get specific
Imagine knowing that you want to make a meal for dinner but walking in to the market with no list and no idea what to cook.
You'd wander. Browse. Wait for inspiration to hit. Ask yourself what ingredients you already have and pick up those you don't. Maybe you'd stop mid-aisle to look up a recipe. Poke around. Hope you had everything. Linger.
Now imagine that same trip to the market with a list at the ready. Knowing exactly what recipe you're going to use. Having a clear, specific plan and collection of items to gather. You'd enter those sliding doors with a sense of clarity, purpose, direction. In and out. Zip zip zip. Momentum. Forward direction.
Keeping these two different scenarios in mind I invite you to consider: where in life are you operating (or rather NOT operating) without being specific? Where do things feel nebulous? Hard to pin down? Is it possible that you're not doing the thing you keep saying you want to be doing because the details aren't fleshed out?
To be clear, this isn't about making more lists. Heaven knows we don't need any more of 'em.
Quite often, though, I see amazing women wanting to create forward movement on a life step, an idea, a direction they'd like to head without a clear sense of what, exactly, that looks like.
And because it's unclear they end up not doing anything and feeling stuck.
For example, thinking about leaving your job and needing to save up enough "to cover my expenses" is much less actionable than, "I need to save up $3742".
"I want to create more space in my life!" has no edges, no clarity - it's the equivalent of wandering the aisles with no idea what to buy.
Alternatively, "I want to wake up 5 minutes early every day so I can have some quiet time before the kids get up," IS specific, clear, and an idea that can easily become an experiment to try out.
*** DISCLAIMER: Wandering the aisle in and of itself is NOT a problem. I'm a huge advocate of meandering, taking walks with no intention, letting our thinking settle and letting ourselves be quietly receptive for a moment of inspiration. I've made some great dinners as a result of wandering through the aisles!
Where I find this being more uncomfortable, though, is when there is a tension and a desire to do SOMETHING but without having the clarity around what all of the parts are.
Even something feeling based like, "I want to feel more confident" raises the question, "what, exactly, does that look like?" What would you be DOING if you were more confident? How would that look and show up in your life in a way that is clear and specific? If tomorrow you woke up and were "more confident", how would that shape your day in specific, clear ways?
"I want to make jewelry!". Cool! What kind? Where do you want to start? What would be the very first piece you'd want to try and make? What materials do you need? Get specific. And then get cracking!
Helping you get super specific about YOUR idea is one of the foundational pieces of The Whiteboard Session Partnerships. Click here to learn more and apply for a chat.