Creative people with massive amounts of energy and a great mental capacity often need more clarity and focus. It’s easy to forget what your highest priorities are when everything seems important! If you are a creative type, gaining clarity on what your highest priorities are will help you increase your energy, free time and ability to focus. It will help you physically and mentally!
If you’re feeling stuck, you can get unstuck by determining what your priorities are. To function at your highest capacity (= productivity) and feel fully satisfied, you’ll need to say “no” to things and people that are only partially meeting your needs.
Whether you need to say “no” to answering phone calls from friends during work hours or “no” to being involved in groups that aren’t fully in line with where you want to go, you’ll be saying yes to the best!!
Good opportunities and relationships can be hard to cut yourself off from or take a break from but what you’re doing when you say “no” is opening up your heart and your time for the things and people who you want to be commit to. This boundary setting will help you become more aware of what REALLY matters and what can take the back seat for now.
A helpful question to ask yourself is, “Why is it hard for me to let go of some things or some relationships-work or personal? What do I believe will happen if I do?” This will reveal any fears that may be hanging out at the back of your mind.
Write down everything that comes to mind…however silly it may sound. Don’t edit right now! Later you can talk about these fears with someone if you like.
Sometimes just talking about your fears can make them disappear!!
If your identity is entwined with productivity you may fear you will get less recognition or be less amazing if you let go of less important commitments. This is a lie.
People often think that the busier and more productive you are the more successful you will seem to others. People associate self worth with busyness, even if this ‘busyness’ doesn’t bring them a sense of personal success. You don’t need to prove yourself. You’re already mind blowing!
If this is something you struggle with, create a new belief about what success means to you. For example, “I am most successful when I focus on a, b and c.” “I feel most successful when…”
When you focus in on where you feel most passionate you will be able to use your skills but with more laser focus. You will still experience success, but most likely on a larger and deeper scale. JUST THINK about the possibilities in your future if you were to let go of whatever you may fear and go for the gold instead of settling for the silver!!
When you let go of the good you get to experience the best xo
I was coaching a friend and client of mine recently who knew she needed this clarity and focus we’ve been talking about. She had been using too much mental energy just thinking about the work she was involved with that didn’t truly energize her.
She had gotten involved with a few groups and enjoyed it at the beginning. As time passed she became aware that the main reason she was still involved with these projects was to feel valued and successful. The interesting thing is that she didn’t want to be successful in either of those professions!! She was regularly acknowledged for her gifts and talents by the members of the groups–which felt really good! Notice she felt good, not great.
Just because you have talents that allow you to pursue many different jobs, doesn’t mean that all work is in line with the future you see for yourself.
So what do you need in your life on a daily basis? Personally and Professionally. This woman’s priorities are worship (group and solo), personal development, building consistent and deep relationships, exercise, creating tactile things, adventure and brainstorming for solutions.
To create her ideal day she needs to experience all of the above in a big or small way.
So I would ask you, “Where do you waste time on things that aren’t super valuable to you?”
Are you giving yourself to causes that don’t make you feel fully satisfied?
My client decided to give up some of the commitments she was involved with and right away felt a weight drop off her shoulders! She was confident that she would experience much more capacity to focus on what mattered as she wouldn’t be thinking about the other commitments so often-dreading them to some degree! This was a huge breakthrough for her!!
Remember, that you are already amazing and you will continue to be amazing whether you have people reminding you or not, whether you are enjoying the limelight of success or not.
Today you have the choice to make decisions that make you feel fully alive and fully satisfied if you will take the time to determine what your highest priorities are. Decide what activities and people you want to align yourself with so that your gifts and talents are being used. You will then have the time for yourself physically and mentally-to rest, laugh more and feel the way you want to feel!
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