As a former sales executive, I used to be very driven by goals and numbers in almost every area of my life. A negative sales report or even a step on the scale could ruin my day. I let information that wasn’t all that meaningful have an enormous impact on how I felt and ultimately, how I treated other people.
Today, I don’t pay much attention to rigid goals, but instead focus more on the process than the end result. I follow the advice given to me by this fabulous woman. “Be Fierce and Flexible.”
When we loosen our grip on expectations, we can take the focus off of how things are supposed to end up, what we think other people will think, and make room to notice the unexpected joys and successes.
Be Fierce and Flexible with …
Your Diet.
Overnight changes and extreme measures rarely work when trying to lose weight or make a big change in your diet. Be fierce with one small change, but flexible with the big picture. If you decide to become a vegetarian and after a week without a hamburger, you want to throw in the towel, step back. Drop chicken first instead, or try a vegetarian burger.
Your Relationships.
As relationships mature, you have to be fierce in your desire to be who you are, but flexible enough to redefine your expectations, and to be loving instead of right.
Your Clutter.
If you’ve been working to reduce your clutter, but feel like it’s a one step forward, two-step back adventure, get fierce with a one in: one (or two) out policy, but be flexible with your family. Stay focused on your clutter before worrying about their clutter.
Growth.
Whether it’s business or personal development, growth can be frustrating when it’s not happening as fast as you imagined it would. Be fierce in your commitment to grow, but flexible when it comes to the direction and methods. Trying something new is not giving up and growing in another way besides rapidly up is not failure.
Goals.
It’s important to consider the nature of your goal setting. When you set a goal, define your why and ask good questions. What happens if you don’t meet your goal, or if you change it, or if you never set it to begin with? Be fierce with your goals while they motivate you or other people involved and flexible with your goals when the goal itself defeats the purpose of your mission, or if you change or grow out of the goal.
I recently set a goal to raise $4400 in a few short weeks for charity: water. I thought it would be fun to celebrate reaching the goal with you on my birthday. When I didn’t meet the goal, instead of stomping my feet, I realized it would be awesome to celebrate with you regardless of date, numbers or goals and just like that, I broke the rules and modified the goal.
Today we are celebrating!
Together we have raised almost $4700 of $4400. We blew that silly goal right out of the water and still have time to raise more. The important number in this goal isn’t $4400 or 6/5/2013. The important number is how many people will start drinking clean water because of our efforts. Today that number is 72 and I hope it continues to grow.
Massive Giveaway!
Some of my amazing friends want to give you a gift, so I am giving away 5 beautiful bundles of ebooks and courses that will help you not only be fierce and flexible, but happier and healthier too.
If you are one of 5 winners, here is what you get:
Go Small and Be Happy by Tammy Strobel In 2010, Tammy Strobel started writing essays for readers as an experiment in micro-patronage. However, the essays turned into something more; they became a way to teach about happiness and simplicity through narrative based stories. You can read this little book of essays from cover to cover or pick and choose. After reading this collection of essays, you’ll be inspired to go small and be happy!
Easy Homemade by Mandi Ehman Easy Homemade features recipes for more than 60 homemade kitchen staples as well as kitchen tips, information about choosing various ingredients and more. As a self-proclaimed kitchen dunce, Mandi considers herself far from an accomplished chef, but she’s found that making things from scratch — even the things we typically buy without even considering that we could make them at home — is actually pretty easy.
Simplify by Joshua Becker Simplify is a celebration of living more by owning less. This is a book that calls for the end of living lives seeking and accumulating more and more possessions by highlighting the enjoyment of living with less.
99 Stories to Make You Think, Smile and Cry by Marc and Angel Chernoff. These are simple, powerful, real life stories written by the people who lived them.
Simplicity: Essays
Smalltopia by Tammy Strobel is full of tips, tools, and strategies to help you create a very small, sustainable business. This book of essays tells Tammy Strobel’s personal story of escaping the rat race and the lessons she learned along the way.
Make Time by Courtney Carver & Tammy Strobel If you’ve ever wished for more hours in the day or felt frustrated that you couldn’t do it all, this course is for you. You’ll receive course contents that will include 3 Weekly modules with audio interviews with experts, instructive lessons, guest contributions, video presentations, and homework assignments.
Inside-Out Simplicity
Everyday Magic: A Photography mini-course by Tammy Strobel will spark your creative juices and help you get in touch with the joy of taking photos. Throughout the course, Tammy will give you tips and tools to improve your photography practice. However, this is not a highly technical ecourse. You will learn how to take better photos and have fun along the way!
Eat Awesome by Paul Jarvis is a regular person’s guide to plant-based, whole foods. It includes practical pantry-stocking tips, kitchen-hacking tricks, and most importantly, over 30 nourishing recipes and meal ideas. No dogma, just deliciousness. Veganism is love, baby!
Unautomate Your Finances by Adam Baker Figure out your true money situation and create a workable budget, once and for all. This now-off-the-market ebook, which sold for $17, was Man Vs. Debt founder Adam Baker’s first personal-finance guide.
How to Win
DO …
Add a comment below about being fierce and or flexible or anything you’d like to share. (If you are reading this post via email, click on the title and you can leave a comment on the original post.)
Share this awesome opportunity with friends. (not mandatory, only generous)
DON’T
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Add multiple comments (you will be disqualified)
I will be choosing a winner on Friday at noon and announcing the results next week. Thank you again for your donations, contributions, kind words and loving spirits.
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P.S. I am announcing something new, fun and meaningful to your work next week. This will be an up close and personal, mind-blowing creative experience for a teeny-tiny group of people, and subscribers of courtneycarver.com will hear it first. If you want the first look, sign up at the bottom of this page or visit the sign up form.