Prefer to Listen? Then you’ll love Episode #69 of the Podcast!
Welcome Back to the Aromatic Wisdom Blog!
In today’s blog post, I’m sharing my personal experience of how I came upon my personal Guiding Theme for 2024 to help me live this year with focused attention and intention. I’ll then share some specific steps so you can do the same for yourself! Trust me, this process is nothing like making a New Year’s Resolution. Blehhhhh. Who really sticks to a resolution anyway?
ADULT ADHD
I have adult ADHD. Knowing that my brain works in a unique way (the current buzzword is neurodivergent) has helped me make sense of so much of my life. My biggest challenge with having ADHD is my tendency to become overwhelmed by a thousand details and then procrastinate and so many wonderful, creative ideas are never given birth.
In truth, a lot of adults with ADHD become Entrepreneurs. This article explains The Strong Connection Between Entrepreneurs and ADHD.
PROCRASTINATION
My personal ADHD Devil is Procrastination! The above-mentioned article says this on the topic:
Procrastination: For many years, many people saw individuals with ADHD as lazy or lacking motivation to complete even the simplest tasks. While this negative stigma of ADHD persists in some circles, we have mostly gotten past this idea. Now, we understand more clearly that ADHD brains simply function and process things differently. This sometimes makes it difficult to fully engage with tasks others can easily check off. While we understand that individuals with ADHD might not be lazy, still procrastination tends to be a major weakness for those with ADHD.
Hang in there...I’m getting to the point of this blog post...I have ADHD remember?
MY ADHD COACH
Wanting to tame the procrastination beast, I began to see a Coach who specializes in entrepreneurs with ADHD. His name is Ezra DeWolf. Ezra quickly recognized my tendency toward overcomplication and therefore lack of progress. He continually repeats the words, “Remember to optimize simplicity, Liz. Your project doesn’t have to be as big as you believe you need. Making it smaller is okay.”
Note: I go into more detail about wanting to create an Aromatherapy Certification Program in Podcast Episode #69 and how Ezra helped me in a way that I am no longer procrastinating on that particular project.
Ezra said, “Liz, you don’t need to build the Golden Gate Bridge to get your students over the water of knowledge. Start with a smaller bridge; just enough to get them over the water. Then you can build a bigger bridge later if you choose.”
That concept resonated with me right down to my core.
Can you guess my personal Guiding Theme for the year? OPTIMIZING SYMPLICITY!
The concept of optimizing simplicity can be infused in every area of my life so that procrastination no longer has a hold on me.
How to Find Your Guiding Theme
Until now, all I’ve done is talk about myself. As fascinating as I think I am, it’s time to focus on YOU dear reader and how you can find your theme, your core purpose for the new year, or any time you have a fresh beginning or a fresh start. It doesn’t just have to be in January.
What Gives Your Guiding Theme It’s Power?
#1 It is your North Star and should be rooted in mindfulness and intention. It helps if it’s flexible and versatile. For example, I’m going to infuse my whole life with optimizing simplicity.
#2 The second thing that gives it power is it is an Anchor. Having a guiding theme will keep you moored to your intention. There will be times when you’re going to get off track, and having a very strong theme will keep you anchored to your intention.
How to Choose Your Personal Guiding Theme
So as you’re reading this blog post, you may be thinking, that you don’t know where to put your focus.
Enter my favorite visual tool for clarity. The Wheel of Life. It’s a classic coaching tool in which you indicate each area of your life then you rate that area of your life for a quick and easy snapshot of where there’s abundance and where you may be impoverished.
You will generally want to ADD something to that area of life (more money, more love, more family time) or SUBTRACT something from that area of your life (stress, worry, confusion, discord). Personally, I want to have less procrastination, which is why optimizing simplicity appeals to me because I know that it eventually will lead to less procrastination.
Three Key Questions to Ask Yourself
As you go through each area of life, you will rate the quality from 1 to 5. Then ask yourself these three questions:
1. What do I wanna create in this area of my life?
2. What do I want to see more of?
3. What do I want to see less of?
Suggested Areas of Your Life
Below I’m sharing six areas of life in that you may wish to consider when finding balance. These are only suggestions. The Wheel of Life is YOUR tool. Your personal guide. Make the categories those that apply to your life, not someone else’s.
- Friends and Family:
- Health
- Finances
- Spirituality
- Fun and Recreation
- Love and/or Romance
So there are a few suggested areas of life. You can search for Wheel of Life and find loads of suggestions for categories.
Be Flexible with Your Guiding Theme
I invite you to keep your Guiding Theme flexible. Life is not static; life is dynamic. Things change. This year alone there will be changes; there always are! That is just the nature of life. So allow your guiding theme to evolve with you as you navigate all the changes, challenges, and even the great opportunities that could come your way this year.
I would love to know what theme you’ve chosen for yourself for this year. Please share in the comments what you’ve chosen as a Guiding Theme for this year.
