September is the time of the year that often feels like a fresh start after the summer. The weather is changing, and often, so is our focus as we revisit or make new plans for the rest of the year.
You may be lacking focus, wondering what to keep, what to let go of, what to step into, what to step out from. For some, it's an easy decision to make, for others, not so much.
Clarity or a lack of, may be what's driving you, your decisions and focus. We don't know about you, but it's taken years of mistakes, wrong turns to figure out what's right and not so right, which even the not so right at times feels like winning. The question though is, are you really ready to do what it may take to realise the plans, the goals and the vision?
It's more than likely going to take some sacrifice, a bit, or a lot of hard work and will power. Urgh, you may be thinking, but you know. We all know, but how many of us will actually do the do right until the end? Until the goal is reached the plan executed and the vision realised?
Take this as your rallying cry if you need it, or not. However see it as support in the form of "keeping it real", getting down to the nitty gritty of where you may find yourself, right now. Needing to get up, have a leg up or get going, and sometimes it's the tough love that gets you going.
Don't get us wrong, we're all about creating a safe and reflective space, especially in the work that we do, but it feels recently, well not so recently, that over the last few years that we're shying away from the hard work, the stark truth of what we need to do and where we are.
Please don't run and most of all don't hide. Make your plans and refocus, honestly, earnestly with all of you. Not just with the parts of you that you want the world to see, but all of you, the good, the bad and even the not so beautiful, as that's what you'll need to get through and get it done.
Today is about putting on your proverbial big girl's, or boy's pants, and not letting the fear, rejection, set backs, or the perception of these, slow you down and keep you back. You may doubt and wonder, but please, please, don't step away. If you step away or gloss over the tough bits, the difficult conversations, there'll be a part, worse yet a chunk of the story, your story that will be missing.
Are you going to lean into and live the story, this moment? Or will you edit it so that it's shiny, flawless as billed, to meet expectation? The truth of the struggle, the indecision and fear is the story and is what makes it richer, deeper, more colourful, so why tone it down? For ease, speed or credibility? For the perfect before and after, if ever there was one?
It's up to you. Will you run from the discomfort? We hope not. Will you sit in it, work through it and stand up stronger, clearer and maybe even fiercer, the other side of it?
If things are still murky, here's a little something, a question, to bring things into perspective, quickly if you're in a rush.
Does this choice,(a.k.a. your goal, your plan) enlarge or diminish your life?
We can't, and won't take credit for this profound question that we came across that stopped us dead in our thoughts Thank you, James Hollis.
When we asked ourselves this question for things that we had been mulling over, things became clearer, easier and pretty much irrefutable, if we were honest. You'll know the answer, because you've always known the answer but have chosen to ignore it or delay finding it.
You may claim that working on your goal, vision or taking the time to answer the question may be tricky because you don't have the time. Hmm, sounds like more delay tactics. If you truly choose your goal, your plan, you'll find the time. If you don't, you won't, which also likely means, it's not that important to you, which means that it probably isn't really your plan or goal or vision but someone else's you've claimed as your own. Whatever the answer, there's still more to do because clarity doesn't equal action. There's more yet to do.