Like most of you I’m sure, I have a to-do list.
When I create a goal and a clear plan forward, that tends to create along with it, a list of things to do.
And I always look forward to the satisfaction of crossing things off that list as I do them.
Sometimes as I’m working, I’ll find myself remembering things that I need to do that aren’t on the list.
So after I do them, I actually add them to the list, just so I can cross them off. Lol!
But sometimes, even the satisfaction of being able to cross that item off the list, isn’t enough to motivate myself to do it.
Even though I know that it will feel good to have it done, I just don’t feel like doing it.
Have you ever felt like that?
Have you ever experienced the feeling of trying to motivate yourself through sheer force of will?
As you can guess, it doesn’t always work for me, and just maybe, it doesn’t always work for you either.
So I would like to share with you a shift in focus that recently made a big difference for me.
I had decided that I wanted to expand my coaching business.
All the systems I had in place were adequate for the number of clients I was currently working with, but I could see that with more clients, I would want to make some changes.
I would likely need to manage my time differently and make changes to my website, scheduling, payment and contract systems, as well as find new ways to get the word out that I was available.
This led to a very long to-do list, with my focus being on what I thought I needed to do to find and accommodate additional clients.
Even though I was clear about what I wanted and had identified a clear path forward, I still found it challenging to stay focused on what I needed to do.
So I asked myself, how can this be easier? (Always a great question to ask!)
And I remembered something a friend said to me about making room for what they wanted in their life before it came.
I think the first time I came across this idea was in the movie “The Secret.”
In the movie, a woman who wanted a new partner in her life, made room for him before they met by making the changes in her life she would need to accommodate him, such as clearing out half her closet to make room for his clothes.
So I redid my to-do list with a different focus.
Instead of trying to figure out what I needed to do to get the additional clients I wanted, I asked myself a question.
If they all showed up tomorrow, am I ready for them?
And the answer was, “No.”
So then I asked myself, “If they show up tomorrow, what do I need to do to get ready for them?” and made a new to-do list.
Then I compared the two lists and found that many of the items on those lists were identical.
What was most interesting however, was that the same items that seemed tedious or tiring when I was focused on trying to make something happen, seemed easy, even effortless, when my focus was on simply getting ready to receive what was already coming.
More than that, as I looked at my “getting ready to receive list,” I felt excited with eager anticipation of meeting the new clients that I would get to work with.
I didn’t need to motivate myself at all. It was more like getting ready for a great vacation.
There were still things that I needed to do, but there was no internal resistance in doing them.
In fact, it felt good to do them, not just cross them off the list.
The reason this shift is so effective, is because through the preparation process, you are assuming that it is on it’s way, while reducing your resistance to receiving it.
And getting ready to receive is a very different feeling and therefore vibration than trying to make something happen and hoping it works.
No matter how badly you want something, it won’t come into your life until you are ready for it.
So, let’s say that you have wanted something for a while.
Then someone walked up to you and said that you could have what you wanted as soon as you did whatever you needed to be ready for it?
What does that list look like?
What does it feel like as you imagine yourself doing the things on that list in anticipation of receiving what you want?
You will quickly be able to identify the items on your previous list that were about experiencing what you want the way you want, and which items were coming from a place of trying to make it happen.
There are always things to do. It is how we participate in the life we are creating.
But you will soon find that by shifting your focus, your reason for doing them, to how you would like to experience receiving what you want, you will make those to-do lists smaller, easier and much more enjoyable.