Last week, a client presented me with a conundrum.
She'd been working on a long-term writing project for the better part of a year and was making headway thanks to her understanding of how habits work: Sitting at her desk for 20 minutes every morning, she'd pound out her unfiltered thoughts before getting started with the rest of her day. She'd made it as much a part of her routine as brushing her teeth.
She's completed marathons before—she's even training for one now—and so, she's no stranger to breaking down a goal or project into small steps, super doable tasks, and then making a schedule to move through each of those tasks.
Problem was, even though she'd folded this newer habit into her schedule quite successfully for a few weeks at a time, it would happen, almost inevitably, that she'd skip a morning to sleep in after a late night of work, or her kids would need her in some unforeseen way, and she'd have a string of days (or even weeks) where she wasn't writing at all.
Would she resume the schedule after some time had passed? I was curious to know if her writing project was truly abandoned or not.
Eventually, yes. She told me she always returned to it, picking back up with the daily habit—but it wasn't too long before there were more skipped days or weeks.
What to do about all that squandered time?
What to do about the lapsed discipline?
How could she make this writing habit...stick better?
I told her I wasn't convinced there was a problem here.
This wasn't procrastination (not that that's even a problem—watch this first and then email me if you're still skeptical). This wasn't a matter of discipline. This wasn't indicative of a need for a new system or tool or accountabili-buddy.
This was life.
Going with the (ebb and) flow of life.
And this was thought.
Thinking a whole lot about what was (or wasn't) happening in a given period of time—and what that might mean.
Some weeks are writing weeks, some weeks are not.
She considered all of this for a brief moment and her face relaxed.
"I'm just going with the flow."
What about you?
Where might you be seeing a problem where there isn't one?
Is there a situation that you've been quick to diagnose and attempt to treat?
How does it change when you consider that nothing's actually wrong, nothing needs fixing or improving?
What if the way it's happening now is exactly the way it should be happening, whether you're in ebb or flow at the moment?
What if you knew and trusted that it would change...and, like the tide, change again?
Share with me in the comments.