Thus the heavens and the earth were finished, and all the host of them. And on the seventh day God ended his work which he had made; and he rested on the seventh day from all his work which he had made. – Bible, Genesis, King James Version
Ed. note: Original Sin is an construct of the Catholic religion, which deems that children are born with sin, thus the sacrament of Baptism, which clears the nasties and sets them right. Plus the adults get to have a party and celebrate the glorious birth.
We Puritans haven’t always had the best models for working with ease. After all, the big holy Dude himself, Lord God Almightiest, seemingly worked his ass off when he created heaven and earth. Okay, maybe day one’s task, “Let there be light” isn’t a twelve hour day – it’s hard to know. Yet in that amazingly creative week, God took one day off. One of seven.
A recent article in Fast Company makes the case for the 21 hour work week. Perhaps it’s finally time to admit that technology hasn’t necessarily achieved its idealized goal of creating more leisure time – and finally take action about it. Guess what? There is actually a case to be made that shorter work weeks are more economical, BESIDES more sanity, spirituality and creativity-engendering.
Here is an excerpt:
The NEF argues we need to achieve truly happy lives; we need to challenge social norms and reset the industrial clock ticking in our heads. It sees the 21-hour week as integral to this for two reasons: it will redistribute paid work, offering the hope of a more equal society (right now too many are overworked, or underemployed). At the same time, it would give us all time for the things we value but rarely have time to do well such as care for our family, travel, read or continue learning (as opposed to feeding consumerism).
When you work in and on your own business, the list of things to create and do can seem as daunting as creating a universe. It’s so easy to overwork. It’s easy to always feel behind and to set unrealistic expectations. That can lead to cranky, resentful, and off target workers who are not present. You’d then be off resonance with the law of attraction’s opportunities, never mind those you work and play with.
TIPS FOR THE 21 HOUR WORK WEEK MINDSET
Soul-inspired business owners (SIBOs) and creative professionals can easily land in the trap of overwork. Even when you are aiming toward working with ease, there could be that sense of needing to climb mountains first, before the slide into the fabled ease valley.
For some of my hard working clients, the core limiting belief is not far off – e.g., of being flawed and trying to make up for it, or to unconsciously attempt to prove their worth through their overwork. I know this one too. CUT! How about we try on this framework?
You are in the perfect place right now. Want better fitness, partner, and income? Right – AND you are perfect as you are. There is always an edge of becoming – Abraham calls this Contrast, and suggests you appreciate the gap.
Your being is a great gift on the planet, and there is no TO DO that changes that or enhances that. It is enough and it is wondrous. (If that is hard to believe or rankles you, try the core belief process to investigate the particular limiting belief that may be operating for you. Or use it when you feel you just HAVE TO put another few hours in…)
PRACTICAL TIPS
Realistic planning can elude many creative professionals – after all, there is so much possibility you see. Staying focused on what is most important takes dedication and clarity.
In the last article, I reviewed Peter Bregman’s productivity book 18 Minutes. I’ll repeat one of his suggestions here: Pick 5 things for the year to focus on – 3 for work, 2 for the personal area. See that all of your daily actions relate to those.
Other ideas for realistic planning: Choose 2-3 projects for the next 3 months / per quarter. At the start of the week, and the end of the day, plan the actions you’ll next work on, and actually plug them into the corresponding hour of that day’s schedule.
Finally, before you check email or social media, work on the Most Important Thing first. It’s already in your schedule at this point, so give it 45 minutes, and make some progress. That’s a great way to start the day.
MAGICAL TIPS
In your subscription gift, Four Keys to Healthy Wealth, key one describes the practice of indentifying the “higher quality” your desire would bring to you. Before you attract this reality, you can magnetize it by embodying that quality – doing things that allow you to experience the quality now. This can be so helpful. When you do the inner magnetizing work before starting the hands on work, it often makes creating your desire easier. Check it out.
And it can redirect you right quick too, if you’re working too hard or doing something else that undermines attaining your desire. For example, what higher quality will the result of my work bring me? Ease, joy. Engaged peace. Right away it’s a no brainer to see that working too hard – yep. Defeating my purpose, isn’t it?
I stand corrected, reset, renewed, lovingly chastised, doh!, and grateful for the turn around.
Soul Savvy bottom line: The new paradigm of work and money is being created as we speak. That starts with the energy of your work day. No doubt you’ll need to push your edge in many courageous ways. Too driven in terms of hours and scheduling? Try injecting ease now with realistic planning and prioritizing. Even before that, magnetize. I’ll be experimenting too – let’s keep in touch how it goes.
Yours in prosperity, passion, AND ease,
Denise
PS Do you struggle with this too? Or, are you already a master of working with ease? Let’s tawk! Comment below.
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Denise, I love this post. Hail sanity! It’s easy to forget in our culture that THIS is your life–this day. This is it. We don’t know what’s coming tomorrow, we don’t have to. I believe we can create the kind of days we want and gradually let go of needing to create that perfect outcome in the future through overly sacrificing in the present. What outcome is going to be better than enjoying the day we have?
I’m not suggesting that we forgo hard work for the things we want, love, care about…There’s a lot of satisfaction in that. But balance is a lovely friend…
It’s true that balance might not be that impressive sometimes to the adoring public. It might mean that you live in a small place (like I do) or drive an older car (like I do). Maybe when people see that, they see something less than success. What they don’t see is that I get outside to walk pretty much every day, have time to spend time in my body with dance, Pilates and yoga, get a reasonable amount of sleep, have a daily meditation practice, have a daily Reiki self-practice and do work that is meaningful to me. I feel sane and happy and satisfied with my life most days. In the career-driven world of Washington, DC, I can also feel like something of an underachiever. But I’ve learned that doesn’t need to shape my days. At the end of my life, I think I’m going to be happy about all those hours I spent walking down the street, just looking at the plants in people’s yards and not accomplishing a dang thing I can put on a resume.
Hey Dorothy ~ Love it. I was just thinking here, as a new client comes and sees my elegant yet humble home office, this enables me to avoid the thousands of dollars of overhead some have. And yes, on these woods floors, great movement work has occurred (besides me, lol). Cars, yes, my first money & biz teacher drove a beater, said Hey, cars aren’t my thing. So refreshing – give me dance class any day. And we may look like underachievers, and still have some under earning even to clear – yet look at that sparkle in the eye. Ahhhh. Thanks for your wisdom, and for shining the light in DC dear heart.