Essentials Only
We’re a few weeks into the new year and I’m not doing what you might think I’d be doing…
· I’m not making new year’s resolutions
· I’m not coming up with a “theme” word for the year
· I’m not committing to reading ___ number of books or walking ___ number of miles each day
It’s not that there’s anything wrong with those things —if resolutions/theme words/goals bring you joy, by all means do them!— it’s just that this year I’m trying something different.
This new year I’m editing down. I’m asking myself, what is essential?
I recently had this realization that I was overwhelming myself in my spiritual, business and personal growth practices. I honestly felt like I was somehow falling behind if I didn’t read, meditate, journal, learn something new and squeeze in some yoga every single day. Sound exhausting? It was.
And like a lightning bolt it hit me:
How ridiculous is it to apply capitalist principles —having to do somuch all the time— to my own personal and business growth?!
That’s when I decided to try a different approach this year: I’m picking ONE avenue for growth and committing to it.
For me, that looks like reading one spiritual or personal development book at a time and reading it each day until I’m done.
I’m not holding myself to read a certain number of pages or chapters or even for a certain amount of time. Just as long as I pick up my book each day, I’ve accomplished what feels essential to my growth right now (the book is Ask and It Is Given, in case you’re curious!)
It’s remarkable how much lighter, more content, and focused I feel.
And guess what? That feeling is available to all of us. We’ve just been told that we need to strive more, have more, produce more in order to be fulfilled. But I’ve found over the years that the opposite is true: once we take on more than what’s truly necessary we end up losing focus, diluting our efforts, and ultimately wearing ourselves thin.
I challenge you to jump into the flow of wellbeing that’s available to all of us by simply dropping demands on ourselves.
FYI - this translates to our business lives as well!
My friend, here’s your permission slip to stop focusing 10% of your effort across 10 different tasks and instead zero in on ONE piece of your business and brand at a time.
Consider what’s truly essential and pour your efforts into that thing— it might seem like you’re “not doing enough” but I guarantee you’ll be surprised by the leaps you can make in your business when you tune out the noise and trim out what’s not really necessary.
All that junk is just weighing you down :)
P.S. If you’re embracing a new self-image and want to capture the essentials of who you are now, this is a great time to update your photos. Contact me to set up a discovery call and schedule your photo session.