How we do one thing is how we do everything | SHW #13

Hey friends,

Lately I’ve been experiencing a ton of resistance and uncertainty around my full-time job. I’ve been in this mental state of coasting through it for several months now and it hasn’t felt very good. As nice as coasting sounds (getting paid for minimal effort sounds amazing, right?) I really do not enjoy the feeling of it.

I’m the kind of person that loves being all in on the experience. Even though I’m technically doing less work and expending less energy, showing up in a passive way completely drains me. It impacts everything in my life, including my creativity. I’ve been feeling very unmotivated to draw and create and I wasn’t able to pinpoint exactly what was going on.

This week, I was on a group call with my coach and someone else brought up that they were experiencing similar feelings with their job. My coach said something I’ve heard her say before, but this time it hit me in a different way:

How you do one thing is how you do everything.

If you’re coasting away in your job, something that takes up about a third of your time each day, then you’re probably going to be coasting through other areas of your life and not seeing the results you want. If you unblock yourself in your job, other things will likely follow suit.

That really got me thinking about how I’ve mentally put my software engineering career on hold. I thought that would provide me more freedom and energy to pour into my art, but it’s had the opposite effect. I’ve built a habit of giving half an effort and it’s evident everywhere, not just in my job.

These are my plans for resolving this issue moving forward:

1. Take stock of my energy and where it’s going. What are the things I’ve been doing that I truly love? What are the things I’ve been doing that frustrate me and drain my energy? How can I eliminate or change those things so they’re less frustrating? Set clear expectations and boundaries.
2. Develop a vision for my career and business for the next 3 years. For now, I’ve decided to stay employed while I build my business on the side, so I might as well figure out a way to make the experience as enjoyable and fulfilling as possible.
3. Make an actionable plan for turning my vision into reality, commit, and execute.

I recently finished reading the book The 12 Week Year, and have started implementing the strategies outlined in it. I’ve been following it for a few of my personal goals for the past couple of weeks and it’s been such a game-changer in keeping me focused.

One of my key take-aways from the book was that when we’re not achieving our goals, we often blame the strategy we followed, our circumstances, or the goal itself. However, more often than not, there’s nothing wrong with our strategy or plan.

The reason we fail is because we’re not consistently executing. The system the writers share is designed to help you make a reasonable plan and then hold yourself accountable on the actual execution. So far it’s been working really well for me!

I invite you to take stock of your energy as well. Is there a part of your life where you feel you’re not showing up as your best self? How is that impacting your energy and goals in other areas of your life?

I’d love to hear your thoughts! Feel free to respond directly to this message or leave a comment below 💙

All my love,

Rachel