I Create My Life!
If you’ve ever been to one of my talks, you’re heard me say this. It’s been part of my day, every day, since first hearing T. Harv Eker speak years ago.
I start every day with it. First thing when my feet hit the floor I say, “I CREATE MY LIFE!”
Why?
After over 30 years of researching and applying mindset and method tools to maximize my potential, it’s still incredibly easy for me to give away my power and create very compelling “reasons” why I don’t get the results I want in a day, in my work or in my life.
Reasons like,
- “I don’t have the tech support to get this done.”
- “There are simply too many emails to manage.”
- “I don’t have the time.”
- “I’m just a slow writer.”
- “Others have been doing this longer, that’s why they have more success.”
In our fundraising these “reasons” can look like this:
- “We are short-staffed right now.” Or “We don’t have enough staff.”
- “We don’t have wealthy people interested in our cause.”
- “My boss doesn’t understand fundraising.”
- “Donors are ask too much.”
- “I’m just not good at ___________.” (fill in the blank)
- “We don’t have the right people on our board.”
- “I have too many competing responsibilities.”
- “Our event takes too much of my time.”
- “Donors won’t meet with me.”
- “I don’t know how to______________.” (fill in the blank)
- “My ED (or Dean, or President, or Doc) won’t go on calls with me.”
I could fill pages and pages with these “reasons” my clients tell me are why they are not getting the “results” they want.
We ALL have circumstances that make our work and life either “challenging” or “easy.” What is interesting is that the same situation will look different to different people and even to us on different days! So what is it? Challenging or easy?
When you blame someone else, or a situation as “out of your control” you give away your power to do anything about it. You feel less guilty about missing your numbers, or a deadline, but you are limiting your growth and potential for experiencing what you want in your life.
Some days it all looks like crap and other days it all looks pretty good.
It’s never the size of the problem. It’s the size of YOU! When we give away our power, life happens TO us. When we take responsibility, we grow, we own it, and we take action. I guarantee the specifics details of your situation don’t change all that much. The boss is still the boss. The donor is still the donor. What has changed is your story and how you’re deciding to write the next lines. Thinking that the results others achieve are because they have something we don’t have, or that they are somehow more capable is nonsense! It’s simply not true. The action you take, or don’t take (what can I do about it anyway?) has a ripple effect and on your success and joy, and it compounds into your ‘results’ in the future.
This week the Dalai Lama is in Madison again, a regular visitor to our city. He stays at the Deer Park Buddist Center about 5 miles from my home. He is a friend and colleague to Dr Richard Davidson, a UW faculty member who directs the Center for Healthy Minds. I think the Dalai Lama’s talk title sums up what I have been writing about today, “The World we Make.”
Make a commitment to begin each day by saying out load, “I CREATE MY LIFE!”
Own it. Embrace your power. I guarantee you will love your “results” when you take responsibility for your “reasons.”
Invest in Joy!
