Let’s face it – we’re all busy. As we age, our careers get more demanding. We have more family responsibilities. Real life gets in the way of stretching ourselves in new ways. We want to give you four questions to ask yourself to rediscover joy in your life. Listen to the show and read the summary here.
The BIGG Successs Show
Stretch Yourself Anew
Welcome to our 12th Big Success Show. Today, you'll learn how to stretch yourself anew. The Big Success Show with George and Mary Lynn. Last show, we talked about how to live without being perfect. The 75% solution. We spent 25% less time being a perfectionist so that you can use that time for other things. Like yesterday, we helped Julie so that she could actually enjoy the holiday season this year instead of fretting about finding the perfect gift for everyone on our list. And today, we want to talk about how to spend that 25% of your time specifically. You're going to be kidding me. We're already going to spend that time. Well, the point is to spend it by stretching yourself anew. Now, this sounds good. Believe me, it sounds wonderful, but come on. If you've got a job, you've got a family, you know, the kids always need attention. There's, I mean, how are you honestly going to be able to take more time out for yourself? Well, part of the solution is what we talked about yesterday, obviously. The other thing is just to understand its choices and priorities. And one of the priorities we have to set in our lives is to give ourselves time in addition to giving time to everybody else. Why is it that setting aside time for ourselves is something special? It's something that's important and we should be wanting to do that. We should be making that happen for ourselves every day in some way or another. That's right. And we find that when we're younger, we tend to maybe do a little bit better job of it than when we get older and all of life's demands start pressing in on us. Yeah. But today we want to talk about how to rediscover joy by focusing on stretching yourself. And what's important is to make sure that you're finding that thing that you want to stretch yourself in. That's right. You want to find that right direction. So what we have are four questions to ask yourself to help make sure you find that thing that you really want to do, that you're really missing. So the first question to ask yourself is what is something you used to love to do? I have a friend who loved music in high school, junior high, grade school always played in bands. And then when he became an adult, maybe he gave it up as he was working, but he missed it. And so he started practicing again, went to, I think a pawn shop, got a guitar, started practicing again, auditioned for a band. Now he's in a band. He's got this great collection of guitars now and his studio downstairs. And so he's really made it an important part of his life. Well, and that's a perfect example, Mary-Landa. Someone who's rediscovering something that used to give them great joy. The second thing you can do is ask yourself, what's a class I took when I was younger and I just loved? Or maybe another way to look at it is, what's a class you always wanted to take? Did you never quite got around to? And the point is, and we're particularly talking about those classes that were outside of your major. In college, we're forced, well, even in junior high and high school, we're forced to take classes that we don't think, one of them, why do I have to take this? And once you get into him, you realize that they really do kind of enrich your point of view. I have a friend who loved to write, and everything he does in his real life is very analytical and logical. And he found writing to be an expression of himself, and he loved to do it. And so he started taking a class in creative writing again, and he's just loving life, because he's getting new energy from this class. Yeah, I want to read his blog. There you go. But also don't forget to check out your community colleges, because they often offer those adult courses that are non-credit, but therefore personal enjoyment and growth. That's right, and if you just hit a, you know, you hit a mine lapse and you can't think of any classes you may have liked to take. Yeah, just see what they have to offer. Yeah, browse their catalog. Right, another thing to ask yourself, what do you have sitting around the house? Because basically what you'll find remnants of hobbies passed. You know, it tucked away, probably in a box somewhere or stuffed up in the closet somewhere. What I like to do for hobby and relaxation is paint by number. Paint by number. Yes, I paint by letter. Maybe someday I'll take a painting course and stretch myself. But for now, I like to have a little guidance when I paint, but there's something so relaxing about sitting there and just painting in the lines and all that kind of stuff. I just love doing that. And the way that I make sure I have time to do that is that I keep my paint brushes clean and right under the sink, but easy to get to. And I keep my cardboard canvas out in an easy spot for me to pick up. Because if it's stuffed away, I'm never going to get to it. So break out the old tools and keep them out. Yeah. And then the last thing is take a trip to the bookstore, to the library, and just browse the magazine section. And what you'll probably find is there's some magazines, maybe even used to subscribe to some, that kind of hit on a hobby of yours. So give me an example. I used to, when I was a kid, I loved fishing. I subscribed to two or three fishing magazines. And then I got older and I hadn't fished for years. Now you've subscribed to like 10 business magazines. Exactly. But I don't have any, you know, I didn't have any fishing magazines. So what I found was, you know, fishing. I love fishing. And funny thing is, when I was a kid, I used to fish because, man, I'd get so upset if I didn't catch something. Now I can sit there and it's a great time to just reflect, enjoy nature, relax. And so it's got a whole new dimension to it now that it had, even when I was younger. Still love it. And you're still competitive about it too. But not as bad as I used to be. So the points to today's discussion are that if you stretch yourself anew, you'll find that you start to round yourself out again. And by rounding yourself out, you become more interesting to your family. And you probably even help your career. And you know, and you're more interesting to yourself too. It's always good to be interested in yourself. Right. You'll also have more energy because you're not just focused on work and family, but you're also taking some time to focus on yourself. And one more thing to think about. As you rediscover yourself, as you stretch yourself anew, you may just find a clue as to what you might want to spend the rest of your life doing. Hey, if you can figure out how to make money with what you love to do. Fantastic. Bingo, jackpot. That's what it's all about. So let's quickly review what we talked about today. Today we looked at four things you can do to stretch yourself anew. Look at former activities, things you used to love, classes you used to take, old hobbies, and magazines you used to love to read. And if you think you absolutely don't have time to find something new to do, then make sure you listen to yesterday's show. That's right. Because we've got a great tip that'll help you find that time. We do have a written summary of today's show at Big Success. That's big with 2G success.com. And also give us your comments, ideas, and show suggestions there as well. And before we go, it's time for our big quote of the day. Quote of the day is from Oliver Wendell Holmes, the great writer and poet. And he said, "Man's mind, once stretched by a new idea, never regains its original dimensions." So take an old idea and make it new again, and let it stretch yourself and expand your mind. On our next show, we will talk about the confidence game, Building Self-Confidence. And until then, here's to your big success. The Big Success Show at B-I-G-G Success.com. (birds chirping)