What? Okay, let’s re-frame that, it has been a month of receiving rather than a month of chasing. A month of saying I’m not putting anything out there and I am going to just “be”. A month of self-reflection and, gulp, meditation, daily meditation. Something completely foreign and new to me.

So why am I telling you this and what could this possibly have to do with you?

Hmmm- I want to share with you what is possible when instead of looking for “what’s next” you sit with “what is”. Oooh, I cannot tell you how difficult this was for me… initially.

“Doing” is kind of, well, what I “do” and I know I’m not alone here. We, yep, I’m dragging you into this now, We equate “doing” with accomplishment, success, justifying our existence. How many tick boxes can we check today? When someone asks the question “how’s it going?” if you don’t answer the question with an “ugh..I’m so busy”, then you’re just not doing enough. Sound familiar?

I decided I needed to let the world catch up with me. Here’s what happened. Emails started coming to my mailbox from people I had not heard from for months, people that are now “ready” to work with me. Dinner invitations to “catch up” surfaced. Phone calls to “chat” were in my voicemail. I secured several new clients and an opportunity that knocked my socks off. All while doing NOTHING.

Now before you start saying…”easy for you to do, you work for yourself”. Think about it, I am an entrepreneur, my work means I have to be “out there”, constantly building my business. I am not suggesting that you take a month and ignore your work. What if you took the weekend? What if you took a couple of evenings? What could that open up for you? My point being, that if we are too busy continually chasing what’s next, we do not give the world a chance to catch up with us. Maybe not the “world”, perhaps your spouse, children, family, friends. You send out a message that you are available to receive some good stuff.

I don’t know about you, but I like receiving good stuff. So what will this change for me moving forward? I am consciously deciding that every couple of months, I am going to take a week to integrate, slow down and hit “reset”. What will you do?