How often have you put things in your life “on the backburner,” and told yourself you would get to them once you had more time?

In my experience, those items we put on the backburner are actually things we REALLY enjoy like hobbies, personal enrichment, or projects we love that just aren’t urgent at the moment.

Why do we do this to ourselves?

Why do we place a lower priority on things that we love, or on new possibilities simply because they don’t feel “urgent?”

I believe we do this for two main reasons:

  1. We’ve become so conditioned to putting our own needs AFTER the needs of everyone else, like our clients, our kids, or even our spouse.
  2. We feel like we have such limited time, that if we don’t get the “urgent” stuff done first, we’ll never have any time to do anything for ourselves. It’s just easier to get those things done NOW, and place other stuff on the “back burner”

I don’t know about you, but I’m tired of letting stuff sit on the backburner forever. There’s some really fun, cool, fulfilling things sitting back there that I want to do…TODAY.

If you read my latest blog post, you heard me talk about my “no plan, plan” that I committed to for the start of 2017.

The “no plan, plan” is all about allowing my life, my calendar and my business to feel spacious. I decided to stop trying to force things, and stop putting all kinds of unnecessary pressure on myself to “fit it all in.”

Instead of saying things like: “there isn’t enough time” or “I’m wasting time,”, I find myself saying: “what’s possible for me today?” or “how can I create more space for that?”

This shift in philosophy has opened up so much more space for me to get to those lingering “backburner” items that I’ve been putting off for months.

And ya know what???

It feels GREAT!

The key distinction for me is that I’m not stopping the pursuit of my goals, or my big dreams. I’m still getting out there and sharing my message. I’m still committed to making a HUGE impact in the world. I’m just not crushing myself with pressure.

The “no plan, plan” lets me do some pretty cool things like delegate, breathe, and let go of anything that really isn’t important today. I get to STOP doing the things that are creating the pressure, and allow space for things that really light me up.

So what’s on your “backburner?”

What projects and unseen possibilities have you been neglecting because you felt like it didn’t fit into your calendar or your “plan?”

I challenge and encourage you to revisit that plan and make sure it truly serves you. I’m not suggesting the “no plan, plan” for everyone, but I am suggesting that life is too short and precious to leave greatness on the backburner because we feel like we don’t have the time to get to it.