June 2024
“The Work” is the daily stuff of life that has to be done, those tasks that you don’t want to do, that aren’t “fun”, the stuff that actually moves you forward but tends to be ignored…
Okay, so you want to do “The Work” – you know you need to do “The Work”…
But you will do anything and everything, to not do “The Work.”
It may not be fun. It’s usually not a great story (unless you like reading about daily chores, cleaning up messes, cooking a meal for the 500,000th time, writing crappy first drafts, figuring out how to make all the technology integrate, dealing with financials…)
You know, the fun stuff!
God has blessed me because I think it’s all fascinating and love doing it but I only found out later in life.
You know, after life happened and I HAD no choice but to do “The Work” and realized the freedom it gave me.
Chores? Boring to-do’s? Frustrating to-do’s? To-do’s that are never done?
Freedom?!
Yes – as I mentioned before Knowing HOW is POWER.
In this case, it is not necessarily about the journey and definitely about the destination. But that destination can inform the journey and maybe make it a little more enjoyable. Favorite music, light a candle, good drink, and conversation with others type of enjoyable.
We all trade off time (and money) for a greater goal.
- I am spending 15 minutes of my day getting frustrated at the DuoLingo owl because I hope that I can bring my French language learning from over 25 years ago back.
- I work a job to pay the bills because I want to live in my house and live my life with my friends and family.
- I exercise (and hurt) regularly) because I don’t want to take meds and want to have energy (for the above things)
It’s no different with “The Work.”
- I spend extra time entering financial transactions, being a bit (shall we say) “particular” so I can live my life and have the money I want to do what I want to do and I can always have a quick picture when I need it.
- I clean my floors because I don’t want to have to do a deep clean later, or ruin the ankles of my pants regularly and have to clean them.
- I go grocery shopping (this is the chore I detest the most) because I want to eat food that feels good and gives me energy to do all of the above.
You can use the “I get to” trick as well.
I get to go to the grocery store and buy the food I want.
And you can use the gratitude/guilt (be careful how you use it) card with this as well.
I get to go to the grocery store and buy the food I want.
How many people would love to do this that can’t do this and I’m taking it for granted? (If you have ever not been able, you likely don’t take this for granted.)
How does “The Work” support your freedom? Whatever that looks like to you.
In other words, how can you justify it to support your freedom? (We all know we twist things around on a regular basis to support us even when it doesn’t. Use it to support you instead of trap you.)
It’s way easier to clean floors, cook millions of meals, sit down and do the financials (or hire the right person to do that for you where it’s mutually beneficial to both), if you know how it supports you, supports your freedom.
You like “The Work” by liking what it brings you, what it gives you. Freedom in the form of saved Time, Money, and support in various ways.
Liking “The Work” means keeping your power, knowing how and who you want to be in the world and what matters to you.
You know the phrase: How you do anything is how you do everything?
Liking and Doing “The Work” is how you LIVE your life!