There are several ways I know I’m on track for reaching my goal. One is the excitement that vibrates through my body and brain. My creativity cranks up and ideas and energy are like popcorn in my brain.
The other is the amount of resistance I feel in moving forward. Resistance is my guiding light, my compass needle pointing north. Resistance shows me where my truth lies.
Before you get all excited by this counter-intuitive statement, let me qualify my thoughts.
When I make decisions that don’t involve my strengths or support my goals and priorities, resistance will present itself. But it’s a different kind of resistance. It might distract me with social media, responding to unimportant emails, making phone calls that could wait, or even deciding to clean the house. <shudder>
The resistance that tells me I’m on the right track is the stuff of complicating the project, over-thinking or continually tweaking the plans, and even self-doubts that creep in. The self-doubts may be the most troubling because they can put me into stasis.
What I’m learning to do is when resistance guides me to my true calling and to my goal is to chart my path. I do that by starting with written goals and a list of priorities. Then I essentially mind-map the flow so that I can be sure to get the essential steps listed. With the mind map approach, I can set goals and enter them into my calendar. The flow starts to look like a tree as the project grows and takes shape.
With my plan on paper, I’m prepared to overcome stasis when resistance brings in self-doubts. If I find myself feeling stuck, not moving forward, I can pick up my mind map to see where I am and where I want to go next.
I’m grateful to resistance for pointing me to my North Star. I’m grateful to resistance for testing my passion and drive. I’m grateful I’ve learned to use resistance as fuel to keep me going, rather than letting it be a bog or prison that holds me back.
The vitality I get from the creativity born of moving toward my goals and my calling buoys me. The vitality I feel from taking action to serve others is empowering. And that’s the stuff that resistance doesn’t like. That’s why it tries to throw me off my course when its very presence tells me I’m on the right path.
Do you have a plan for overcoming stasis on projects, especially the ones you feel are important to you? Resistance will try to stop you, even after showing you the way. Who’s in charge of your life, anyway? Developing a plan that will work for you so do your best is a clever way to keep resistance at bay.