Take The Easy Way out
Today I want to give you some unpopular advice.
I want you to consider taking the easy way out.
I know you were told to "just keep trying", "just keep pushing", "you can do it," and "never give up"... But who said things have to be so hard all the time? And more importantly, what if you could achieve the same (or better!) results by doing things the easy way?
Sneak peek of what’s inside this episode:
The best lesson that potty training taught me [6:37]
Your mindset in a time where things are very uncertain [12:09]
The best lesson potty training has taught me
There is no chapter of my life that could drive this lesson home better than potty training. A while back, my husband and I decided we'd go at it full-speed. We read the book that said "there's no halfway" and "your child is definitely ready if…" and "if you don't tackle this now, start saving for therapy." It was time.
Spoiler alert: it did NOT go well. We had tears, tantrums, accidents galore. We took one step forward and a hundred steps back.
But we couldn't give up, because we were told to push forward and just try harder! The resounding advice we heard was "keep going!!!!" So we did. For months and months. But it turns out, that you can only find yourself kneeling over the toilet scrubbing fecal matter out of so many pairs of pants before you look at your spouse and say, "What the actual F%CK are we doing?"
"None of it mattered, and it felt so important at the time. I can't even tell you how stressed out we felt about this. So our insistence on doing things a certain way was not only stubborn and inefficient, it was ultimately a waste of time and it was a waste of energy."
I don't know if it was the biohazard, or the constant battles with our kid that drove the point home, but in an instant, it dawned on us that what we were doing was insane. Every moment of family time had become consumed by potty training. Our lives completely revolved around the toilet. We had a potty in our TRUNK for crying out loud. It was crazy, but we became so stuck in our belief that things HAD to be a certain way, we never looked up long enough to realize we were ramming into a dead end.
So we stopped. We slapped a pull-up on her, dropped it all, and moved on with our lives. Then our kid had the last laugh when one day, she simply took herself to the potty and the rest was history.
The best part was, in the scheme of things, none of it freaking mattered. It felt SO important at the time... but it wasn't. Our insistence on doing things a certain way was not only stubborn and inefficient, it was ultimately a waste of time and a waste of energy.
The best mindset to adopt when things are uncertain
Now back to you. We're at a moment in history we'll surely be telling our kids & grandkids about for years to come. People are using words like "unprecedented" and "uncertain". Your life is almost certainly upside down in at least one area. If you're a parent, you've got kids at home who aren't normally up in your business (literally) 24/7. You just became a teacher and that ain't a job you signed up for.
So my question is, how do you want this to be for you?
Maybe you are feeling totally wonky. Or maybe you are more motivated than ever to attack your business dreams, your child's education, or your junk drawer. No matter where you are at, I am here to say it's all okay. Any feeling or reaction you are having is an okay one.
In times like these, it's important to conserve our energy. To pace ourselves. To avoid spiraling out of control as we try to control too much.
"Any reaction that you're having right now is an okay one. I don't think there's one right way to feel about this. And in times like these, it's really important to conserve our energy to pace yourselves."
So I'm here to offer you the path of least resistance -- whatever that looks like for you.
You can follow a homeschooling lesson plan with your kids… or you can pop a favorite educational app on the iPad.
You can figure out how to craft an offer that "keeps you relevant" during the Coronavirus chaos… or you can rest for a minute and turn the computer off.
You can make your kids a daily schedule and post it for all to follow… or you can simply commit to getting outside 2 times a day for family walks.
You can hop on more discovery calls with your extra time at home… or you can try your hand at latte art.
You can cook family meals… or you can support your local restaurants with take-out orders.
You can spend this time doing laundry and organizing clothes… or you can avoid the daily clothing battle and let your kids stay in pajamas.
ALL of these options are good options -- not just the ones that seem like "hard work". So forge ahead when you get a surge of motivation… But have the self-awareness to recognize when you might be paddling upstream.
Have the courage and the faith to stop paddling and let the current take you for a little bit. There's no medal for doing things the hard way. Don't be like me, kneeling over the toilet 100 poopy pants deep, before you get this through your head.
Take the easy way out.
It's right there, waiting for you.
So what's one "easy way out" you can take today? I'm going to close my computer now and watch a Facebook livestream from the Cincinnati zoo with my kiddo.
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