Fasten your seat belts: it’s a topic many of us like to avoid. I know. I’m one of the avoiders.
Especially in these last two weeks of August when Summer is having its last hurrah and we know Fall will be here soon, we cling to “where the livin’ is easy” as the old song goes. Summertime tends to stave it off, whereas Fall brings it in spades.
The topic is precision and commitment.
As we finish the months that invite spacious, free, exuberant, and celebratory ways of being, fall calls forth something more empowering. In fact, if we want to lead ~ and the world needs women leaders right now ~ we will recognize the call at some point to give our work the attention it deserves.
And whatever work is deserving of your attention will require precision that is honed and definitive.
Precision is the fuel that makes things happen quickly. The more precise a decision, the more power it has. The more power it has the more resistance will come up. Precision is risky and requires vulnerability because it comes before a commitment. And along with a commitment comes the reality that it might fail.
I find that my resistance comes up in spades and a physical sense of avoidance arrives when I have to make a significant decision. I literally feel discomfort. Part of me knows that both intended and unintended results are going to follow when I’ve gotten precise about a decision. I have to be ready, damn what may!
One of my top 3 favorite books is The War of Art by Steven Pressfield. The entire book is about ways that resistance dresses up to distract us. Resistance is literally the enemy against our art.
To stave off resistance and step into what you know is worthy of pursuing, think about small and large ways you might be called to express precision this Fall.
It might be making a significant decision that will be visible to others or that you will announce.
It might be a behind-the-scenes decision about something you’re not going to do anymore, and the announcement will be behaved.
A prelude might be a feeling that the time has come, or that this shit’s gone on too long, or you’re bored or feel unstretched or too comfortable.
In my own world after taking chunks of spacious time this summer to assimilate a family situation and dive into a few new areas of study (the Sophia Century, the S-curve are two) I decided last week to offer another Women’s Retreat in the very late Fall. It will be available to six women, it will be virtual, and it will begin with an application process. I watched myself first avoid honing its details, but when I finally sat down to capture the decisions that had been emerging as right, I felt a surge of empowerment. My whole being is excited, focused … and planning!
Resistance is a grizzly bear that comes out of the woods every time we start to erect the campsite of our work! It has chased me down many times when I’ve begun to do something consequential. It takes courage and sometimes requires support to take a stand or make a decision. But if there’s something burning in us that we know is ours to do, precision is required. Movement itself is a win.
Precision-love does not always sound like love! But it is ~ especially when a coach like me can see the powerful contribution people around me can make with some focus and planning and yes … precision.
Reflection questions:
1. Thinking ahead, what commitment do you know is asking for your precision even if you’re not ready to enact the commitment yet?
2. Looking back, to what did you make a courageous commitment that overcame resistance and empowered you as a result?
3. What is the cleverest form of resistance that appears in your life?
4. Where do you really want to make some movement this Fall?
