Today’s Task: Sleep in and create space for receiving
I literally just made a short video about this post and realized that I didn’t even get the right day correct. Whoever sees this from Instagram will know. But to be honest, I think one of the most powerful things we can do as entrepreneurs is make mistakes. Fail forward, as one of my old professors in planning used to say.
Today was a pretty awesome day, all in all. I was so gung ho about getting to the pool to swim laps to allow my brain to rest and process all the information and things that I have to do, and then when I realized it was pitch black outside, all my body said was ‘rest’. So I did, after listening to a 20-minute meditation video from Bob Proctor. His abundance meditation is one of my favorites, but you already know that if you started this from the beginning of this 30-Day Challenge.
I was sorely disappointed when five minutes into the video, and ad popped up. It’s so counterproductive to the purpose of a meditation video to place an ad in the middle. I was thinking to myself as I pushed the “Skip Ads” button in the corner that someone, somewhere in the world, was making a business decision. And they were looking at the numbers, evaluating how many more millions of dollars they might earn if they added an additional ad to this video that’s been played 2.9M times already. Imagine getting $.05 for every play. That’s $145K. I have no idea if that’s even on par with what people are getting paid from YouTube ads, but even as a guess that still seems like a lot of money. I’ve only just started the process of getting to monetization myself, but still…that’s a lot of money. Especially for a video that’s designed to be played for 30 days in a row.
But back to today’s task. Literally sleeping is your #1 goal. This may push its way into tomorrow, since you might be reading this at night. Or put it on your list somewhere, that in the next 21 days you’ll plan to sleep in. It’s different than not setting an alarm in my opinion, for the same reason that yesterday I wrote about changing your plans. Not setting an alarm is a PLAN to rest. Sleeping in typically has the connotation that it WASN’T part of the plan. And that’s the beauty of it. It’s more intuitive, and a response to what your body needs in that moment.
Speaking of intuition, I had the great fortune to speak with a woman today who leverages her intuition as part of her coaching work with clients. It was quite literally a magical conversation. From the first surprise of being treated to coffee to sharing a container of zinnia seeds that just so happened to be this person’s favorite flower. Too many synchronicities. I just know that our paths were meant to cross. And it feels lovely!
There’s something really special about the ability to receive. Today I received a free coffee. Receiving is not something that you can technically plan for. It’s is often spontaneous and unexpected. I’ve been trying to create more energetic exchanges in my life that come from a place of generosity, inspired by an individual I’ve been spending time with who embodies it on a soul level. Their level of generosity is almost overwhelming. Rather than being hard on myself about not being able to always match it, I’m learning to take it in as a demonstration of how much I have to grow in that area of my life, and how much potential I have.
When you think about farming as a profession, it becomes a constant push and pull and give and take with Mother Nature. She provides for us in so many ways, and we have to be willing to receive all that she gives – however little or great it might be. One of the ways that we create greater equilibrium with nature is by taking care of it. By tending to the soil, paying attention to what the plants or animals that we’re working with want, and responding in kind. And in doing so, it’s my belief that we will receive that which we invest.
I remember about a year ago I had a conversation with a good friend from Nicaragua who told me about how in his religious upbringing there was the expectation that you should give away 10% of what you had to others, in some form, even if it wasn’t monetary. In his circumstance at the time, 10% of what he earned went back to his family in Nicaragua, to help them build a new home. The rest of what he earned he could do what he wanted with it.
When I think about giving in the context of personal and business finances, it reminds me of the power that we have to set up different containers for ourselves based on our goals. There’s general recommendations of how much you should save and invest and how much you should spend on housing as a percentage of your income, but when it comes down to it, every person’s budget tends to be like a fingerprint – unique to them and their desires around the lifestyle they want to live.
I learned early on that I wanted to live well below my means (as in on much less money than I make) because I love to travel so much, and having a buffer for emergencies greatly reduces my daily stress levels. But I’ve always been inspired by people who put 15% of their income towards education, even as adults, or 10% of their profits towards a good cause. I plan on making sure that all of my business efforts give back in a meaningful way as a social enterprise. And that my team is paid well for what they do and supported in all of who they are as humans.
I want to create the workplace that I always wanted just out of college. The cool thing is, it’s not all about me DOING. It’s also about asking for help. Recognizing when I can’t do it alone or when someone else can do something more efficiently than myself. It’s about creating the OPPORTUNITY for someone to assist. And that, fortunately or unfortunately, often requires vulnerability.
This is where seeing change in our own identity becomes a practice. Practice, practice, practice.
Exhibiting our weaknesses is not something that comes naturally to others. In fact, for most people we equate vulnerability with some other experience from our childhood. And then we continue to live out the pain of that moment every time we’re asked to show a side of ourselves we may not be proud of.
I love talking about this particular topic and am hoping to share it with farmers as part of a 12-week program starting in January next year. It’s been on my mind and in the works for a couple of years now. But I think the process of birthing this program required a different version of myself to lead it than the person who attempted to about 10 months ago. Someone who is a bit more confident in the delivery and overall project management and administration. Someone who understands more about positioning this work as complimentary to existing training programs out there for farmers.
Stay tuned for more. There will be details in the coming months, if not weeks!
Anyways, good luck with today’s task. I wish I had more specific advice for how to create space for receiving, but I think that’s going to be on you to journal about or ponder when you have a moment to yourself.
Your Reflection Questions For Today:
What does it look like to make space to receive in my life, right now? What needs to change or get out of the way for me to have this space? What’s blocking the thing that wants to come through?
