What choices will you make in the name of greatness?

What choices will you make in the name of greatness?

This idea has been causing me to press pause on lots of things during the weekends. 

You know how it goes — settle in on the couch after a long day of work, flip on Netflix, then reach for your phone. 

Then, the scrolling. 

And scrolling and scrolling. 

Until I catch myself after who knows how long — how the hell did I get here?

After taking intentional pauses from social media in the past, deleting accounts, and reactivating them, removing apps on the phone.

Timing myself, tracking my time, and yet, somehow, I ended up back at this place consuming. 

And, most importantly, not creating.

Two weeks ago, I uninstalled Facebook and Instagram from my phone.

I had found myself mindlessly scrolling.

When I have more important shit to do.

Stuff that means something to me that I’ve been talking about forever — namely, my book. 

I’ll sometimes go into a book editing session and think, “Oh, let me just check Instagram first.”

Um. check it for WHAT exactly?

Something that’s going to help me do the uncomfortable work of starting, digging in, going deep, and eventually finishing?

Important projects keep nagging me, and here I am again, choosing the comfortable thing in the moment — which is doing nothing. 

UGH. 

Here’s what I did. 

Reminded myself why finishing this book is so darn important to me. And how I’ve told everyone that I’ll self-publish it by September 2020 — my birth month, and it’s milestone birthday I’m hitting. And this isn’t about it feeling like a bucket list or a mid-life crisis — that’s way too boring. 

I’ve come too far on this project to be goofing off for even 30 minutes a day on social media. When I did the math a while back, I roughly calculated that I’d spend 3 years on social media with an hour a day on the drip-feed of comparison. 

After publishing that piece, I heard from A LOT of people telling me that an hour a day was probably a very conservative estimate, and if they really admitted it, they were spending much more time there.

Now, I love social media. As an introvert, I love how I can create online connections and keep in touch with friends without always picking up the phone or hopping on another Zoom call. 

But how much is too much?

If I want to be great and focus on creating excellence in all areas of my life, I need to revisit the habits that I’m taking part in each day.

Social media is only one example that got me thinking of all the other ways I try to stay in the “greatness zone.”

At the end of the day, and at the end of my life, I want to say I strived for and achieved excellence. 

Please know that excellence doesn’t mean I’m always on, or don’t have my shit show moments or failures. There are plenty of those. 

It means I care. 

I care about my work — getting better, serving clients in more powerful ways, and by committing to excellence, I can do that — with less pushing, more ease.

Here are some of the habits I’ve created to do just that:

1. I only use Facebook on my computer.
   Even when someone inside the Unfussy Writing Community asks a question, I can feel the pull to draft a quick answer because I can. But if I wait until I’m back at my computer, I can reply with all my focus and take extra care. And really, MOFOs deserve it.

2. Social media-free weekends.
   Moving Instagram to a hidden folder on Friday night and only reopening it on Monday, leaving weekends social media free. On regular days, that folder’s name is “be present.”

3. Phone off at 8 pm.
   I set the alarm and turn it to airplane mode. 

4. Getting dressed — every day.
   I set this habit early on in my business owner days. I spend 5 minutes (or really, probably less), putting a little makeup on and grooming. Even on weekends, even if I’m not leaving the house. 

5. Moving (almost) daily.
   Most days, I wake up at 6 (naturally), and having slept in my sports bra and workout tank, I just change into workout shorts that I keep in the bathroom. This habit stacking has helped me stick to a movement routine for at least a year. An intentional workout usually happens 5 days a week. If I’m extra tired or I’ve had a day filled with yard work, I’ll skip the workout. And never ever feel guilty. 

6. Eating good food (and enjoy the hell out of it).
   I don’t mess around here. Breakfast is either a rocket fuel latte (better than bulletproof) or a coffee and a green smoothie. Lunch is usually some tempeh, leftovers, and buckets of kale. I don’t eat kale because it’s “healthy” — I eat it because I like it. Some dark chocolate after lunch and boatloads of water. Maybe some homemade kombucha. Dinner is usually fish, seafood, tacos, or a big bowl of gluten-free pasta. Gluten messes with my skin, gut, and brain (things I need), so I’ve been off the stuff for almost 9 years now.

7. Intention setting morning and night.
   Every night before bed, I express gratitude for how the next day went — that’s right — past tense, like it, already happened, and it was amazing. Try it! And then I do the same in the morning, setting the stage for a great day.

8. Feeling good most of the time.
   I listen to some brain entertainment music that feels good to listen to while I work. When I feel good, the writing I do for clients is better, and my writing feels good. And when shitty moments happen (because they will), choosing the next best thought that will lead to a more neutral or positive state.

I hope that by sharing this story with you, you can trust just a little more that you're so not alone. I’m right there with you.

Working (even if it’s inching) toward:

Disconnecting.

Mastery.

Excellence.

Deeper work.

Staying present.

In the name of greatness.

Like this article? Peep these next:

• New Year, New You: We're Missing the Point

• 8 Important lessons from a 30 day social media pause

• I wasn't writing and I felt sh*tty about it