Earlier this week I met a friend for a mid-day Vietnamese iced-coffee and walk around the block. Admittedly, I was a little less perky than usual and a tad-bit cranky. Not because I was suffering from caffeine withdrawal, but because I am plum tired!
This summer has not been stereotypically slow for me; at the moment, I am working on several time-sensitive projects with back-to-back imminent deadlines and gearing up for a busy month of speaking engagements. Oh, and did I mention I’m also overhauling my business?!
The night before (or it might be more accurate to say the morning of) our afternoon stroll, I went to bed at 1:30am; the night before that was a more reasonable bedtime (11:30pm), but I was up at 5:45am. This erratic pattern has unfortunately become my new norm the last couple of months, which isn’t too attractive when I really need (and crave) 7-8 hours of sleep a night.
When I shared my whacky schedule and why I was fatigued, what my friend, who works in institutional sales, said stopped me mid sip: “…you need to accept that there is not enough time to get everything done…”
If the coffee didn’t jolt me “awake,” that statement certainly did! Even if I wasn’t operating on all cylinders, I was alert enough to know his words, which were a paraphrase of one of the leading sales training gurus, Brian Tracy, held pearls of wisdom beyond time management.
And I wondered…
What if we dared to get real and admit there are times when there simply isn’t enough money to meet our needs?
What do you do when you’ve done all the right things, but all your accounts are zero or, God forbid, less than zero? In some of the circles in which I travel, it is almost sacrilegious to explore this question and the sub-questions it raises.
The query defies the belief in infinite abundance…or does it?
I believe a larger disservice is done when we don’t give ourselves permission to ponder: “What Do You Do When There Isn’t Enough?” Because let’s face it, we all experience periods of time when there isn’t enough of something we need, whether it is time, money, faith, confidence, self-esteem, etc.
If we accept that there will be moments when our current demands exceed our current capacity, then that creates the necessary space required to focus on the key element of the question – “What do you do?”
Here’s what I suggest:
1) Admit the reality (even if just to yourself)…and then adjust
Seems so obvious, right? But when more is required of you than you have to give, something has to give. You have to say “no” to something you previously said “yes” to. Ironically, what may start off as a temporary adjustment may lead to permanent, more beneficial changes.
2) Ask for help
Need I say more? We could probably all use a refresher course in asking for help…from the right people!
3) Don’t lose hope or focus
It sounds so cliché, I know, but hold onto the proverb, “this too shall pass.” Really. “Not enough” does eventually morph into enough and sometimes even more than enough. Plus, you often gain the most insight when you lean into the gap, which is a counter-intuitive choice to the natural inclination to get mad and resist whatever is bringing about the – “What Do You Do When There Isn’t Enough? – question in the first place.
These are my suggestions, what are yours?
p.s. it is almost time to get out of the red and back to black? If you have debt, you’re going to want to join us. Click here to get on the list to learn more about a new program launching in September.
