I love to plan. Seems like I am always planning something. When I plan it helps me enjoy each step along the way to that all important goal, to truly appreciate the defining moments along the way. Like most of us, I often find myself dealing with unpredictable events that cause me to make changes to my plan. Things happen. We adjust.
However, what is even more disconcerting is when the actual goal itself changes. When your heart just isn’t in it anymore; when every step is a struggle to move forward toward a goal that is seemingly more and more unattainable. Your well thought out plan is not producing the results you hoped for. What do you do then?
Try opening your mind to new possibilities. Here’s what I mean.
A priority in my business in which I was putting a tremendous amount of energy just wasn’t producing the results I expected. I knew in my heart something wasn’t quite right. Another idea had begun to take shape that I was excited about, but I struggled with the stress of a self-limiting, internal conversation called “either/or thinking” – things have to be either this way or that. There is no thought of something in between or an option that included a new version both.
After opening up to a few trusted advisors, I discovered there was a real possibility of the latter, a new version both. When I became more open-minded about what the final goal could look like, I began to see opportunities and resources that were right in front of me. The energy started to flow again. Time for a new plan.
Sometimes being open-minded begins with listening to your own heart, your “Voice of Wisdom”, that inner guide that always has your best interests at heart. How do you know you are listening to your authentic “Voice of Wisdom” and not just being pulled off track by a shiny object?
Your Voice of Wisdom has specific qualities. It has a gentle good humor about yourself or the situation. It is compassionate with a generosity of spirit. It is spacious, your heart relaxes. It speaks softly with a sense that “All is well”.
Joanna Gaines in a recent issue of Magnolia Magazine wrote “Our hearts are often the first to notice when our priorities are a little off, when the things we care most deeply for have started to shift.”
Slowing down in order to listen to your heart, your inner Voice of Wisdom, will result in personal and professional success never achieved by even the best plan that is pushing you through to a goal that has lost it’s meaning in your life.
