In the last couple weeks, I’ve been putting in a strong effort to change my mindset and self-care habits. As a business owner and mother of three, I often feel like I’m reactive to everything.. which sometimes makes me resent my family (and the time I have available to work) or business or even my clients – not cool.
To combat this, I’ve been working on daily journaling and making a conscious effort to “set my intentions” for the day.
In addition to the mindset work, I’ve recently raised my prices and taken on larger clients and I’m makin’ moves for some serious business scaling.
Yet, with more focus on the self-work and the work-work, I can feel myself slipping in other areas, like missing out on my daily workouts, planning out my family meals or even picking up around the house.. and that hasn’t felt good.
I was reading through old journal entries and one entry was a reflection to the effect of “what if it’s never enough”?
What if I finally hit my income goals and I’m not satisfied. What if it’s never enough?
When I started out as a freelancer (extra emphasis on the FREE), I thought “I only need 3K a month” and I’ll be happy.
Then I hit that initial goal of $3K months (way faster than I thought I would) and it became “I only need $6K a month” and I’ll be happy.
And so goes the cycle. Now that I’ve got my eyes set on consistently profiting $10K then $20K per month and beyond, I found myself starting to think again “when will it be enough? Is it enough when we are totally debt free? Will it be enough when I’ve purchased 10 income properties? Will it be enough when I have “X” followers on Instagram? Why can’t it just be enough?”
And I’ve realized… what I’m really asking is when will I BE enough? This self-acceptance thing is big. In fact it’s key to satisfaction (and growth) in all areas of your life.
I finally made it to the gym this morning and was able to join my “gym girls” in a round of “The Murph” workout.
We were breathlessly trying to keep up with weight room chatter and the conversation came up, “When do you decide to go into fitness maintenance mode? How will I decide that I am fit enough? Does that happen?”
Again. This theme of enough-ness.
As humans, we have a limited amount of time on this Earth. Being enough is a conscious decision that we GET to make.
It doesn’t mean you’re done working out.
Future me isn’t going to look in the mirror and admire my six-pack and say “Ok, cool. I’ve hit my goal. I can go back to eating cheetos and drinking beer.”
No. I’m going to keep working.
We get to make the choice to appreciate our hard work in the moment and love ourselves and our businesses, and then continue the journey towards another goal.
The beauty lies in the challenges and the victories of accomplishment. The joy of life is intentionally choosing happy every day.
In talks with my mindset coach and business bestie, Jessica Eley, she consistently reminds me that this “mindset stuff” is simply a reframe of our thought processes.
Instead of “I will never be satisfied or feel like I’m doing enough. Why can’t I just… I need to do….”
I can instead focus on “I am so blessed to be in a position to grow and evolve my entire life.” or “I am enough and I’m so thankful that I GET to keep expanding my goals, and I’m enjoying and trusting the process.”
You don’t have to feel crappy about yourself for wanting more. And you also don’t have to be bummed that you’re not there yet.
Of course you’re not going to want to stay at $3,000 per month of income when you’ve mastered the skills and processes necessary at that level. You’re going to learn new skills. You’re going to gain confidence, and you’re going to be able to charge more with more confidence.
Same goes for fitness.. of course you’re going to feel driven to work towards 30 pushups when you can already do 20 easily.
As an entrepreneur (or athlete if we’re sticking with that theme) who’s used to testing and expanding their boundaries, of course you’re going to be driven and want more – but that doesn’t have to be a negative.
You GET to try new things. You GET to love your business and yourself in the moment. It’s when you’re at 2K months and feeling bad that you’re not currently at $20K months that it becomes a problem. Instead, focus on the fact that you GET to grow your business in a way that feels good, while being appreciative of your unique journey in the moment.
You are enough exactly as you are. You can know that you are exactly where you are supposed to be, while also understanding that doesn’t mean you need to stay there.. you can find “enough-ness” and be proud of where you are while still working towards what you want next.
It’s about enjoying the process and the challenges and having gratitude for the moment. It’s about loving yourself first and being thankful that you have the skills to keep expanding and the willpower and persistence to persevere.
To your success,
Allie
