#459 When to question yourself (and when to stop)

Intentional living is about reminding yourself of what’s most important to you.

Reminding yourself that you can choose to be a writer, a runner, a musician, an artist, or a bon vivant.

Reminding yourself that you can choose to be kind to others.

Reminding yourself that you have a choice to act differently.

Reminding yourself that the past does not equal the future.

Reminding yourself that this, too, shall pass.

Reminding yourself that at any given moment, whatever reminder you need the most, you likely won’t think of yourself.

Reminding yourself that for this reason, it’s OK to get help and let someone else remind you with short daily notes.

And me, reminding myself that the act of writing daily reminders for you is the reminder I need to remember that I do, in fact, choose to be consistent, and I choose to be a writer.

Reminders upon reminders upon reminders that we will constantly get distracted, and we will always have the choice to come back to what truly matters.

Most people don’t see why you’re taking time out of your busy day to sit down and write until the book you were working on every day lies in front of them.

They don’t see why you run every day and eat clean until you set a personal best at the next marathon.

They don’t see the new product you’re working on until it’s developed so far that it helps them achieve their goals.

You’re the only one who sees the method to your madness.

And that’s fine.

Because you probably don’t see the method to their madness either.

“Write 3 pages of Stream of Consciousness journaling.”

“Coming up with 100 things to be grateful about.”

“Publish a daily insight.”

My initial reaction, and maybe yours, is, “That’s so much.”

And that’s exactly the point.

It IS a lot.

But actually, it isn’t.

And when you try it out, and see that it isn’t, you’ve shattered the illusion of scarcity and discovered abundance.

Maybe we humans are wired to believe in scarcity and fighting over sparse food.

And while that may serve us well, in many endeavors, there’s much more abundance than we think.

If your gut reaction was, “That’s so much,” I invite you to try it out.

Write down what the voice in your head talks about for 3 entire pages.

Write down 100 things you’re grateful for.

Challenge the scarcity mindset.

There may well be abundance on the other side.

You feel bad because you don’t write.

And when you write, you feel bad because you’re scared of the inevitable day you stop writing.

That’s how you create a self-improvement prison.

And that prison has only one way out.

Intend to do what’s good for you.

Then realize that even if you don’t live up to that standard all the time, you’re still worthy of self-love and self-trust.

Focus on intention, not outcome.

Focus on cultivating elastic discipline rather than on becoming a habit hardliner.

Focus on the general direction of your life, not a day-by-day judgment of your every action.

Maintain a majority vote for who you want to be.

Realize you’re not going to be perfect today – and being perfect isn’t the goal anyway.