28: Transform Your Life By Letting Go Of These 3 Simple Words

So, life over this past couple of weeks has been challenging.  I’m not going to sugar coat it.  Having the kids at home every single hour of the day.  Keeping my business moving forward.  Studying and home schooling. Are you kidding me?

I’m confident most of you can relate.  Many of us, have had to adjust to a new normal.  Navigating these choppy waters to try and find somewhere calm has been a challenge.   I can assure you I am still seeking the smooth sailing.  I have had moments of it for sure.  Moments when I’ve accepted that I’m in uncharted territory and moments when I have been in complete rebellion.  Letting go of the helm, despite the choppy waters because quite frankly in the moment it has all felt too hard.

So, how do we sail through these challenging waters?

How do we get our work done and still be present for the kids?  How do we home school our kids if we have never done it before and manage all the other day to day tasks that we were already doing?

Well, let me let you in on a little secret.  Let me uncover the three little words that are the biggest dream killer.

So often when we are faced with a challenge, we say these 3 little seemingly innocent words that stops us dead in our tracks.

It doesn’t even have to be something hard it can simply be something you haven’t done before.

It might look something like this.  You are faced with working from home with the kids.  In your mind and I’m sure others would agree with you.  It seems like a challenging task.  You normally work for 8 hours without your kids.  Now you have to do it with your kids and home school them at the same time.

How will you do it?

And then you say it.

I don’t know.

Seems legit, yeah?

Three innocent little words.

I don’t know.

It’s something you’ve never done before, others agree.  Yes, it looks like an impossible task.

But just like a light switch, bam you just turned your creative power off.  You have shut off your brain to possibility and problem solving.

Saying ‘I don’t know’ is such a dream killer.

I can hear you questioning; but Meaghan I really don’t know.  I’ve never home-schooled my kids before.  Now somehow, I have to do that and try to do my job from home simultaneously.  I really don’t know.

Well here is the thing, words are very powerful my friend.  When you say I don’t know you tell your brain to turn off, so it does.

This is too hard, I don’t know.  Let’s go back in the cave and hibernate until spring or in our case, in the modern world:  let’s watch Netflix and have another glass of wine and while we’re at it, eat the whole bag of chips because I don’t know and eating and drinking and watching Netflix is so much easier.

Yeah, you feel me?

But what if you did know?

What if you did know how to work from home, be with the kids and supervise home schooling, what would that look like?

I don’t know is the one thing I don’t let my clients say because it is so poisonous.  I used to hear kids say it all the time when I was teaching.

Now of course, there are thing you don’t know in terms of knowledge or a skill set.  For instance, I don’t know how to fly a plane.  I don’t know how to perform an autopsy or operate on someone.  Not sure why that was the first thing that came to mind but there you go.  I’m not referring to this use of the meaning I don’t know.

The thing is we use these words far too often and we unintentionally cut ourselves off from the most powerful creative machine on the planet that is, our brain.

So, when faced with something new or anything really, when you feel yourself going to say I don’t know here is what to do instead.

Ask yourself: if I did know how to do it, what would I do?

Boom!

So freaking powerful.

I say it to my kids and my clients all the time.

If you did know, what would you do?

Now if you’re really caught up in the unknown you can take it a step further and ask yourself: well even if I was just to take a guess, what would I do?

What you have done for yourself there is one, you have switched your brain on.  You have put your brain to work to find the answer for you. And two, by adding in that lovely little word ‘guess’ you have allowed for space to figure it out and to be wrong, right?

When we are just taking a guess, we open up the opportunity for answers because we create more space for not needing the right answer because it is just a guess.

Ladies, this if life changing stuff right here.  If you eliminate those 3 little words from your vocabulary I think you will be pleasantly surprised the solutions you can come up with.

Let’s be real here.  So often when we say we don’t know, it’s not true, because we do know.  We just might not like the answer.  On the other hand, it is a lot easier to stay in confusion because then we don’t have to do anything.  It might not get us the results that we want but if keeps us in our comfort zone.  Even if our comfort zone doesn’t feel very comfortable it is familiar.

Are you feeling me?  We need to stop lying to ourselves.  We do know.  We have all the answers.  We just have to let our brains go to work for us.

So, if you’re a hot mess right now, trying to navigate this new life you have; try asking yourself:  What if I did know?

If I did know how to get my work done and look after the kids, what would that look like?

If I did know exactly what to do right now, what would that be?

Allow yourself to work it out.  Allow your brain to go to work for you.

Personally, this has helped me so much over the past few weeks.  Some days have felt like a total sh*t show in my brain and others have worked really well.

I’m learning new ways to work from home with the kids.  Some things I try don’t work and that’s okay.   Some things do.  But by asking myself question about how I can do it and looking for solutions helps me move forward.

Telling myself I don’t know is a dead-end, a full stop.

So from this moment in time make a promise to yourself to never say I don’t know again.

You do know.

Now figure it out!

If you want to take this work deeper and explore the thoughts you have and what they are creating in your life email me at Meaghan@moneymindful.com.au to book a free consultation.

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