You're not resigning, you're recommitting

Hello, I'm Katie McManus, business strategist and leadership coach. Happy December 17th everyone. We are in the final two week stretch of this really bizarre year. That was 2021. I know we're going to have a lot of conversations in the next two weeks about what we're leaving behind and what we're committed to in the new year. And the whole coaching and personal development world is going to be in, in this flux. But I really want to talk about something that has been in the news for about six months now, and I don't think that's actually what's going on. Okay, so what's been in the news is this, this whole thing of the great resignation. Okay. People are quitting their jobs left, right and center and sometimes so much more than their jobs. We're seeing people like quitting decades long careers after this hellish last year and a half. Okay, I don't see that's what that as what is actually happening. Yes, people are resigning. Like that is, that is absolutely fact. I'm not disputing that. But I think that is a symptom of what is actually going on. And what I think is actually going on is that people are Marie conduing the crap out of their lives and they're realizing what they want to prioritize instead of this job or career that doesn't serve them anymore, that maybe prevents them from spending time and energy and attention on the things that do matter. And so what I'm calling this is the great Recommitment because what are we doing if we're, if we're just quitting stuff? We're recommitting to the things that really matter to us. I know I have done this personally. I have dialed back. You know, there are some friendships that I no longer have there. You know, it's just in the, the pandemic was a great excuse for that. It was really easy to just lose touch with people who we no longer serve each other anymore. As harsh as that might sound. There were hobbies and commitments and obligations that I am no longer bound to because it was really hard to be there and they were no longer giving me joy anyway. And of course, like, if I had had a job before this, you know, that wasn't my own company, I definitely would have quit it during this time. And I can't tell you how many of my clients started working with me in the last year and a half because they realized, holy shit, my job is so miserable. This is no longer what I want to do. I Need to start my own business. I need a life raft out of here. And their life rafts often became like, a really nice boat. Maybe not a yacht yet, but it's getting there. And so I wanted to talk about this concept. I think we all know Marie Kondo. And if you don't know Marine Kondo, she is the minimalist organizer, okay? She's out of Japan, I believe. And she has this philosophy that you go through all of your belongings and you hold everything in your hands, and if it sparks joy, then you keep it. And if it does not spark joy, if it makes you feel like, oh, like this reminds me of that time that really sucked, or I feel so guilty that I haven't used this thing. Or I bought this and I meant to wear it, but what a waste of money it is. You get rid of it. And you don't just get rid of it. You don't just chuck it. You actually thank the item. You say, thank you so much for being here. I'm going to pass you on to someone else who, who might need you. And depending on how good quality it is, and if it can be used by someone else, you either give it away or you throw it out anyway. We are doing this in our lives. We are doing this in our lives. It is not just those of us who are those in the world who are resigning from jobs who are doing this. And so I just wanted to come on here and talk about this and ask you, where are you doing in this, in your life? Like, what are the things that you have just cut out and what are the things that you still need to cut out? Because here's the thing. I work with my clients all day, every day, pretty much to help them design a business. Yes. But ultimately, that business is designed to support their ideal lifestyle. That ideal lifestyle is not creatable if you're still carrying baggage and obligations and friendships that don't serve. And weird feelings of guilt about having to do X, Y and Z in your life, they just don't fit. They don't belong. And here's where my. My approach is very holistic, okay? It addresses the whole life of my clients, is that, yes, we are building a successful, profitable business for them that supports that ideal life. And also throughout that work, there are things that no longer serve you in your life that will actively work against that greater goal. It's just. It is. It is the truth of. Of anything. If you're trying to transform your life, you have to transform your life. Or as they say in fleabag when she gets the awful haircut, like, you know, you can't ask a haircut to change your life. It's never going to happen. You have to just change your life. So what really matters to you? I know, I know. For me, I'm just gonna change the angle of my computer. This girl. Luna. Yes, you. Hi. This girl matters to me. She is my world. She runs my life. Oh, God, my cord is stuck. Ah. She runs my life. And I love it. It is just. That is my ideal life. To have my dog with me all the time. I plan on traveling with her. It's. Yeah. She keeps me accountable every single day. My work lights me up. My family, I have a new commitment to being closer to them because I've been away for so, so long on the other side of the country, and I am not wasting time on things that do not spark joy for me, that do not inspire me, that don't make me feel like I am working towards my greater goals. Okay? They just don't have any space in my life. And I fail at this a lot. Just so you know. I fail at this a lot. But when I keep coming back to it, that's where it makes a big difference. Because when you catch yourself falling into old patterns, that's just. That's just part of the journey of making your life different. Okay? Because soon you'll catch yourself before you do the old pattern. So here's what I want to ask you to do. And I wrote some things down to make. So here's what I want you to do. So here's. Here's what I've realized about making a success out of anything is that you need to implement the trifecta of success, which means that you need to spend your money, your time and your effort on it. Okay? So here's what I want you to do, is I'm going to look over the next two weeks. Just take some time and look at what you're hoping to accomplish in the new year and whatever it is. Maybe you want to get a motorcycle, maybe you want to start a business, Maybe you want to sell your house and get an RV and travel the country. Those things will only ever be successful if you invest and spend your money, your time and your efforts effort to make them work out. So what I want you to look at over the next two weeks is I want you to see where can you invest financially in this big dream or this goal or this passion project that you have for yourself. Maybe it's learning guitar, okay? So maybe you buy a nice guitar that you're going to really enjoy playing. And maybe you invest in lessons by a really fun, engaging teacher who's going to keep you motivated and really make the process enjoyable for you. You're also going to carve out time and you're going to carve it out before life gets in the way. Whatever this goal is, whatever you're hoping to accomplish, you cannot do it without committing the time to accomplish it. Jason Trifecta of success is an awesome thing. Thank you. I came up with it myself. Pat on the back. Thanks, Jason. Anyway, you have to set aside the time now. If you don't do it now, guess what's going to happen. Life is going to get in the way. And let me tell you something. It is easier to decide now what you're going to commit your time to than to try to. Marie Kondo your life in the middle of a busy week and try to get rid of stuff that are really pressing, that are getting in the way of you, of you committing your time there. So do it now. Carve out the time in your calendar for the rest of the year, whatever you're going to commit to. And I'm not talking like New Year's resolutions. I don't believe in that crap. The only time I had a successful New Year's resolution was when I decided that I was going to sleep eight to nine hours a night every single night. By the way, if you want a successful New Year's resolution that is going to change your life, that is the one you need to have. Literally that night I went to bed at 9pm and I went to bed at 9pm for the next six months and it was completely altering. Oh my God. I just can't even. I'll do a whole other live on that. It's. It's not sexy at all. Not sexy at all. It's not. And literally it is not sexy to get asked on a date and tell the guy, well, my bedtime is 9pm so we'll have to go to dinner at like 5 or 5:30 and then I have to be home at 8:30 so I can get to bed by 9. Not sexy at all. But I highly recommend it. But that's not what I'm talking about. We're not talking New Year's resolutions because you're not just trying to change your life for the next year. You're not just trying to add in like a weird hobby like going to a museum every single month. No, you are trying to make your life better. You're Trying to recommit to something that really, truly matters to you, whatever that is. Maybe it's creativity, maybe it's having freedom and flexibility. Maybe it's having more money so that you can have more influence and impact in the world. Commit to that in any which way you see fit, but commit to it. And finally, effort. Now, effort is the fuzzy one. Effort is the thing that is like, well, I put effort in. I do the things. I take action every day. And it's like, yeah, you take action every day. But is it the thing that is just outside your comfort zone that makes you really squeamish and worried and, like, uncomfortable to go and do it? Because that is the fucking thing that is going to actually make a difference, that nothing else. You can do bullshit paperwork and shuffle things around and you can do the same old workout that you've done for the last 10 years. None of that is going to work. The thing that is beyond your comfort level, that is probably even beyond your skill level at this point, is the thing that's going to make the biggest difference in whatever change you're hoping to make, in whatever recommitment you're going to make after you resign from whatever it is. That thing is going to move you leaps and bounds. And by the way, if you don't have the skill to do it, I hate to break it to you, but the only way to get the skill is to just go and do it already. Okay, so this is a short live this evening. Oh, Jason, such a great point. The right effort is different from all the effort. Yes, yes. And, and I want to be very specific also. Like, you can commit and spend your money and your time and your effort and all the wrong things. Okay. There's a reason why when I get on the phone with a prospective client and they don't seem like the right person, I don't have them. I don't ask them to be my client. I tell them, you know, I actually don't think this program is going to be good for you. I think you should go and check out this other thing or this resource or whatever, because you can. You can spend things. You can spend money and time and effort in the wrong things, and it's never going to work for you. And it's just going to create this story that you have about yourself that you sign up for shit and you pay for shit, and you never get anything out of it because you don't do the work. And how. How soul crushing is that? Anyway, so over the next two weeks, I want you to really sit down and assess what is the thing you're trying to make and in what ways are you going to commit your money, your time, and your effort. And I, I hate to call you out, but I know we all become freebie chasers at some point in our lives. I know I've been one. And if you're in the stage of being a freebie chaser, I say this with so much love, okay? I know you think you can do it on the cheap. I know you think you can do it yourself. I know you think you can do this, and I know you think you can do that. And you, like, you've created this whole argument for why you should never have to spend a dime on this. But let me tell you something about money. It is not just a piece of paper. It is not just something that gets you things in the world and that, like, you have to scrimp and save for stuff. Whatever. Money is energy. And I don't care what you believe in God, the great, divine, the universe. I. I just like talking about the universe. Whatever it is for you, it is paying attention. It's paying attention to how much energy you're putting into something. And money being just energy, spending money on something is a great declaration to the universe to say, hey, I'm dead serious about this. I'm putting my mouth, my money, where my mouth is, and this matters. I want to do something in this sphere, and this is where I'm going to invest it. So if you're not spending money on the thing that you're hoping to accomplish, and it doesn't have to be like, billions of dollars. It doesn't have to be something that breaks the bank, but it has to be something that has, you have some skills, skin in the game, okay? Because oftentimes when we, when we spend money on something, we make sure that we get our. Our return on investment. We put the effort in. We show up for the time to do the thing. When I was a child, my parents enrolled me into a Waldorf school for a few years because we lived in California, and the public school system there absolutely sucked. Absolutely sucked. Okay? But I love the Waldorf school. It was. It felt like going to summer camp every single day. It was very artistic, it was very creative. And I remember my parents, part of the requirements is you had to learn a musical instrument. And if you know me at all, you know that I can't carry a tune in a bucket. I'm not musical. I don't know music. I don't Know artists. I don't. I don't know names of songs, I don't know names of albums. Nothing. And then they handed me a violin, and they're like, you have to learn how to play this. And let me tell you, I didn't practice at all. I showed up for my lessons, and my poor teacher. My poor teacher. I know she just prayed every single year that I would call in sick to the recital because I only ever learned how to play Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star. That was all. That was the. The max amount of effort I was willing to put in. Okay, let me see, Jason, how many people have stretched their financial boundaries to have nicer house that makes them feel great, etc. I think it's the same with investing in yourself. A hundred percent. A hundred percent. Nicer houses, nicer cars. No one can afford a house or a car. Like, no one has that kind of cash just laying around. I mean, some people do, but not everyone. We find a way to make a deal and to work out a plan that we can have it. Yes. But anyway, so there's that, like, that. That has just, like, convoluted being forced to. I didn't have to pay anything because I was a child. All this stuff, there was no effort put in. Okay. Take me to an adult. Okay. I. I love knitting. I'm a big knitter. I haven't knitted in a long time, and I haven't. I've kind of fallen off the wagon because all my stuff is in California, and I don. Feel like buying all the supplies again. And yarn is really expensive, and I have a ton of yarn in California, and I'm just gonna wait until it arrives. You better bet. When I signed up for, like, knitting classes to teach me a new skill, because I paid the money and because I bought all the supplies and because I was invested, because it was something that I was really passionate about and I wanted to learn. I knew I could be good at if I just did it. I showed up and I did it, and I practiced, and then I made a sweater, and then I made another sweater, and then I made another sweater, and then all of a sudden, I'm just a sweater maker. And. And if you're gonna ask me to make you a sweater, no, I will not make you a sweater. It is a ridiculous amount of time. I don't do any kind of commission, so don't ask me to do that. But you see the difference, right? Like, the first one, I wasn't committed at all. I didn't really want to do it. And I didn't spend the money and I didn't put in the time, and I didn't put in the effort. Didn't work out. And in the second one, I'll have to, like, do one where I'm wearing one of the sweaters that I've knitted in my life. But it's. It's paid off, and I'm so proud of it. And I like. It's a skill that I'm, like, so happy that I have, and I get to share it with people if I really, really, really like them and love them. But I want you to differentiate. What is the thing that you feel like you should do that doesn't really light you up, but what's the thing that you really want to do and break down that investment of money, time, and effort? Okay. Anyway, Luna is chewing on something that she should not be chewing on. So I am going to go, and I hope you have a lovely weekend. I am going to be going live every single day for the rest of this year, and even after my Covid shot, even on Christmas, so. And my Covid booster, I have been vaccinated just for those of you. I don't want you freaking out and thinking I'm one of those people. Anyway, I hope you have a great weekend, and I will talk to you soon. Merry Christmas. Bye.