Have you ever baked something following a recipe?
It’s pretty simple, you just follow the steps outlined by someone else on exactly HOW to recreate a dish. Following the recipe to a tee can result in a pretty good outcome.
But have you ever wondered where that recipe first came from? It came from a person that didn’t know HOW to bake that dish at first. They likely attempted it many times before it resembled what they wanted. It may not even be exactly what they had in mind in the first place.
Maybe it was meant to be bread and not a cake. Maybe they intended for it to be chocolate and not vanilla.
The point is, every great recipe, idea, or invention came from someone who didn’t know exactly HOW to accomplish it. They likely failed countless times. The final product may not be anything like the original idea they had in their head. And, it couldn’t have turned out any better.
When we let go of how and our expectations of how things should be, we remain open to any and all possibilities. Possibilities that we may have never even considered and leave the door open for what we want, or better.
Staying open to all possibilities allows for new opportunities to come into our lives. It keeps us open to something better to come along, something we may have never expected. And, best of all we allow something great to be created through us, something that no one else can do.
Is there anything that you would like to create?
Is there something that you want to show up in your life?
Do you have a vision or idea that could make the world a better place?
We will never know if we attach to how.
Stop Shoulding Yourself
When we focus on how we are trying to create a picture of how things should be. We fight and fight for a vision of how we think it should all play out.
We often tell ourselves, “If I just knew HOW things would be so much easier.” When actually what we mean is, “If I just knew how I wouldn’t be so afraid.”
Fear is the #1 reason why we never get started. There is always a level of unknown and uncertainty when we think of embarking on a new journey. This is part of the process.
You see, achieving something in life is not just about the outcome, it is about what we must become in order to achieve that. Often, this future version of ourselves does not include the same fears and doubts we carried before we got started.
The thing is, fear shuts off our prefrontal cortex. This is the area of the brain responsible for cognitive thought, focusing our attention, anticipating events, and our emotional responses. How likely are we to achieve anything with this part of our brain and nervous system shut down? All because we are attached to HOW things SHOULD be.
Focusing on how things SHOULD be is the fastest way to develop anxiety and actually accentuates our fears. The moment things don’t look the way they should in our head, we contract, we doubt ourselves and the process, and our fears convince us to stop.
If we simply let go of HOW and remain focused on what we want, we remain open to all possibilities of what we want showing up.
Believe
There are countless reasons why we may not achieve or obtain, something we want. Time, finances, opportunities, experience, desires, and more all play a role in our outcomes and achieving what we want.
But there is something that can trump them all. Belief.
Think of something you wanted to achieve but didn’t. What if you knew you could not fail? Would the result have been any different?
When we have an unwavering belief in ourselves and our ability to overcome anything, HOW has no hold over us. All the ‘shoulds’ turn into ‘coulds’ and every challenge turns into an opportunity. Anything becomes possible and what is meant to be created, will.
It’s not too late to create something great in your life. Think of what you want and forget about how, stop ‘shoulding’ yourself, and above all BELIEVE it will happen.
Not knowing how to accomplish something is the biggest reason we give up too soon or never get started in the first place. If we never get started, we are guaranteed to never achieve what we want. Let go of how and trust that the process will unfold perfectly. You’ll be surprised by the results.