Towards the end of my 17-day honeymoon in Hawaii, I started freaking out about all of the things I needed to do when I got back home. I knew I was ready to expand my career and create an even better lifestyle, but everything that I felt I needed to do get there just seemed so daunting. To give you some background, I left my J-O-B in November 2012, and have been completely self-employed since. I don’t have a boss delegating responsibilities to me. It’s completely up to me now how I spend my time and energy on a day-to-day basis. And unlike having a salaried job, if I goof off on Facebook or play Words With Friends too long – I don’t get paid. [not saying you are doing that – are you? Maybe we should talk ;)] Being able to motivate myself and take care of tasks is crucial to my business actually growing,
I have noticed a pattern of getting answers during meditation, so one day I meditated on the question “How can I get where I want to go without feeling burdened by overwhelm?” The answer I got was a bit cryptic, but I was able to distill out the message. I saw an image of bricks being laid, one by one, and eventually becoming a foundation, and then a house, which is sort of appropriate, because one of my personal biggest motivations, other than the sharing of my gifts and serving others, is to be able to own a home with my husband one day, preferably sooner rather than later.
The message I got from this image was “one brick at a time”. You build a foundation, and then a structure, “one brick a day”. I was in awe of the simplicity of this message, but it made perfect sense. You build a career, a business – a life – one brick, and one day, at a time. There is no other way. (If you know a better way, please do share in the comments below!)
I have been implementing this goal of one brick a day since I got home, and I have to say, I have gotten more done than I did before. It doesn’t mean that I only build one brick a day (some days- many days- I get on a roll and lay several, and some bricks are bigger than others), but it means I am committing to laying at least one brick a day. What that means is that even on days where I am off – you know, the days where you wake up and everything seems more of a chore than usual, and getting to your workout or even just making breakfast seems like an enormous feat– I still lay at least one brick. If I have laid one brick, I am off the hook from self-flagellation.
Except lately I felt myself trying to push myself – I even heard myself get anxious and say “but what if you laid 3 bricks a day??!”, so I tried to make that my new goal. Unfortunately, instead of feeling inspired by this new goal, I have felt more tired.
So I meditated on it again, and here is the answer I got: One brick a day is 365 bricks (tasks) by the end of the year. (This adds up to 730 by the end of 2 years, 1,825 tasks by the end of 5 years, and 3, 650 by the end of ten years. Though I get the feeling that at some point there is some sort of a tipping point and growth becomes exponential. I’d love your thoughts on this too.)
That may not seem like a lot, but think about your current task list. If you were to distill out the 365 most important things you could do this year, and you actually did them, how different would your life be like a year from now?
What comes to my mind is the tortoise and the hare story. The tortoise did not stress himself out, he just stayed consistent and committed to his goal, and still achieved his desired results, even though the hare got a faster start. As you will hear me repeat, the key is consistency – not craziness.
The next time you are feeling overwhelmed, try just committing to laying one brick a day. Just make sure it’s the most important brick you could be laying that day.
PS On the topic of procrastination – there are other reasons why you may be procrastinating, the most notable of which is something called split energy, which I will be covering in my next article, though I will only be sending that blog out to people on our private e-mail list. If you would like to receive that article, feel free to enter your name and e-mail address in the upper right hand corner of this website, and that and other free resources to help you get where you are going will be on your way. I dislike spam too, and I don’t sell emails. I send out resources to help you life the life you want as well invitations to events I am hosting and special offers for coaching, etc.
Jennifer Gaynor-Yaker, CHt, is a certified life coach and hypnotherapist. She is also certified in Neurolingustic Programming and EFT with Source Technique™ at the mastery level. She specializes in helping people find and release their hidden blocks or “blind spots” that are holding them back so they can easily step into manifesting the life they truly desire. Her approach addresses all levels – mind, body, and spirit. She lives in Venice, CA, with her husband Richard who is also a life coach. Together, they own Conscious Life Coaching. The company’s mission is to help others co-create their ideal lives in the most conscious, joyous, and efficient way possible. If you’d like to receive more articles like these as well as other free resources from Conscious Life Coaching, enter your name and e-mail address in the top right corner, and they will be on their way shortly.