Learning how to SHRUG IT OFF will give you 3 key benefits:
- Greater flexibility – for navigating the twists and turns of life and business.
- Expanded capacity – to learn, grow and respond rather than react, and
- Increased velocity – less resistance means you’ll get where you want to go faster and easier than you ever thought possible.
- Oh, and there’s a 4th BONUS BENEFIT: You will have LOTS more fun along the way!
#1: Stop Worrying! Remember the Serenity Prayer? God grant me the serenity to accept the things I cannot change, the courage to change the things I can, and the wisdom to know the difference. Not distinguishing what you can change and what you can’t, and worrying about things you can’t change uses up extreme amounts of energy. Learn to ask yourself questions like:
▪ Is this something I can impact at all? On my own? With the help of others?
▪ Is it worth the investment of time, energy, resources and effort?
▪ What other options do I have?
When I was diagnosed with cancer, I couldn’t believe it was happening to me! I was healthy, active and energetic – how could this be?! When I changed my prayer from “Please take this away from me” to “Please let me learn the lessons I know are here,” it shifted my focus from what I couldn’t change - having cancer – to what I could – looking at my life for what was working, and what wasn’t, and getting into action to make it all work. It totally transformed my experience from one of worry, doubt and fear to one of committed action – doing what I knew I could do and letting go of the rest.
#2: Align your thoughts, words and actions with your core values – make decisions that align with who you are. For example, if Integrity is one of your core values and you work for a company who cuts corners, you will be stressed every single day – there is a misalignment of life and values, and that causes stress. If Family is a core value and you spend 16 hours a day at work, you will experience much more stress than from the hours alone, because you are misaligned with what is most important to you.
When you are aligned with what is most important to you, decision-making becomes easier, there is less second guessing, and it becomes much easier to say yes when you mean yes and no when you mean no. That means you have less things on your plate that you dread, and more that light you up!
#3: Balance critical thinking with gratitude and appreciation – Believe it or not, life is perfect even as you’re perfecting it.
What you focus on expands. What you think about magically attracts similar thoughts, making the thought even stronger, attracting even more similar thoughts until that thought dominates, colors and even shapes your experience. It’s crucial for any professional to think critically, asking questions like, “How can this be improved?” or “What could I do to get a better result?” or even, “What’s next?”
The problem lies in having your focus be entirely on critical thinking. All strengths are a double-edged sword, serving you well yet becoming a weakness when locked in the ‘on’ position. It is just as crucial to stop and appreciate all that is going well and celebrate your successes large and small – not just so life stays in balance, but because it makes life and work a lot more fun.
Each heartfelt appreciation you get present to allows you to take one more step back from your perspective of, “My life is my problem,” until you reach the point where your perspective becomes, “My life is fantastic and I have a problem to deal with.” Which perspective do you think gives you more power to deal with the situation?
#4: Keep the vision, lose the attachment – have a plan, but always stay flexible. Water’s vision, if you will, is to flow…
You only have to see the Grand Canyon to appreciate the power of water, or have a leak in your roof to understand water’s ability to get around obstacles and keep on flowing. A battering ram is powerful, too, but there’s only one way through and if that way is thwarted, you won’t get the results you want.
Most of us approach our problems from the battering ram model – we push through the pain to honor our commitments.
True success comes from keeping your eye on the prize while being fluid in your approach to reaching it, keeping balance between having a plan and being flexible. When something is feeling forced, it’s time to step back and take another look. Your results will dramatically improve as you learn to keep the vision and let go of your attachment to how you get there there. As you adopt the model of water, ask yourself, “How can I still work toward my goals while letting go of it looking a certain way?” This way, you’re allowing your creativity to kick in and offer many other options you can explore.
#5: Reduce your stress- less resistance leads to accelerated velocity
▪ Identify and eliminate energy drains (examples: incomplete things/loose ends, draining relationships, unfulfilling work, lethargic lifestyle, etc.)
▪ Align with your vision and values - stay true to yourself,
▪ Feed the machine – lots of fresh fruits and vegetables are the key to good health! It’s the nutrients in fruits and vegetables that neutralize the free radicals generated by stress – call me at 636-861-9100 or email me at patty@lifebydesign.biz if you want to know how you can simply and inexpensively bridge the gap between what you eat and what your body needs.
▪ Give yourself tune-ups – a relaxed body handles stress better, so get a massage, go for a walk, meditate, garden, play music, sing, dance, get a pedicure, call a buddy - whatever it is that helps you relax.
▪ Stay connected with friends and family members who energize, uplift and inspire you (and stay as far away as you can from those who don’t)!
#6: Create support structures that lighten the load – no change is sustainable without having an environment that aligns with that change, and there are 7 areas you can strengthen to help you create greater flexibility, expanded capacity and increased velocity. The attached article, A Fresh Perspective On…Support, goes into them in more depth, and will be the subject of my portion of The 18% Solution, presented by Yellow-Tie St. Louis on October 30. Register now to reserve your spot.
Putting your focus on any one of these WAYS TO SHRUG OFF THE WEIGHT OF THE WORLD will create positive change in your life and your work. Developing all six will produce nothing short of miracles, putting the world in the palm of your hand. Which one, or which ones, will you incorporate into your life today?