The pull of the Water Element is beginning to reveal itself and the phase of Metal is asking you to let go of everything and anything that you no longer need before Water begins.
If you allow yourself the opportunity you can feel that the body and mind both want to slow down. Aside from the craziness that can be the holiday season, there is a heavy energy that wants to settle in to your life.
One would normally associate winter with the end. Everything goes dormant there isn’t a lot of life. You would think that Spring and the Wood Element are when it all starts but the cycle always begins with Water.
In the dead of winter you are reborn. You have direct access to the Universe/God/Divine/Higher-self (fill in the blank with what feels good) and through that you can align with your authenticity, integrity and your purpose more easily than at any other time.
BUT,
you have to create the space to hear it, to feel it, to have it move through you.
Having been privy to many successful entrepreneurs and writers behind the scenes process there is one common factor that all of them have.
They all have created the space (physical and mental and emotional) to allow ideas and their creativity to come forward. It’s not like they have an amazing idea every single day but they have more than most people because they have created this time for themselves to just be.
AND YES, this is a luxury.
But just for a second check your objections to the side, You know the ones, they’re screaming at you right now. “you have kids” “you have a full time job” “There is so much to do” “You don’t know my life.”
And consider, that there is still a place where you can create a bit of this space for yourself.
I’m not saying you need to avoid your responsibilities, but there are simple ways you can create space and time right now. And by doing that you are opening yourself up to a creative potential that can solve all of your objections and still provide you more time than you ever thought possible.
Because Creativity isn’t linear and it enters an entirely different time-space continuum that provides a spaciousness that is virtually indescribable.
At the Qoya Intensive retreat I was at a few weeks ago, it was like time opened up. Each day we learned, processed and integrated so much the running joke was that each day felt like we did a month’s worth of work. Our 7 days by the end was referred to as “our 7 years of Menla”.
My point being, that creating space for self gives back to you ten fold. It may be uncomfortable in the beginning but once your heart and soul get a chance to come through it’s magical.
So let’s do this, today we’re discussing your Mental Bandwidth. Because nothing gets done until you have some room to think.
The reality is, we only have so much mental bandwidth to go around.
And it gets cluttered with belief, tasks, chores, comparison and overwhelm really fast.
Utilizing the peak of the Metal Element and what it does best in helping us to let go, this the PERFECT time to begin to clear your bandwidth and make room for your desires.
Don’t worry if you don’t know what those are just yet. First you just have to create the space to allow them to come through.
Personally I think most of us try to do too much at one time when it comes to clearing clutter and shortening our lists, trying to focus on too many things only leads us to just not doing it at all. So I want to show you how to do this really easily and faster than you ever thought possible.
Three Steps: Brain Dump / Delegate / One Task
1. Brain Dump:
First you need to BRAIN DUMP every single item that needs to be cleared out. Chores, Cleaning, Emails that you need to write, Projects at work. EVERYTHING. Write it down in one big list.
2. Delegate:
Then, DELEGATE as much of this as you can, look at your brain dump and identify at least 3 things minimum on this list that somebody else can do. For those of you that do everything yourself, delegating might feel really uncomfortable but that only means that this is a necessary step you. Bonus points for Delegating your entire list!
Kids, Husband, House Cleaner, junior associate, assistant. Doesn’t matter who you choose, as long as you’re not the only one doing these tasks
You don’t need to do everything yourself.
There is immense power in delegation, as simple as your kids do their own laundry, your husband cleans up after dinner. Your mom handles one school pick up so that you can have an afternoon to yourself. Same goes for tasks at your job, of course you can do but your time is better spent somewhere else and that’s what assistants, associates and interns are for.
Allow yourself to get creative here, you don’t know what’s possible until you ask.
3. One Task:
Next, likely some of the remaining items are things regarding your household and others are about work.
I shared this next step in a post last year, on planning your next day, you can check it out here but the secret to getting lots done is to choose just ONE TASK the HAS to get done per day.
So if you have home life and work life happening on the same day you can choose TWO things, one that has to get done at home and one that has to get done at work.
It may sound simplistic or too easy or that you’re not going to get enough done in the day BUT it’s actually the opposite.
Choose your ONE TASK, it might need to be broken down even further if so do that first. Then devote your time and energy to this task and this task only. This means, no Facebook, no emails, no interruptions until it’s done. I’m SERIOUS!
When we prioritize and bring our focus on to one task, we do this task better and more efficiently. BECAUSE, even though we say we’re masters of multi-tasking, we’re actually not. Also when we have accomplished something to it’s completion we feel amazing and we are ready to move to the next one. Typically I’ve completed my One Task by 10:00 am which leaves me lots of time in the day to be even more productive.
If time permits you can do a bonus task, where you can devote your attention to it completely or there are times when accomplishing your one task is enough and you can do something else. Read a book, take a nap, or have room to dream.
Your Time, Your Choice.
In the comments, I want to hear what was something that you delegated and something that you accomplished today to help clear your Mental Bandwidth.
XO
Photo Credit @stefanmakwanaphotography
