Things can change in a very short period of time. One day you are unemployed, the next you are offered a job. One day you have no clients, the next 3 new people sign up. One day you have no sales of your book, the next you are getting e-mails from people all over the world who love your book. One day you have never travelled anywhere, the next you are on a beach in Thailand. One day you have no money and no hope, the next you have had an extremely lucrative idea that skyrockets your income.
While we are waiting for things to change though, we can start to get discouraged and fed up and wonder if it’s always going to be the same – we’ll always be unemployed, never write that book or take that trip, never be out of debt or earning 6 figures, always be struggling to keep your business going for lack of clients. And this discouragement leads to a downward spiral where we are discouraged and depressed so we take no action and start to hate our lives as they are so take even less action…and make it less likely that things will change.
Because for things to change, you’ve got to hussle! If you want a best-selling book, you’ve got to put pen to paper, over and over and over, you’ve got to approach publishers or explore how to self-publish, you’ve got to hone your craft, you’ve got to complete that book, you’ve got to find the people who are waiting to read it. As well as the external hussling, you’ve got to hussle internally too – work on your beliefs, your attitude, your confidence, your resilience, your courage, your persistence. In short, you’ve got to get busy!
One of my mentors, Carole Dore says that if you were following all the inspirations that come up, taking all the actions that presented themsleves to you, you’d be too busy to notice that the change hasn’t happened yet! And sometimes we do spend so much time looking for the change, we forget to do anything about it. I want to add a little caveat here: taking action from a fearful, stressed out, unhappy place isn’t the kind of hussling I’m talking about. I am talking about feeling good, being inspired, taking action. In that order. It’s an easy formula to follow, and if you keep moving towards your Big Dream, you WILL reach it, it’s inevitable. The more seeds you sow, the more plants will grow.
And do you know what’s really funny? When things change, we often look back with nostalgia at the days ‘before’ we were a best-selling author, when we had no job and lots of time, when we had more time and less clients, when travelling was still a far away dream! Because when we’re waiting for something to change, we forget to enjoy that time of anticipation, of hussle, of belief and faith, of excitement, of innocence. When we have whatever we wanted, with eagle-eye hindsight, we can see the gifts we missed in the ‘old’ situation, because we were too busy focusing on what we didn’t have.
The other delicious irony is that as soon as we get what we want, we want something new… You get the job, then you want another job, or pay rise, or promotion. You write the book, then you find that another book is bubbling its way to the surface. You start the business, then realise that there are so many new levels of attainment you can reach. The change we’ve been waiting for comes…and we’re ready for a new change!
Over the past 8 years of being in business, I have realised that a lot of the joy for me is in the creation of services, products, articles, books… not just the finishing and the selling of them. So now, I’ve learned to chill out and enjoy that process, instead of getting impatient and wanting to be finished already! It’s the journey that’s the most fun bit, not the destination. So this month, enjoy the journey as much as you desire to reach your destination – have fun along the way, even if you don’t have what you want yet. You never know, this might help you make the change ‘overnight’.
Your Homework
Ask yourself these questions:
1. What could you do to enjoy the journey more? Today, and every day?
2. If things were to change tomorrow, what would you look back and think ‘I should have enjoyed x more?’ – start enjoying it now!
3. Where do you need to get hussling? What internal/external action needs work right now? And what is the next baby step? (a baby step can be taken in about 15 minutes!)
And as ever, I would love to hear what’s happening for you and your answers to these questions – please leave a comment below.
Love
Donna.x