Just about every morning we create ‘to-do’ lists, ambitiously starting off with the best of intentions, dreaming of going to bed at night having checked them all off the list. Invariably, somewhere around 3pm or 4pm, it becomes glaringly clear the entire ‘to-do’ list is not going to get done. The major culprit? Sometimes it’s time, but more often than not, it’s STRESS! We over promise and under produce, not because we’re lazy or crazy, but because we’re trying to be ‘super-woman’ or ‘iron-man’. However, ask yourself this question: Are we really required to expend our personal resources to the point where we run ourselves empty and dry? I’m inclined to think… NO!

So, why do we let this happen? Yes, I agree there are times when something extraordinary is taking place and we must pull out all the stops. But this doesn’t happen every day! So what’s really going on? Well, after studying human behavior through hypnotherapy training and experience, it seems the guilty party is STRESS. At first glance, it may seem a ‘super-hero’ type of person is the epitome of confidence and poise, but look closer and you may see a tear in those tights, revealing a frantic need to just ‘be enough, which often causes us to pressure ourselves to unreasonable limits.

The need to ‘be enough’ zaps our energy and resources in so many ways and robs us of our peace of mind. It allows the pressures of the day to fill us with the fear of what tragedy might happen, if we can’t pull this thing off. We were born ‘being enough’, but somewhere along the way we started believing weren’t smart enough, or thin enough, or pretty enough, or strong enough, or whatever enough… Enough already! We don’t have to prove our worth, as a human being, it’s a given. What we may want to do, is find a balance between ‘being’ and ‘doing’. When we find our value and worth in ‘doing’, we never feel like we’re enough because there is always more to do than we can accomplish on our own. However, if we can first find a way to truly enjoy and appreciate the masterpiece we were created to be, the ‘to-do’ list becomes what it’s supposed to be, just a list.

So, what can we do about it?

1. Start by giving yourself some love, grace and appreciation for being a human being, not superman! YES, you can.
2. Re-evaluate your ‘to-do’list. Separate the tasks into (2) columns titled ‘gotta happen’ and ‘would be wonderful’. Only place 2-3 items in the ‘gotta happen’ each day list and place the rest in the ‘would be wonderful’ column.
3. Go through each item delegate some of these tasks. Now, when you delegate, be careful of the ‘micro-managing monster’. Give a few simple directions and let the person figure out the rest by DOING. After all, isn’t that how we learned the thing in the first place?
4. Finally, keep the end in mind. When it’s all said and done, what will you and the people you love remember? Frantically running around trying to get everything done or connecting with the human spirit. So, instead of trying to be ‘perfect’, just focus on being ‘real’.

If you’re still struggling to make the switch, consider using hypnotherapy to help your sub-conscious mind get on board with what you really want. Your hypnotherapist can use relaxation techniques, putting YOU even more in control of how you respond to daily stresses from within and without. By increasing your self-confidence and self-acceptance on a sub-conscious level, you’ll accelerate your results, in a gentle and comfortable way. You’ll have more energy to enjoy your life than ever before, and isn’t that the best thing to do for yourself, your friends and family anyway?