When Following Your Vision, Stick to the Plan
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When Following Your Vision, Stick to the Plan
...stay in the calling, beware of the distraction
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John C Maxwell once infamously said, “feed your faith, starve your fears” and anyone who’s ever fallen in love with pursuing their vision will tell you, this will be a constant practice throughout your life.
Following your intuition, creative gifts and calling will require a consistent dedication to seeing, believing and feeling what’s true to you at a soul level, even if you haven’t fully realized it yet into the material.
And the contrast between faith and fear is wildly different.
When you are in faith, you feel connected.
When you are in fear, you feel distracted.
In connection we can actually “feel” that what we are doing makes sense, even if we don’t know all of the pieces yet… even if we’re not sure how it’s all going to come together.
In fear we experience our mind being unprotected in some way… in doubt, untrusting of our decisions, confused or unclear… hence, distracted.
So the question is… how do we stay close to our vision and combat the distractions?
First, when your vision has you… let it.
It’s dialed in differently.
So much so, that the contrast between being in your vision… pursuing your higher, creative, intuitive self… and being distracted… feeling anxious and unsure… is undeniably evident.
Let your vision be your guide… your home base.
Let your distractions be the contrast you need to master trusting yourself.
Second, the moment you decide to go all in, be prepared for the distractions you never knew existed.
Why?
Because you notice more… anything that isn’t in alignment with your time, energy, focus, creativity, mission or purpose is very noticeable.
It’s interesting… before we go all in, we are aware of the basic distractions…
news, media, television, Netflix
the Internet, social media
happy hours, weekend parties
negative people
Those are all obvious.
But it’s when we get more dialed in that the less obvious distractions become visible…
how I’m using my time
what admin work should I be doing and what should I be delegating
what activities or tasks are hindering my progress
burn out… creatively, physically, emotionally
overstimulation… doing too many things because of wanting to do everything
This is important because every next level demands a new you.
Learning how to deal with next level distractions will likely require you to take a step back at times, in order to propel you light years ahead.
What became noticeable to me were all the “little” things…
phone calls at random times from people who needed my help and me helping them.
creating time blocks for specific deep work tasks and then doing something else instead.
multi-tasking too many creative ideas.
using media to spark creativity only to go down the social media rabbit hole for 20 or 30 minutes.
sitting in front of my work for too long… i.e. computer screens, creative writing, systems, etc.
Now, I’m not saying don’t help others, don’t have multiple creative projects, don’t use social media and don’t not work… we have to be flexible.
What I am saying is that we need to be even more active in optimizing our flow within our pursuit of our purpose, creativity or mission.
Next level distractions require next level preparation and practice.
There’s a balance between all that comes with life naturally (helping others, extra work, external inputs, etc.) and self-observation, refining the process and having grace.
In this balance, we learn how to do life better… and we should be grateful for that.
Now, the reason we need to be present and attentive to distractions and mastering them is because if we’re not careful, we may let doubt, fear or uncertainty set in.
When we “come out of our lane,” we tend to mistake “detours” for reasons to abandon “the plan.”
Remember, always STICK TO THE PLAN… the one your soul gave you and you know feels right for you.
When dealing with distractions, consider the following:
Don’t let the human in you talk you out of the soul in you.
A calm mind, a connected heart and a clear vision allow you to navigate the uncertainties of life.
A relationship with your character, mind, body & soul will have you discern how your time and value gets distributed.
Let’s expand here👇🏼
Don’t Let the Human In You Talk You Out of the Soul In You
In a past Permissionless letter, Your Purpose is Not Uncertain, You Are, I mentioned this statement above.
Many times we’re not uncertain about about our vision. Our intuition is one of the most powerful operating systems we have and our soul knows what we need and where to go.
However, when we encounter distractions, it’s possible to interrupt our operating system and replace it for another “program” that’s not aligned with our calling.
This can create confusion and distrust… immediately pause and reset.
Your goal is your soul… follow it. Don’t let the human in you talk you out of the soul in you.
👇🏼
A Calm Mind, a Connected Heart & a Clear Vision Allow You to Navigate the Uncertainties of Life
Distractions distort reality.
A calm mind is a connected mind. It sees everything.
A connected heart is a discerning heart. It knows how to navigate every situation.
A clear vision is an endless conversation with your soul. It’s your ability to minimize the 90% of unimportant things in life so you can focus heavily on the remaining 10%.
👇🏼
A Relationship With Your Character, Mind, Body & Soul Will Have You Discern How Your Time & Value Gets Distributed
Your focus needs focus.
What I mean is, learn to practice the art of being present as often as you can throughout the day.
If you become distracted, acknowledge it…
You’re essentially having an ongoing relationship with your time and energy.
What deserves your value? What doesn’t? What deserves your attention? What doesn’t? What deserves your focus? What doesn’t?
Practice the relationship with the distractions so you can form the habits that remove them.
And always remember… stick to the plan.
Simplify, Multiply, Diversify below…👇🏼
SIMPLIFY…
Stop searching. Start connecting.
Translation:
Most of what you need you already know. The fastest way to find what you’re looking for is to connect. The fastest way to remove the distractions is to connect.
When you search, you’re constantly looking outward.
When you connect, you’re constantly trusting what you can’t see.
When you search, you’re trying to control the outcomes.
When you connect, you’re allowing what’s already for you.
When you search, you’re trying to control time.
When you connect, you respect it.
When you search, you’re operating from fear.
When you connect, you’re operating from knowing.
When you search, you chase.
When you connect, you receive.
MULTIPLY…
If you’re going to multiply anything, make sure it’s not your distractions but your gifts.
DIVERSIFY…
Stick to the plan… it’s bigger than you know.
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When Following Your Vision, Stick to the Plan
I know I’m stupid late on this letter but of course it’s in the most divine timing for me to receive this today, on my integration day from the workshop. Because asking myself all these questions right now is an integral part of the integration!!
Stick to the plan, multiply your gifts, and stay connected! Love it! My new mantra... haha!
Amazing letter, Matt!
I especially loved the SIMLIFY section. The reminder to keep connected to who we and what our soul is guiding us towards was written in a way that really spoke to me.
I appreciate you and all the love you pour into your writing!
Looking forward to the next!