The number one requirement for financial success (or success in anything for that matter) is simply this: You’ve got to be willing to be uncomfortable.
Anxiety, fear, worry, nervousness, resistance…all these are normal reactions to new situations.
Fear does not mean something’s wrong. Fear just means that you’re doing something different. And doing it differently is exactly what’s required to go to the next level.
So if its financial success you want, start looking for ways to be uncomfortable.
“Wanna make God laugh? Tell Her your plans”–anonymous
I haven’t blogged for 2 weeks. Hell, I haven’t done anything for 2 weeks. Except see the doctor. Who told me I had the flu…and to stay in bed.
What?? Stay in bed??? I had important things to do!!! I had a teleclass coming up. A retreat to market. A speech to write. An interview scheduled. Clients to coach. I had no time for the damn flu!!!
Yet here I am, still in bed, bemoaning my fate, but too weak to do anything.
Then my mind traveled back to my last visit with my daughter, the farmer, just last month.
The week I was there, the seedlings that Anna and others had started were sprouting. It was time to plant them in the fields. The baby chicks were now mature hens. It was time to move them to bigger quarters.
But nature had other plans. It poured. And rain was forecast for the next few days.
You can’t plant when it rains, Anna explained, because the wet fields are too fragile. And the ground was too wet to drive the truck to the other henhouse.
Here they were, all geared up to do both. I watched in awe at what happened next. No one got uptight. No one cursed nature. No teeth were mashing or hands wringing.
Instead, the farm owner shrugged his shoulders, and said: “Enjoy the down time.” (What a concept!)
We found other things to do. (I say ‘we’ because, by then, I’d been recruited into the workforce.) We cleaned the eggs. We did outreach. One woman made a delicious apple crisp. Another couple worked on a brochure. We had a scrumptious stir-fry, loaded with freshly picked veggies.
What really struck me: everyone seemed grounded in a deep sense of faith–a respect for nature’s timing, a deference to forces out of their control, a trust in a higher order–that was so strong, they were able to dispense with their plans, embrace the delays, go with the flow and enjoy the whole process….with nary a complaint.
As I remembered this scene, I immediately saw the lesson.
Instead of fighting the current, why don’t I just kick back and relish the ride…even if it feels like I’m going nowhere?
I’ve written so much about surrender in this blog (Sweet Surrender) I guess I thought it was a onetime event. But I’m beginning to see…. the Universe has its own sense of timing. Instead of trying to out-control the cosmos, I’m going to lie back, let life unfold, delight in the downtime and do what comes next. In this case, I think I’ll write a blog!
Surrender is NOT for sissies. Surrender, by definition, means relinquishing control…a frightening concept for us control freaks. Surrender drops you swiftly into a sea of uncertainty, at the mercy of your worst fears, producing serious doubts about ever being productive again. I’m speaking from experience here.
But, despite the discomfort, I’m fast becoming a fan. Something happened when I stopped struggling to impose my will and surrendered to receiving guidance–financial success started to feel like a spiritual journey.
Primitive cultures and Eastern Religions had rites and rituals to honor the Time- Between. They took their people out of the villages, into the wilderness, allowing them to connect with their spirit guides, reassess old ways of being, recognize their true purpose.
But no one teaches us, or even encourages, this practice any more.
So, for those of you wishing to take some time out in a rich and rewarding way, I bring you The Beginners Guide to Surrender ( so named because it’s written by a total beginner…me!). There’s no need to leave your village, or even your job. Just follow these 6 simple (though not easy) steps.
Step #1—Eliminate everything but the most essential.
I remember saying to my guy last winter, “I wish I could take the next month off!”
“Why don’t you?” he responded.
I gasped. Taking time off was unthinkable. Or was it? I decided to ease into it slowly, by saying ‘no’ to things that didn’t feed my soul, no matter how lucrative…or tempting. I said ‘no’ to speaking invitations, ‘no’ to networking opportunities, ‘no’ to new clients, ‘no’ to writing my newsletter and blog. If anyone asked, I was on sabbatical until further notice. I continued a little teaching and coaching, but only because I wanted to.
As a result I was left with a lot of down-time…which, of course, is the whole point.
But to many, down-time is a dirty word. And I know why: we’ll do anything to avoid the dreaded step two.
Coming up: Step #2—Allow uncomfortable feelings to surface.
