Do you have a back up plan lurking somewhere?
Is it propping you up?
Is it standing by your side, stroking your brow?
You can almost hear it whispering a creeping sleepiness that causes your ambition to get all snoozy and want to crawl back to bed and snuggle under the blankets.
You get comfortable. You stretch and yawn and pat your inflatable life raft reassuringly.
Yup, still full of air.
And so you drift off to sleep.
But listen!
ssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssssss…….
How do you expect to face the giant swells ahead of you in a life raft with a slow leak?
Your back up plan isn’t designed to hold your purpose.
It can’t possibly contain those wriggly, restless passions that keep you awake at night, snoring in your ear, stealing away that comfy blanket and squatting beligerently on your chest.
Your purpose needs ballast. Something weighty with a solid platform. How do you expect to surf tall and straight on a flaccid fall back that has had most of the air sucked out of it?
Your purpose wants room to accommodate others, those you can serve, inspire and encourage. How could you ever hope to shift them, move them, transport them, when your safe little boat has barely enough room in it for you?
No. You want to cross an ocean? You need a ship!
Never rely on your back up plan to house the monster that is the thing that you really want to do.
Because even if you hit that iceberg and go down in a watery blaze of glory, that little life boat will only get you so far. It may prevent you from freezing over in despair. It might rescue you from suffocating from failure.
But it sure as hell isn’t going to be enough to support the journey you really want to take. That you must make.
Are you clinging to your back up plan? Or are you focused on launching, maintaining, repairing and clinging deliriously to your ship?
I remember standing next to the diving block, staring down at the strong smelly pool water, and being scared out of my mind.
There was no way I was going to jump in.
I could see some of my school friends taking the leap next to me, but they were so much taller that me. (I’m only 5 feet tall now, imagine how small I was when I was 7 years old.) They were more experienced, had stronger arms…and besides I couldn’t stand getting water up my nose either.
I remember stepping up onto the block and the teacher cajoling me from the side of the pool. “Jump!” he cried out.
And then a thought occurred to me.
Ok, I’ll jump. But I’ll jump as close to the edge as I can, so I can hold on to the side of the pool. That way there’s no way that I’ll drown.
I closed my eyes and threw my tiny body off the diving block, aiming for the edge…
Next thing I knew I was being pulled from the water, a mouth filled with blood, while one of my precious little teeth floated away to the bottom of the pool.
That day I learnt some valuable lessons about leaping into the unknown.
- Lesson #1 : Expecting something dreadful to happen, usually makes it pretty damn certain that something dreadful is going to happen.
- Lesson #2: Forget your excuses – you don’t need to know how to swim to be free to jump. Just get the hang of floating first.
- Lesson #3: Ironically it’s safer to jump where the water is deepest.
- Lesson #3: Don’t half leap into something, thinking you have a back up plan when things go wrong. If you’re going to jump, just bloody well do it.
- Lesson #4: Have faith – because even if you have nothing to put under your pillow, the Tooth Fairy still rocks up. Awesome.
So tell me, what’s stopping you from jumping in at the deep end?
“One reason so few of us achieve what we truly want is that we never direct our focus; we never concentrate our power. Most people dabble their way through life, never deciding to master anything in particular.” ~ Anthony Robbins
Did you know that by the end of January, most people will have failed to keep most (if not all) of their New Year’s resolutions?
So what happens to all that excitement and burning motivation? Why do our great intentions fizzle out so easily?
Perhaps we aim too high. Or maybe the idea is there but the way just isn’t clear – so instead of just picking up and pointing ourselves in the right direction, we feel the fear and creep back to the squidgy spot we were before.
(And it’s still warm. Hmmm, sometimes it’s just more cosy to not have to change anything at all.)
But from my experience, there is one thing that can totally make or break how successful you are at maintaining the momentum of a new intention. continue reading…
Well, all I can say is finalmente.
It’s been almost three weeks since the birth of my little boy. Almost 21 days of soothing and rocking and holding and snuggling and swaddling, clutching at spare minutes of sleep and crisis-managing the occasional nappy FAIL.
But I am very pleased to confirm that he is truly scrumptious.
There is nothing more delicious than a newborn baby. There is a certain freshly-baked scent that barely lasts a day or two, but in those first hypnotic days it fills the room like a siren song. I’m sure it’s all part of the charm offensive…
I’m hooked. But I can now, with cast iron certainty, declare…never again.
Three kids?? Why, oh why did I start my blog three months before giving birth to baby three? What was I thinking? Why didn’t someone shake the hell out of me, slap my cheek in a kind of 30s movie style kinda way and say “For God’s sake woman, get a hold of yourself!”
Surely I was trying to do too much?
The truth is, you see, I have never been one to take it easy. If I start spinning a plate, I tend to say “What the hell, let’s spin twelve.” My imagination has always struggled to slow down and wait patiently for my circumstances to catch up, red-faced and puffing and apologising for the mess.
But despite the exhaustion and the guilt and the spinning spinning spinning, I wouldn’t have it any other way.
Because there is only NOW. continue reading…
If you read last week’s post about chickens, then you will know that the words we choose to describe ourselves can actually end up caging us in.
They are almost like spells. We can describe ourselves to everyone as “serious” and serious is how we behave. We can magically label ourselves as “broke” and funnily enough, not having enough money is what we experience. Depressed, uninspired, frustrated, tired, overworked, busy – it doesn’t matter if it’s real or not. It’s the spin you are putting on it.
It is within your power now to change your perspective on your situation. continue reading…
I love the work that Amanda and Jenn are doing at Kind Over Matter, a site dedicated to “Kind Acts, Inspirational Art & Kind Projects”. They produce a huge wealth of free craft ideas and beautifully designed printable cards, like the “Create Positive Change” picture, or this “Love Your Inner Wild Woman” poster -
But my favourite is definitely these beautiful handmade Fortune Cookies that you can print out and make yourself – complete with tiny fortunes (you could even fill them with your own messages.)
I only wish I had more rainy days here in Brisbane that would allow me to curl up and get crafty with my girls. Sadly I fear the youngest would only want to stick her fingers in the glue…*eternally cleaning up sigh*.
You can also admire their wonderful photography by joining their group on Flickr or follow them on Twitter @kindovermatter. Enjoy!
I love to start the week with something to meditate on – something that stirs up that little fire inside you and inspires a magnetic week, when you sense all the things you are wanting are coming that tiny bit closer to you…
So here on The Tiny Soprano, you will find Monday is now a day for motivation, for micromovements, meditation, for manifesting, for magic.
Today I’ve chosen a poem by Rumi. It symbolises the very essence of what this site and The Tiny Way is all about – from little things, big things grow. continue reading…
“What mankind wants is not talent; it is purpose.” ~ Edward G. Bulwer-Lytton.
There is a general consensus that talent alone does not make you a success. You also need application and the right kind of hard work. You need the skills to analyse the results you get, and the perseverence to continue where others give up. And luck, of course.
But is it really as simple as that?
I was moved to write this article in response to a Triiibes discussion I have been taking part in. One of my friends on this excellent forum was discussing the book Talent Is Overrated: What Really Separates World-Class Performers from Everybody Else
and the thoughtful, intelligent responses were very much in line with the consensus I described earlier.
But my perspective on this is quite a different one, and I’ll do my best to not make it too lengthy.
As a teenager I was considered Gifted and Talented. I attended a school based on academic selection, and very soon I discovered that I also had an unusually beautiful singing voice with operatic potential. continue reading…
Have you ever had the kind of day where everything just fell into place? Where you felt great, nothing seemed to phase you and everyone around you was on your side? The day flies by, stuff just gets done, and before you know it you’re falling into bed with a smile on your face, a little amazed at how easy it all was?
Or is it more like a struggle? Squeezing yourself into a space on the train that turns up late, resisting every call you have to make, staring at a blank computer screen or shouting at your kids? Another week of feeling too tired, too stressed, depressed and anxious.
Which “you” sounds more like you? continue reading…
For champion swimmer Michael Phelps, the difference between going home as the most successful Olympic swimmer of all time and going home as the guy who almost broke the record was a mere 0.01 of a second.
The difference between getting to hold the trophy and getting to stand and watch the guy holding up the trophy? One great shot. continue reading…
