How To Make Space For Things You Want To Do
“The quality of your life has more to do with what you take out of it than what you put into it” - Cheryl Richardson (Tweet this)
More more more. That is what we are conditioned to want in life , right? However, living life on YOUR terms means knowing what an authentically successful, fulfilling life means to you.
It also means doing something different from what you have been doing to create the change that you want.
And that requires resources.
Now, we really only have 4 types of resource - time, energy, cash and help (in the form of other people). You have plenty of these, right? Great, you are sorted. Get going on your Maverick journey.
What? You don’t have any spare time or energy? You are run ragged and knackered by the end of the day?
Well my friend, that’s just you. I am sure that none of the rest of us can relate. 😉
Seriously though, most of us are massively overcommitted between work, home, family, health etc. No wonder that life of freedom and fulfilment feels like a long way off.
That means you have got to free up some resources. For now, I am going to leave money out of this because that deserves its own treatment.
"You have to clear out the old to make space for the new" - Unknown (Tweet this)
Just as you might have to budget your cash, so you need to find some margin in your schedule and energy reserves to make changes. And these are both finite resources. You only have so much time and energy.
So how? Try these:
- Use the strategic question - whenever you are faced with taking on something new, ask yourself “In order to say commit to this, what do I need to get rid of?”. In other words, what am I going to dump in order to create the time/space/energy to take on this new project/goal? If you want to know more, check out this short video we made.
- Clear out the clutter - whatever area of your life you want to change, clear out some physical clutter from home or work. As Marie Kondo would attest, doing this frees up energy helps you feel lighter. Imagine that all that clutter is storing old energy that almost weighs you down. By getting rid of it, you literally lighten your load. That might sound odd, but just try it…start small. You don’t want to become overwhelmed…but the more you clear, the more energy and space you will free up to create what you want.
- Get ride of your tolerances - just like the clutter, there are things in your life that you tolerate that are draining mental/emotional (and sometimes physical) energy. My first coach got me to write a list of 25 things that I had been tolerating to systematically eliminate. Some of the things on my list were poor sleep, being out 6 nights a week, a friend who only ever complained and a perpetual sinus issue that never went away. These weren’t all quick fixes and, in the short term, did take time and energy to eliminate. But, talk about worth it. So, write a list of 3–5 things that you are tolerating, then take action to eliminate one at a time until you are done. Then rinse and repeat.