This post was provided by The GOOD Fest.
Spoiler alert: We’re only halfway through 2020 and I’m about to set my day planner on fire.
As an event producer, I’ve always held tight to my meticulously organized planner full of lists and checkboxes as a hard-earned badge of honor; my I am productive, efficient, successful, and oh so busy nametag. I’ve also been known to keep a full, list-filled planner as a nostalgic reminder of just how much I’ve accomplished, whom all I’ve connected with, and how far I’ve come professionally.
In the wake of COVID-19, however, the once socially savvy planner in me has evolved into a flaky, messy introvert trying to make sense of the piles and piles of random lists never to be completed. The global disruption and dismantling of personal, professional, and social lives has (at least for me) put into question every single thing I jot down and cross off as a means to fuel a “successful” identity.
Now, I don’t need to exhaust the many ways our professional lives have been turned upside down. We’re all living this nightmare together. What I do want to share is rather personal. I’ve been thinking quite a lot about what it really means to be busy during this Great Pause. I’ve been utilizing this forced quiet to go inward and evaluate my attachment to busyness. As a business owner, I’ve always led with an informed heart, and the lessons I’ve learned in the first half of this year alone are sure to pave the way for my company’s next chapter.
If this is the only list I keep from the year 2020, so be it.
Get Honest - Get quiet and ask yourself the tough questions. What’s important? What needs to go? What is essential? What is dead weight? Allow yourself the grace to be brutally honest. Pretty simple, yet not at all.
Get Clear - Now that we’ve gotten real with ourselves, it’s time to get clear. As in, clear out the clutter. Perhaps even leave the bulging planner at home. Getting clear takes willingness, discipline, and focus. I’m even finding that it’s a daily practice. I have to choose a clear mind because I’m so used to operating with a multi-tasking monkey mind. Clarity, I can attest, is not overrated.
Let Go - Here’s where things start to get exciting. Clutter and baggage have now been addressed and recognized. Time to kick it to the curb. Let it go. Ask it to leave. Allow it to die. Wave goodbye if you must. Just don’t look back.
Create Space - Ah, things are beginning to feel lighter, more open. Relish in this. Spread out, explore the new space. Yell out loud and hear your voice echo. Who knew you had this much capacity?
Lean In - With this newfound clarity and space, allow yourself to get intimate with all the things you processed during #1. What is essential, not only in your business, but also in the way you approach your business, how you balance that with your personal life, your self-worth. Allow yourself to run around in the clearing of unnecessary clutter and lean right on into the pieces and parts that truly do light you up from the inside.
Disclaimer: I’m not encouraging you to ignore the harsh realities that 2020 have brought to our work and home lives; dealing with current reality is, in many ways, essential. However, if you are taking the time to read this (thank you, btw!) you have the time to sit still for one minute, to close your eyes and turn off the outside noise, to remember just how remarkable it is that you are living and breathing.
Sidebar: If you’re like me and you lost nearly 100% of your business in a matter of weeks, it can feel daunting to try and think positively. But guess what—positive thinking is contagious! So put on your mask, take a deep breath and let yourself remember what joy feels like—then, lean into THAT.
Meet Yourself - Once you tap into that limitless well of all you know you are capable of, invite yourself out for a date and then, show up! Go take a look in the mirror. Say hello to the most special, most deserving person in your life. Promise that person that you’ll show up today, not so much on a to-do list but rather as a present witness. Simply be here. Be here now. Show up to show yourself just how important you are.
Calmly Proceed - Confession: I have considered wearing a helmet as I’m legitimately concerned that the sky is going to fall at any moment…who knows what will happen in the second half of this remarkably challenging, gut-wrenching, and eye-opening year?! I can tell you—absolutely no one. We have no idea what’s next and perhaps there’s the beauty. The calendar, my friends, is free and wide open. You now have the headspace and the gravitas to move forward in a way that will best support your career, your team, your clients, and most importantly, yourself.
In all honesty, I can’t wait to get my new planner for 2021 (some habits never die), and I’m looking forward to filling the pages, not with an abundance of meetings on meetings and lists on lists, but with a bounty of GOOD things that fuel the best parts of what’s truly most important to me. Something tells me that’ll keep my busy heart happy.
About the Author
Laura Kate Whitney is in the business of spreading good vibes. As Chief Experience Officer of The GOOD Fest, she brings her passion for connecting like-minded women together for empowering experiences in cities across the country. When she’s not behind the scenes of a perfectly executed event, she can be found teaching yoga, paddle boarding, or singing favorite songs at the top of her lungs with two incredible boys that call her Mom.
