The Needful Thing!

Hi Ladies,

Do you get through a day and feel like you've been spinning your wheels? Can I just tell you that it has been like that in great measure this week and most especially today BECAUSE MY BABY WILL NOT SLEEP AND I CAN'T GET A BLESSED THING DONE. Did I mention this is causing me a bit of stress?

Because so much of our daily society is wrapped in go-go-go, we can tend to start strong and focused at the beginning of the week or day, only to end up putting out fires instead of focusing on what matters most for us at that particular time or point in our lives.

In Good to Great, a fabulous book by Jim Collins, he discusses what makes good companies into great companies. One concept he shared was about the flywheel--that as a company focuses on one major concept and turns the wheel (no matter how long it takes to make that one turn), they will continue to turn the wheel until it gets its own momentum. Then the wheel will take off in flight with hardly any effort.

I find the same thing for my time and energy. As you go through your week, remember the LIFEChange concept of one main goal a week. This keeps your focus on exactly what will move you forward in the thing that absolutely matters most to you during the week. When I lose sight of that and get mired in my 56th post-it note to myself, I realize that I'm really not getting much accomplished. What I'm spending my precious energy on is avoiding the reality of what needs to be done and feeling overwhelmed about the whole thing.

If you find yourself doing that same thing, stop and ask yourself, "What is the most needful thing this week? This day? This minute?" All day I have been fretting what to share for the LIFETip (actually all week, but it's been such a crazy week that I only was able to focus on and then avoid it for this morning...) Since I wasn't getting anything urgent accomplished I went with the day and spent a good portion of it playing with my children WHO WERE NOT SLEEPING (did I mention that?)

As I sat outside in the chair, enjoying the beautiful fall day (did I say PLAYING with my children? Okay, so I took a break and cheerleaded their bike riding from the side...), I of course had to still be productive so I brought out my 57th post it note and breathed a heavy sigh and said, What is the most needful thing to get done. And as I thought about it--I have about 257 things that could be done at any given moment--I honestly could not think of anything more necessary to do than to write this LIFETip. As soon as I saw that on the paper I realized, this is doable. And everything else sort of melted away.

Then at the same moment, miraculously, my baby started getting cranky and sleepy and shazam, she went down for a nap. My children came home from school, gave me loves and quick scoops (because snacks awaited) and then went off to build a fort. Unbelievably and unexpectedly I ended up with this time to myself, uninterrupted, with an easy flow of "Hey mom" while I am typing this LIFETip. All is right with the world.

So the point is to focus your energy on THE NEEDFUL THING. As you do that, everything else melts away for a moment in time, including your stress, and suddenly, the door opens.


All my best,
Connie Sokol
Mother of 6
Executive LIFECoach
President, LIFEChange
www.lifechangeprogram.com