Making the Essential Enjoyable & Easy
Making Monday
I've heard it said that how we feel on Mondays is one of the clearest indicators of life satisfaction. Here is a quick thought on how to make Monday—and every day—work better...
Coupling & Decoupling
When we stall out doing important and essential things, we can ask what the activity has become connected to that causes drag.
Or from what source of acceleration it has become disconnected.
In other words, we can consider what to couple the action with—or decoupled it from—to bring greater ease and enjoyment.
I could give specific examples from areas of my life and the lives of clients, including career and livelihood, relationships, health and wellness, and creative projects…
But I'll offer a summary observation from hundreds of examples.
When we get stuck or struggle to get started with something essential, the activity has gotten coupled with fear.
Or uncoupled from purpose.
Or both.
We fear failure or success. We fear inevitable changes and ripple effects. We fear the uncertainties and inadequacies that arise when doing work we deeply care about. We fear we are imposters. We fear exposure. We fear our power.
And we forget an essential action isn't just another “nice to do” or mundane chore.
We forget it is an expression of who and what we are. We forget it is the source of our well-being, meaning, satisfaction, self-expression, or joy—the very medium of our authenticity and significance.
But we can decouple and couple to get moving again.
Our fears are typically legitimate products of deep parts of ourselves concerned for our safety. These parts have our best interests at heart, but unfortunately use unhelpful means.
Decoupling fear from the essential activity is possible through cataloging our concerns and putting in place guardrails that reasonably honor them while still allowing forward movement.
Without these guardrails, the fearful parts just pull the brakes.
Coupling to purpose is a matter of consciously clarifying who we are, what we most care about, and who we serve.
When we remember this and see clearly how our actions express and manifest it, we tap into an energy, vigor, and speed that seems beyond the personal.
We find ourselves uncoupled from the stalled engine in the stockyard, hooked to a bullet train, rocketing to our destination.
Together, let's end the fight to change—
Delmar
