A couple of weeks ago I asked myself my nightly question. “Am I holding my personal power each day?”
I wasn’t.
I’d been living in respond mode in my business. Reacting. Answering whatever showed up, when it showed up. My days filled up fast, and I called that busy.
I know how to design. I’ve used my personal power to design my personal life. I made choices and built it on purpose. But I haven’t brought that same power to my business. I held it back, and my energy went to whatever was in front of me. That’s reacting. It builds nothing.
So I’m making a shift, and it comes with a simple test. At any point in the day, I can ask myself one question: am I responding or reacting right now, or am I designing?
Here’s what a reacting day looks like.
A couple of weeks ago, I found water on the floor of my basement laundry room. The pipes were leaking. Our house is 100 years old, so repairs are part of life. My husband can’t help the way he once did, so most of it falls on me.
The plumber came, and I worked right alongside him. I cleared an entire storage closet: all the extra serving pieces, platters, and large cooking vessels. Everything had been leaked on. He fixed the pipes. The repair made a huge mess, and I spent most of that day starting the cleanup.
That day was entirely responding and reacting. I held my power that day. I took responsibility for my stuff. I just didn’t get to my intentions, my design.
Responding when life calls for it is part of living. When reacting becomes my default, I don’t even notice that I’ve stopped setting intentions to design my day.
Here’s what a designing day looks like.
Last week, I set an intention to start using what I’m learning in my AI classes. I got started on creating photos and graphics. I made two images I’m happy with: me as Mrs. Claus and me as the Snow Queen. So much fun! I’ll use them in my Black Friday and holiday promotions.
Nobody asked me to make them. No emergency required them. I chose it, and I did it.
Here’s how I make that happen. Most nights, I close out my day with a reflection. Sometimes I write it. Sometimes I say it out loud. Sometimes I say it silently in my head. I ask myself: Did I hold my personal power? Or did I hand it over to someone else instead of taking responsibility for my stuff?
After a day like the plumbing day, when life was life-ing, and I went far afield from what I intended, I revisit my original intentions for the day. Sometimes they become tomorrow’s intentions. Sometimes they wait until they fit my energy again.
Then I set my intentions for the next workday, so I know exactly where to start when I sit down at my desk. Some mornings, new ideas come while I’m writing my morning pages. When they do, I adjust the plan, my design for my day.
Here’s how I know when it’s working. When I look back at a day and it’s a blur, I know I spent it reacting. A day I designed is one I can describe. I can tell you what I set out to do and what I did.
That’s how I’m holding myself accountable now. I’m asking whether I designed my day, not whether I was busy.
What about you? Think about yesterday. Was it a blur, or can you tell me about the day you designed?
Find your happy. Love what you do. Make a difference.