Shhhh. Listen. Stop everything you’re doing and just quietly listen. Do you hear that? Listen reeeeealllyyyy carefully and you might hear it. That’s right. That is the sound of absolutely nothing. Do you hear it?
Sorry for that dramatic build-up for literally nothing. But I’m trying to make a point here, while simultaneously grabbing your attention! Nothing – is exactly what you need sometimes to get to your next level. Sometimes allowing yourself to just pause and think will allow your next big idea or solution to magically appear in your brain.
Or sometimes simply less of everything could help you just enough too. Yes, the old saying that less is more can be true for you to get to MORE of what you desire. Or as a wise retired Italian surgeon (I accidentally met when eavesdropping on his Italian conversation in a coffeeshop in the middle of Lawrenceville, PA as I waited for my son to get out of acting class once said) – sometimes minimum, slow steps, yield maximum outputs.
That’s what I found allowed me as a now mom of six kids to cut through all the BS and shortened the wait time between the life I was living and the life I get to enjoy now as a CEO.
And here are the top ten tips from this philosophy that could help you today to take your first small steps towards your future and highest self.
Keep that mental pause going from – all. the. things, and read on.
- Treat yourself as well as you’d treat your dream clients. That means if you promised yourself you’d do XYZ by ABC time, show up for yourself! Don’t push yourself off any longer! Even if that means finally taking that afternoon nap. You wouldn’t blow off your star client, would you? So, don’t do it to yourself either. And if that means decluttering your schedule to make it happen, so be it!
- Let go of the perfect image you might feel like you have to portray to the world. This one goes hand in hand with its predecessor. Let the crumbs be on the floor. Leave the stickers on the furniture. You only get motherhood once. Don’t spend it trying to hide traces of your kids’ childhood in your home or in the background of your zoom call where a shirtless toddler might pop into!
- Give others the benefit of the doubt and take anything with a grain of salt. Don’t take things so personally. Sometimes people talk just to fill air and they don’t mean anything by it. Or sometimes their reaction or words to you actually have nothing to do with you and everything to do with them.
- While you’re at it – don’t take anything too seriously. Nobody’s dying – and even if they are, still find the humor in life. Take it from someone who recently lost my best friend, my mamma after years and years and years of battling cancer. Laughter is everything.
- Learn your lesson. God, the universe, whatever your spiritual language is for the higher power – will continue to throw things at you to teach you until you learn your lesson. Pay attention, and don’t get hung up on the curve balls – let yourself feel the feels – and then shift that mindset.
- You are the queen and not a servant – that overwhelming to do list taking over your life and your house? Remember that your family is there to support you just as much as you’re there to support them. Now giddy up and divvy up your to do list among your team, your family, you name it. Let people serve you like the queen you are. And if you find yourself constantly battling those in your life to help you, hire professionals to do their thang for you. And if that’s not currently in the cards for you, put it on your vision board. You’ll see. It’ll happen.
- B-O-U-N-D-R-I-E-S – I just tried to sing that in my head to the tune of Respect by Aretha Franklin and that did NOT work. But that’s all you’re asking through your boundaries! Just a little respect! Just a little bit! (Get it? Now excuse me while I go turn off the song so I can stop dancing and keep writing this to you). The right people in your life will respect your boundaries. The ones who have problems with them you can simply let go of. But with love, give people a chance to treat you right by letting them know what’s cool with you, and what’s not.
- Give yourself a set schedule – Would you work for anyone else 24/7 without adequate returns and compensation? I hope the answer to that is no. Give yourself permission to have evenings and days off just like you’d hope to have from an awesome-paying job. Or however that might look for you.
- Surround yourself with your high-vibe-tribe – Leave the naysayers to the waysides. As you step up to the plate, your cheering crew should be surrounding you – not the peanut gallery. And at the same time, be open to constructive criticism from mentors who have been where you’d like to be – don’t let your ego keep you from growing into that better version of yourself that you are meant to be.
- Do your thing – Ultimately, it’s YOUR life. It’s YOUR career. It’s YOUR path to success. So … feel free to flip me the finger if what I just told you doesn’t work for you! If you love working 24/7 because it fuels you, by all means, DO IT! If you love to scrub your own kitchen spotless before your friends come over, by all means, DO IT! No judgment here – I’m just speaking to you with 100% love from one CEO Mom to another. Just do YOU.
