When is the last time you completely unplugged? I mean turned off the email and stopped answering the phone? Did you turn off the TV, including Netflix, Hulu and Amazon too?
It can be difficult carving out time for the BIG ah-has in life – the writing of the book, the launching of a business, the rewiring of priorities. We can find ourselves drawn in to endless emails, countless details, and a wide range of mundane tasks. For six months I have been trying to finish my book but the drama of life kept sucking me in. Sound familiar?
Finally, I figured it out.
Can you remember the last time you poured your heart and soul in a project that made your heart sing? You know, the kind where hours pass and consciously, you don’t even realize it? They call it the ZONE or in the world of writers like myself, it’s called FLOW. That is exactly where I have spent the past two weeks of my life – in the flow. My days were an endless creative streak where my fingers kept typing as fast as they could pouring words onto the page. I finally finished a book I have been working on for two year. It is now in the hands of my editor with plans to have it released in October. Exciting stuff! The journey taught me a few things to share with you.
- The World Can Live Without You . . . for a few weeks – When I honestly assessed why I had not completed my passion project, it was because of the connectivity of life. Every time I tried to carve out time, I was drawn in by answering this email or returning a quick call. All of the little details were threatening to derail my passion project. I finally said ENOUGH! And I unplugged from every connectivity I had allowing myself access only every other day. You know what I discovered? The world can live without us for a few weeks. It’s true. Once you give key people in your life heads up that you will be out of commission, they figure it out. Somehow they find a way to keep going. I know, I was surprised too.
- Unleashing Your Creativity Energizes You – Many have forgotten what it feels like to find that flow. To live in that zone, even if for a short time. That space is energizing! You find there is more to you than even you realized. Deep, intense creation brings new life to what can sometimes be a groundhog kind of life. We do the same things day by day and week after week. Think about the last time a project has consumed you. If you can’t remember it, commit to find an opportunity before 2017 comes to an end. The shot of creativity may be just what you need for a new perspective.
- No One is Going to Do it For You – No matter how much your company respects you. No matter how much your family adores you, no one else can do it for you. Far too many leaders longingly say they want to write that book, submit that article, pursue that degree or become that conference speaker they have always wanted to be. What are you waiting for? The busy-ness of life is never going to stop. Stop waiting for the perfect time, the perfect place, the perfect idea. Simply start. You have the power to make yourself a priority. Mark your calendar for an appointment with YOURSELF – your dream. Place it on the calendar with as much importance as you would schedule a meeting with anyone else. When someone request a meeting that day, look at your calendar and honestly say “I have an important meeting already scheduled.” No one needs to be the wiser.
There are only 118 days left to finish writing this year’s chapter of your life. Be sure to make it a good one!
In the meantime, I commit to you I will do the same. Be on the lookout for two of my passion projects to be released this year. All because I cared enough to – ahem - schedule some very “important” meetings.
