Today is the second day I've challenged myself to get up early and get to work 8:00ish. I ain't gon lie. It's been hard. I probably shouldn't have stayed up watching one of my favorite television police shows, Castle, last night. I dozed half way through it. Despite the struggle, I am finding that I can get to work by 8am, okay 8:15, even with Highway 40 traffic congestion and I am not drained at the end of the day. Who knew!
Self discipline is something we have to work on every single day.
Folks envy those who have flexible work hours and can do whatever they want when they want. However, truth be told, you get pretty lazy unless you set goals for yourself. This morning I had to use my parent voice to rouse me from underneath those comfy sheets. This is where you intention has to be clear.
I've already put out into the Universe that I want to wake up every morning excited about my day. This doesn't just happen however. Each day I have to take conscious steps in that direction. With this in mind, I have adopted some guiding principles.
One of my guiding principles is to watch what I lend my strength to.
True, I work part-time for someone else right now. That might be the reason I need to be roused out of bed. Nevertheless, I am expected to show up to work and perform the job at an acceptable level. With burn outs has come wisdom. I've learned that I don't have to overachieve, especially when it's not what I ultimately want for my life. My strength is reserved for building an authentic worklife.
This insight didn't come without a struggle. I was told like many of you that as a Black woman I'd have to do everything better than my counterparts. This was reinforced in school where people of color had to be higher achievers and over achievers to get the same opportunities as others. For this reason, many of us don't feel worthy unless we work hard. However, even a strong work ethic becomes a dysfunction if you don't feel you are enough in and of yourself. The key is this, when you seek to live authentically, resources are attracted to you. Accept them as God's validation of you.
Another guiding principle is to do something to maximize my businesses every single day.
Fortunately, I've taken what I am gifted to do, talented at, and skilled to do and turned it into businesses. Nevertheless, my goal is profitability. This requires denouncing a hobby mentality.
I've mentioned already that I work part-time. It's for a staffing agency providing bookkeeping services for one of its clients. Well, my business Odyssey Administrative Services offers bookkeeping as well. A hobby mentality would accept doing the bookkeeping for someone else. However, my entrepreneurial spirit knows that the day will come when working for another company will no longer work for me. No pun intended. Staying conscious that this is merely a stepping stone keeps me ready for the shift. And trust, a shift is coming.
When you stand conscious and honoring of who you are, even in your work life, anything that is not on board is headed for a shift. Just because you've been traveling this highway of life for a long time doesn't mean that Life won't bring you to an exit. The exit might be to abandon one highway to travel a completely different one. Orrrrrrrr, it might be to follow the same highway but with a shift in perspective. There might be something redeemable, reinventable, in your current circumstances that will lead you to where you want to be. A practical example of this is, say, a temporary assignment is about to come to an end but the company still wants you to work for them. Rather than becoming an employee, your Wiser Self might lead you to negotiate an agreement to subcontract. Hello, it's been done before. Know this, when someone really truly wants you, they are willing to negotiate how you will provide the service.
