I know we’re weary. When we’re weary, it’s hard to find the capacity to do anything extra. But what if when we’re weary is exactly the time to do those extra things? Not just any extra things, but ones carefully chosen to energize us.
Part of why we’re weary right now is not because we’re doing too much but because we’re doing too little. Not enough of the things that bring us joy. We may even be doing less than we could do, within the admittedly constrained range of possibilities before us one year into a pandemic.
People are motivated by action. We are energized by successfully achieving goals. We are empowered by a sense of agency. Mastery and momentum build our motivation. And I am confident that many of these things are still available to us even when some tools have been removed from our toolbox, and even when we are tired. It’s when we most need them.
So today, I invite you to identify one thing you could do to up your game. Not in a guilt-inducing, “one more should on the to-do list” way, but in a “I’m going to rock this!” kind of way.
It doesn’t have to be a big thing. My recent small thing this weekend was purchasing a new piece of equipment that’s going to make my online meeting facilitation smoother and figuring out how to install it with only limited help from my more tech savvy family members. Sometimes it is a bigger thing, which for me involved enrolling four years ago in a business growth program in Australia and recently surpassing the goal I had set for myself at that time.
Whatever “getting better at something” looks like for you right now, upping your game is energizing. And we need that boost.
I am writing this post on International Women’s Day and want to make sure to showcase two remarkable groups of women that encourage me to level up. One of the reasons I got involved in Thought Leaders Business School was because of the tagline, “be inspired by the company you keep.” The dynamic women in that program who are increasingly becoming more known for what they know consistently inspire me to play a bigger and better game.
The other group is the crew you see here. These are the inspiring women I’m helping to raise. They impress me and bring me hope and make me laugh and drive me to do and be better. I trust each of has people in your life that are an inspiration to you and to whom you can be an inspiration. There’s no better reason I can think of to up your game.
(And because I don’t think Tatum would appreciate the above picture, here’s a better one: )
