You know how when the house is clean you feel somehow freed up and renewed? Or that great feeling when you purge old clothes and stuff from your life?
Our businesses need that kind of clearing to be healthy too. But it’s not just about catching up on filing or clearing off your desk. It’s about reducing energetic drags… the things that get in the way of innovation, creativity, and courage to take big leaps.
I’m on a big jag to clean up my life and business. Something came over me. Maybe it’s something in the stars. A friend told me today’s eclipse is all about letting go of big things that are holding you back.
Or maybe it’s just that I’m tired of feeling tired. I’m done with that! So I’m cleaning up my act in every corner and cranny of my life and biz.
Last weekend, my husband and I cleaned out our garage (our storage unit really). We did a lot of recycling, shredded old documents, cleared out the stuff from our mother’s passing and moves, passed forward things others need that we don’t any longer, and took stock of what we still have.
I felt like a huge weight was lifted off me with one project. And I’m ready to get back even more energy.
Reduce. Reuse. Recycle. Release. Receive.
How does this relate to your coaching business?
In 1997 when I took my coaching training from Coach U (now Coach Inc.), Thomas Leonard taught us about “tolerations” – that long and growing list of things we put up with day to day that drains our energy and sucks the joy out of life.
It’s stuff like:
- Old worn out obligations that don’t align with who we are anymore.
- Piles of clutter and the detritus of a fast-paced consumer based life.
- Relationships that aren’t current and need a touch.
- Things we’ve been meaning to change about ourselves.
- Chores that desperately need doing that keep getting forced down the list.
In the most insidious way, tolerations get in the way of true creativity, innovation, and the ability to complete things. Getting rid of them helps you play a bigger game, with a bounce in your step and sparkle in your eye.
Like a clogged drain, tolerations can slow the flow of prosperity – your ability to receive the true joys of life, your financial success, and the deep meaning in your business.
Ready to lighten your load and your step? Take the 90 Day More Joy & Prosperity Challenge.
The way to tackle tolerations is simple, but you do have to dedicate time to it. Start by scanning these categories of your life. You may have your own categories too.
Environment – clean up and repair your household, your office, your car.
Relationships – get current, clear the air, touch base, endings and beginnings.
Finances – know your net worth, accounts, stocks, make plans.
Business/Career – shift what’s not working, improve mindsets, make plans.
Health – catch up on checkups, renew fitness & good diet habits, plan vacations.
Spirit – renew daily practices, worship or meditate more, get back to nature, slow down/reduce time commitments, be at choice.
Here’s the challenge:
- Scan your categories and make an exhaustive list of all the things that are bugging you.
- Go through the list and pick off the things you can take care of quickly. It feels good to get a bunch of them crossed off and gives you immediate energy.
- Then look at the rest and rank them this way – Get it done, Delegate it / Hire it out, or Forget about it! That last one is about releasing the hold the toleration has on you and crossing it off your list forever. It’s an option to admit and accept what is.
- Give the big stuff a done-by date and put it in your calendar.
- Enlist the help of your family or friends. Divide up the list and band together to get the big things done. Make a party out of it.
Share your thoughts and some of the biggies on your list in the comments.
- What do you know you’re tolerating?
- What has that cost you?
- What will it do for you to be free from your big tolerations?
- And what are your tips for reducing energy drainers & joy suckers?
