Everything You Want To Know About Cutting Yourself Some Slack

One of my favorite quotes comes from Steve Jobs, "Your time is limited, so don’t waste it living someone else’s life. Don’t be trapped by dogma — which is living with the results of other people’s thinking. Don’t let the noise of others’ opinions drown out your own inner voice. And most important, have the courage to follow your heart and intuition. They somehow already know what you truly want to become. Everything else is secondary."

I have yet to fully master the art of cutting myself some slack, but I do my best every day. As I have mentioned before, we live in a culture where our first instinct is to compare ourselves to others. The pressure runs higher when we lose the ability to hear our own voices.

On a scale of 1-10, how well do you do cutting yourself slack?

Did you just say -5 and laugh out loud?

At any given time, I have 20 web browsers open in my mind. I have had to learn to prioritize my opportunities, and in some cases I have had to say no. When I look at opportunities now, I ask myself how I will grow and how the opportunity fits into the legacy I wish to leave in this world. These opportunities and people that I choose to invest my time in are important to me.

I, like every normal human being, experience setbacks.

I am prioritizing my full-time job, coaching, consulting, launching a new community organization, writing a manuscript that is due by 02/22/2018, and finishing scholarship reviews for a local community non-profit organization. My setback, is exhaustion. Let’s be real, there are some days that I praise myself for being a functional human being.

Last night my mother reminded me about a seminar we attended a few years ago, one of the tips that I had taken away (and forgotten) is that “piles are just delayed decision making.” She reminded me that choosing not to decide is to decide, because not deciding means that we are choosing to remain the same.

I am a “Yes Girl,” a people pleaser. I could be juggling ten balls, and it would not phase me if you came along and tossed in an eleventh and twelfth. When she read the notes she had taken, I had to laugh, it hits home. I am not making a choice to change, and the piles build up and gather dust. I spend a great deal of time focusing on things that take time away from the things I am passionate about.

So first, I need to remember to Practice, Practice, Practice; because practice will make it better than it used to be.

Second, I need to get in the habit of not putting things down, I need to get more organized and put things away as I consciously make my decisions. I need to decide to do it, delegate it, or delete it.

I need to focus on the things that will keep me on the path to my goals.

I am trying this new app Wunderlist to track my priorities, and so far, I am doing well.

I am realizing every day that I have my own vision. I have my own future. No one can design this for me, I need to design it myself.

It is time to cut ourselves some slack. It is time to do it, delegate it, delete it. It is time to add add some calm to the chaos in our lives.

Who else is in?