Are your methods getting you the results you want?
Are your methods getting you the results you want?
Someone I met at a retreat a few years ago runs a very successful business. I don't know if he's earned tens of millions of dollars or hundreds of millions of dollars, but he's somewhere in that range.
Frequently, on Instagram, he’ll post his daily schedule. 5:00 AM wake up, 5:30-6:30 AM strength training, 6:30 shower, 7:00-8:00 family time…
That kind of schedule. Mark Wahlberg style.
And, since I'm sure people are just as hungry to know MY schedule as they are a tens- or hundreds-of-millions-aire, I’m going to share it here.
You're welcome.
This is my Wednesday schedule:
6:00 AM: My alarm goes off. If I feel well-rested, I get up. If I don't, I stay in bed.
Whenever I get up - 12:00 PM: Whatever I want.
12:00 - 1:00 PM: Shamanic energy medicine session.
1:00 - 3:45 PM: Whatever I want.
3:45 - 5:45 PM: Pilates lesson (including commute).
5:45 - Whenever I go to bed: Whatever I want.
"But Keely," you might think after seeing this (and resisting your urge to punch me in the larynx), "You've loudly and boldly proclaimed that your sabbatical is ending and you're now entering a season of business-building."
"This doesn't look like the schedule of someone who's in a business-building season," you might continue.
And that's why I'm writing about it.
In the communities where I now live, this is exactly what a business-building season looks like.
Does that surprise you?
It surprises most people, past versions of me included.
So let me tell you why we operate this way.
In the communities where I now live, gloriously liberated and empowered humans gather around a few core ideas. And one of those ideas is that each of us commits to doing the hard work of figuring out what ACTUALLY works for our unique bundle of nature, nurture, cells, and life experiences, instead of just going along with established norms.
Want that in a less dense sentence? We ask, "Are you getting the results you want with the methods you're using?"
If we're getting the results we want, then we keep using the methods we're using.
If we're not getting the results we want, then we change the methods.
Do you know how my life is going using the calendar that I shared at the beginning of this musing?
Freaking fabulously, that's how.
My marriage delights me so much that I text my husband, "Thank you for a marriage that's the best part of my life," before flights take off.
I published 160 musings last year.
In one week, I’m doing the first go-around of a workshop that I've wanted to offer for YEARS. Years!
My shamanic practice is chugging along, and I'm on track to meet my business and financial goals.
AND I spend most of my days enchanted by the human experience. I tap into flow state most days. And I frequently catch my brain going, "Thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, thank you, THANK YOU," simply because I’m so grateful to be alive (lest you forget, I used to board planes hoping they would crash).
I’m both getting the results I want AND loving my life along the way. And all those “whatever I want” blocks – ask Sam how often he marvels at me on weekend mornings when I’ve already logged 3 working hours by the time he wakes up. “How do you work this hard?” he’ll ask, despite knowing that the answer is, “Because I’ve found a method that works for me.” (That also means that some days he gets texts at 2:30 PM that say, “I’m hiding under the covers for the rest of the day, FYI that I won’t be checking my phone.”)
Listen. I know that I have privilege. I know that not everyone has the opportunity to do things like take a sabbatical. I know that I am crazy lucky to live in a household where it's okay if I don’t contribute financially for a few years.
I wish everyone had that opportunity and I know most people won't get it. So I'm going to share what I learned during my very spacious chapter as a way to express gratitude for having this lucky, lucky life: all of us are freer than we know.
And if you want to start sitting at the tables where I've chosen to sit, where we don't buy into "shoulds" or "musts" and instead focus our attention on learning what ACTUALLY gets us the results we want – LMK.
I’ll invite you to the next party.
Love,
Keely
Morning Musings is a delight-first writing practice where I make a cup of coffee, dance around my house a little bit, then put my fingers on the keyboard and see what comes up.
Some folks find these musings helpful. They say that my willingness to share my unpolished insides helps them treat themselves a little more kindly. If you know anyone who might like this musing, please share it freely.