We all face pressure to do things better – whether it’s external social pressure, our internal desires, or the expectations of those around us, we’re often acutely aware of the things we’re not doing right, could be doing better, etc.
This results in the perceived (or sometimes very real) admonishment to “Get Your Sh*t Together!”
But there’s really only ONE reason to get organized, to get your proverbial sh*t together:
TO CREATE THE BUSINESS AND LIFE YOU WANT.
And you may notice the key word there is “create” – not fix, change, or anything else that implies something wrong with you, your business, or your life.
So often, we see the call to get your sh*t together (GYST) as repairing some personal failing – but I want to rethink the whole thing. In the audio presentation below, I’ll cover this idea in much more detail, but let’s tackle the key point straight away.
When put GYST attention on ourselves, on our sense of identity, we’re pointing our efforts in the wrong direction. It makes us feel like there’s some wrong or broken, which quickly translates into hesitation and self-doubt. Interestingly though, the opposite is also true! When you put GYST energy into what you want to create, amazing things are possible.
See, when your focus is on what’s most important to you… When getting your sh*t together is about facilitating the creative process, you’ll inadvertently align the other areas of your life behind these efforts.
Not only will this approach change the way you spend your time, the things you think about, and your daily priorities… It will also bolster your resilience and ability to improvise. When the creative process is the most important thing, you’ll have no choice but to embrace an attitude of “learn by doing” – iterating, reflecting, revising, and boldly taking action on ideas to fearlessly explore the outcomes.
Getting yourself in this headspace is all about asking big questions: what do you want to create? What’s most important to you? What matters to your team, your customers, to your ability to be of service to others?
Ask yourself these kinds of questions frequently, checking these priorities against your current actions to see where you can adjust. These questions are constant, and you get your sh*t together by holding that constant – and using the answers you discover to orient yourself in the tension between where you are now and where you want to be.
It’s ultimately about vision. With a strong enough sense of purpose and direction, with a commitment to what you want to create at the forefront of your efforts, getting your sh*t together simply becomes a matter of following wherever that vision leads you.
It doesn’t have anything to do with fixing yourself, kicking bad habits, or anything of the sort. Instead, you get your sh*t together through a commitment to creativity and an insatiable thirst for your highest purpose.
It’s becoming the predominant creative force in your life, taking consistent steps based on what matters most to you.
