CAPTURING THE NEXT BIG THING

When you become attuned to your own thoughts — which I see as the definition of awareness — you begin to notice that good ideas are an everyday occurrence. In fact, you have so many good ideas that you aren’t sure which one to start with. And here is my best advice: go with the idea that excites you the most.

Most of us have a habit of tackling our hardest tasks firsts. Some of us use the early morning to make ourselves do something that we don’t want to do, but believe that we should do. Some of us even have a habit of withholding self love until we complete our hardest task, as if love is something that has to be earned instead of enjoyed.

What if you abandoned all those limiting ideas and started with the thing that excited you the most? What would you eat first? What would you do first? What sort of energy would you create by tending to your own energy first?

That’s how I see work that excites me. It’s energy sustaining. It’s energy producing. It causes me to feel good, do good, and get a lot accomplished. It helps me have excess energy to accomplish life tasks that I don’t prefer. It helps me, in fact, get more done in a day that I once thought was possible.

Leaning into ideas that excite me used to scare me. I had this limiting belief that an idea that excited me would distract me, pull me off track, or slow me down. Turns out just the opposite is true. Any idea that excites me tends to get me back into my own spirit, helps me learn more about myself, and often causes me to speed up on my life goals, not slow down.

Here is how you could apply this: At the start of your day, sit and center yourself and then make a list of everything you could do today. Not should do. Could do. Empty your mind of all your ideas of what could be part of today. Once that list is created, peruse it. Notice where your eyes land. Notice what jumps out at you. Notice what on the list seems to cause the most excitement in you. Do that first.

Once you are done, come back to your “could do” list. Pick the next most exciting thing. Do that. Keep going and notice how much more energized you feel by selecting items that excite you, rather than working on a “should do” list.

“Should do” lists are nothing more than a collection of activities that we don’t want to do. You would be better served by calling the list: Things I don’t want to do but for some reason think I should. You would be far more authentic with that title, rather than calling it your “to do” list.

I broke up with my “should do” list and now operate from a “could do” list every day. It’s way more fun, more productive, and more soul inspiring.