The human side of business

Big Life

Over Everything.

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"Essentialism isn’t about getting more done in less time, it’s about getting only the right things done." From The Essentialist.

Over committed.
Over extended.
Over burdened.
Over invested.
Over stretched.
Over achieving.
Over done.
Over wrought.
Over selling.
Over reacting.
Over board.

These cycles can happen to the best of us. We get onto a freeway going the speed limit, and within weeks or months find ourselves on the Autobahn. 60MPH becomes 90MPH. Soon there’s no off ramp, because you’re so embedded in what you think you “have” to do, you forget where you’re even going. Soon, the hobbies and extras disappear from life – an hour of email on a Sunday turns into six. Work feels like it’s got you on a leash – you can bark or you can get pulled – but unhooking never crosses your mind. Whether we get addicted to feeling needed and necessary, or find ourselves drowned in “passion” projects that steel precious life real estate, or engage with clients who need more than they can pay for, there’s no good reason to feel busted at the seams. Correction – there is a good reason – and that reason is to see the ultimate failure in it, and to get your life back. It’s what Essentialist author Greg McKeown calls “protecting the asset.” That asset is you.

Yes, there’s so much to do.
Yes, you have so much potential!
Yes, they need you and want you and are likely better for having you.
But without you, there’s no to-do, potential, client, product, message…

This book came at the right time for me. If you find yourself over delivering, over and over, and sitting at your desk at some point feeling over it, it’s time to read this big little life saver.

I know, #Overkill. But truth.

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  • Join me in conversation today with @libertyforher at 1pm EST for #mentormonday. Talking about the future of small business, how to know when you don’t know, with a Q and A at the end. #entrepreneurship #womeninbusiness #community RSVP www.libertyforher.com/liberty-calendar
  • A good day to celebrate 48! #hbdtome🎉 #aliveandwell
  • Today, I got down on my knees and did something I’m slightly ashamed to say… I haven’t done in a very long time. I cleaned all the floors in my house. I scrubbed the corners of the bathrooms, the places that no one sees until they look too closely. I scoured the kitchen, edge to edge. It is a privilege (under normal circumstances) to be able to outsource this work. At the same time, it was on my knees that felt right on this day. On one’s knees there is humility. It’s the way we pray; it’s where we play with our babies, and where we come to understand what vulnerability really means. It’s often where we cry. There’s something about being close to the ground, the earth. The act of lowering our bodies also lowers our walls, our egos, our pride. Once, when I was in India, I saw something that I still think of often. I was sitting in the courtyard of a shrine, an open square surrounded by an ancient wall whose center housed a divine Hindi god. There are hundreds like them. Thousands of people, of all socioeconomic groups, were making their way in and out. The very, very poor – shoeless, toothless, penniless – stood alongside the very rich, with expensive watches and waiting drivers. Some were moving slowly, others in a rush. Worship, in India is a daily devotional practice – a stop on the way to work as much as a holy family outing. I watched as throngs of people poured out of every doorway, walking briskly past the others who had prostrated themselves in front of the structure itself – some, kneeling, noses down, others laid out on their bellies, arms outstretched in supplication. This chaotic scene plays out often there – to the curiosity of Westerners who can’t imagine ourselves face down in our own sacred venues – which might be church for some, or a concert for others. A young man, maybe 20-years old, in his rush to leave, inadvertently stepped on the arm of an elder woman still in the process of worship. With her face down buried into the stone, she most certainly felt the injury – it was the full weight of his body on her frail wrist. But she didn’t move. (Cont. in comments)
  • A very happy 10th birthday to this lil stinker. Have a feeling we’ll remember this one. #hbd #noparty #morecake
  • I can’t remember the last time… I had time. When I wasn’t in a hurry. When I wasn’t doing two, three, even four things – at once. This is unprecedented. Perhaps even sacred. Strangely, I’m now beginning to realize how upset I’ve been at never having enough… Hours…..Space…..Width…..Depth. We, as a culture, know so little about staying in one place. About settling in. About being quiet, within the quiet, in the soft corners of our interiors. We talk about it. But how much do we embody it? Our footprints are on everything, even while we talk about stillness. Our minds are everywhere, even as we preach about mindfulness. Yet, there are some of us – many of us I’m learning – who see the gift in this (undoubtedly) finite moment. We are doing things we haven’t had time to do in years. Our schedules are empty, and one thing doesn’t have to be sacrificed for another, because the day just got a lot longer. We aren’t checking the box, we’re climbing out of it – even as we’re confined to it. For the first time in a long while, we can hear ourselves think. Yes, the thoughts are scary, uncertain, confronting and even bleak at times. We see suffering, and fear. But somewhere, deep inside, is that relief I also feel? A regeneration is happening. What can we learn? What can be birthed – in all this space? What closure – within us, around us – has been forced, that needs to take hold? I hope this time can and will mean something. Because unequivocally, we are getting a message, if we’re willing to hear it. Could this be the beginning of everything that needs to be next? I’m going to let it come. And then, let it roar. I want to be ready for something precious and bold. I want this to be the time… we didn’t go back to that. We have some change to make. #covid_19

About

SMARTY began as a thriving community in Los Angeles and Boston with weekly panel discussions and events designed to better understand the mindset and growth strategies behind successful entrepreneurs. Today, SMARTY is a weekly blog written by Amy Swift Crosby who chronicles her life as a creative, parent, entrepreneur and spiritual seeker. As an urban refugee living in a New England seaside village, she unpacks topics ranging from uncertainty and doubt to the built environment and advertising. More on Amy.

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