Do The Work

I feel like this quote applies equally to child rearing, marriage AND business! It's all about doing "the thing" every day, over and over again without sight of the reward. To me, this embodies the essence of GRIT. The elusive definition and understanding of the word has been explored in business books, and in the realm of psychology with countless studies, all trying to understand and pinpoint the reasons why some people can persevere through adversity and others emerge broken. Heavy talk. . .but there it is. 

And why oh why am I choosing to emerge from my blogging hiatus with this sober topic. . .well. . .it's because that's exactly where I'm at:) Maybe not the most appropriate place for a happy face. . .but :)

My vision for GORP has often clashed with reality. While the business has grown, it has also been in a constant state of struggle the entire time. We started in the basement of my home with maybe 30 stores in our first year and now we've been on the market for almost 7 years, and are distributed across our amazing country.

It's been hard to see it as a success (and maybe it's not!) because it's NEVER made sense or felt remotely easy, not once. I'm beginning to wonder if this is normal?! I often think the "clash" in my vision and reality is really a truth point. An invitation to grow. . .in which case my opportunities seem to be endless! lol!

The news and our social media feeds are filled with stories of seemingly overnight successes that have reached crazy revenue streams or followers or impact in 30 flipping seconds or less. . . "in just 5 simple steps". . .I try not to read those anymore. . .my journey is not overnight and I need to be ok with that.

Whether we are struggling to keep our heads above water in our home lives, marriages or businesses, (and I'm in the middle of trying to do all three) I think what we need to remember is that we don't have to do what we've always done.

While the struggle is real, so to speak, and there is definitely an element of necessary struggle, I think there is also a tipping point we need to recognize and identify as an invitation to pivot and move in a new direction. One of the hardest things in this FLIPPING world to do. C-H-A-N-G-E. It hurts. I'm right in the middle of this metamorphosis and have come face to face with the stark realization that doing what I've always done will get me what I've always gotten, which to be quite honest is more stress than is healthy for me. So here I sit. What now? Well, I've decided to blog regularly again for the exercise of accountability through this process. . .to myself. And if there's one other person out there that my journey can inspire. . .awesome. 

First things first. How to not wake up with a sense of dread in the pit of my stomach. Sorry if this sounds dark. (eeek!) There is a HUGE amount of love and gratitude in my heart. . .but if I'm going to be honest, this is how I wake up. . .like I'm already late. . .already behind the 8 ball. "Well look at that, you failed before you even got out of bed. . .nice work Colleen." Yeah, not the nicest way to greet the day.

So now comes the hard part, I have to DO something different. My personality is go big or go home, and I'd usually convince myself that I'm going to wake up at 5 am and put in an amazing, grueling, hardcore 1 hour workout. Instead, I'm committing to waking up at 6:30 and going for a 30 minute walk with my dog. No music, no phone, no self-help motivational podcasts. Just me, my dog and my God. The only expectation is that I put on my runners and walk for 15 minutes, turn around and come back. My chronic over achieving personality is cringing at this simple goal, why not hit 10 birds with one stone by walking the dog, listening to a self help podcast, praying, applying make-up and getting a workout in all at the same time?? Maybe squeeze in a call to my sister while I'm at it?! I'm pretty sure that's what got me here. . .and it's time to chart a new course. . .I'm SO NOT allergic to hard work, but I have to believe that there is a way to feel peace while I'm working hard. I have a feeling this is going to be a long road. I'm just working on getting out of bed right and it already feels pretty epic!

So after figuring out how to wake up, I think I'll tackle my wardrobe next. I've been inspired by this #project333 movement on Instagram.(look it up!) The whole premise is to pick 33 pieces of clothing, pack the rest away and wear only those pieces for 3 months. Learning to live with less. . .awesome. . .but not my prime motivation for trying this out. I have read a lot about decision paralysis and if we can limit the amount of decisions we make in a day (this REALLY works well with food too. . .but that's for another post) then our brains can spend more time and energy on the big ideas, on solving problems, on the stuff that keeps us up at night! Exciting stuff:) 

Tomorrow my only goal is to wake up right. Should be easy. . .?

~Colleen