Are You Ready to Stop Tolerating? Here’s How.

I went on a beautiful walk last week filled with sunshine, fresh air, and the delightful scents of Springtime. It was a glorious day and while I traipsed along through the melting snow I couldn’t help but notice one very specific thing:

There was an irritating pebble inside my boot.

Yup it’s true. I almost let a tiny stone derail my wonderful little journey.

How I Handled It

At first the pebble was background noise. Soon though the noise grew louder until it became an all-consuming focus.

Next my indignation kicked in. How did the pebble even get in there? What is wrong with these boots? Why are there even pebbles on this road? How annoying!

(You read that right. I was annoyed there were pebbles outdoors.)

I then tried kicking my boot against ground to move the pebble out from under my foot. It didn’t work. It was firmly planted under the tender flesh of my right midsole.

So I kept walking. I pushed on in an attempt to ignore it away. But with every step the small stone dug in even further.

Until it hit me:

I was willing to do anything but stop and do the ONE thing that was guaranteed to work:

Stop. Take off my boot. Remove said pebble.

In the 10 minutes since the walk began I had chosen to ignore, tolerate, get mad, resist, procrastinate, complain, and waste energy on half-assed solutions – all so I didn’t have to spend the 2 minutes dealing with the pebble directly.

I was so focused on where I wanted to go, so determined to tolerate the pain at the expense of my peace of mind, and so attached to my preferred experience (i.e. not stopping) that I nearly missed out on enjoying myself.

Can you relate?

The good news is that after realizing just how much I was avoiding the obvious solution, I stopped, laughed, and removed the tiny nuisance. My foot and psyche felt instant relief.

A Helpful Reminder

Clearly I am working toward a metaphor here (as a life coach I can’t possibly resist).

You see, I believe that how we do one thing is how we do everything. So I continued my walk pondering these questions:

What else am I tolerating that could be easily resolved if I was willing to stop and deal with it directly?

How much time and energy am I wasting by not managing the figurative pebbles in my life?

Since asking these questions I’ve uncovered a few more areas in my life where I was pushing so hard to tolerate I couldn’t see the obvious solutions:

Instead of waiting for the “ideal conditions” to meditate every day, I am now pausing to breath for a few moments when the thought surfaces.

Instead of waiting until I can plan a big vacation I am now planning short, local excursions to scratch my travel itch – and actively planning bigger trips into my schedule.

Instead of ignoring my frustrations with a member of my support team I listened to my intuition and found someone new that is doing far better work, far more efficiently.

How about you?

Do you have a “pebble” in your shoe that is slowly grinding away at your energy, patience, and enjoyment of life?

Many of my clients have been tolerating the stress and anxiety of overwhelm, overwork, and over-doing for years.

Not having enough time in your schedule to really focus on your health, your family, and what you love about life – is a pretty big pebble.

Pausing – just a little bit – to design a solution that works for you is one of the paradoxical truths of time management.

You have to be willing to take the time to create more time.

This means:

• Becoming aware of what you are tolerating and the impact it is having
  
• Stop pushing yourself to “figure it out” while moving at 100 mph
• Making yourself and your enjoyment of life a priority

The challenge is that the pebbles only gets bigger and more painful the longer you resist doing something about it. Avoiding discomfort can be a very uncomfortable place.

Are You Ready to Stop Tolerating?

What would life feel like if you decided to no longer tolerate the stress and overwhelm from having too little time everyday?

How much more focus, energy, and creativity would you be able to tap into?

What if it was possible to remove this time-crunch pebble from your shoe without more stress and overwhelm?

This is exactly the goal of my new Time Transformation Group Program. Enrollment is open now through March 31st.

Discover how to:

• Create a time system that actually works for you and your brain.
  
• Reconnecting with that part of yourself that anchors you in the whirlwind of life.
• Dive deep beneath your time management systems and release the overwhelm, resistance, and self-defeating behaviors that are holding you back from the peace of mind you crave.

You will receive private and group coaching, a complete home study course and a few other bonuses. Limited spots available. Click here to grab your spot today.