Do you manage or master?

The whole time management thing is a myth. I busted it.

Same goes for managing life. Busted.

Managing is for people who want to barely get by. It's for people who feel stuck and want to stay stuck, even when they protest otherwise. It's for people who tread water and keep their face barely above the surface. It's for people who make bold claims about who they are to convince everyone, including themselves. Managing is frenzy, manic, exhausted, confused, overwhelmed, frustrated and irritable. It's bare minimum.

Managing doesn't work for me. I've tried it. For many years. Actually, I was doing it right up until my self-imposed sabbatical that started in May. That blog post is coming next week. Or should I write about integrity instead? I can't choose. Vote here and help me.

One of the many things I determined whilst on my self-imposed sabbatical was how long I'd been managing my life. Yes, it was going ok. Yes, I was moderately successful. Yes, I was doing much better compared to many other people, in fact. But I was also experiencing too many days, weeks and months of this low-grade bummed out feeling that I couldn't shake. I tried to do all these things to change that feeling and realized I was feeding the same monster: my own conditioning to manage instead of master.

So, I began to practice mastering my life. Mastering my time. Mastering my communication. Mastering my energy. Mastering my money, Mastering my choices. Mastering my exercise, food, spirituality and career plans. Mastering my MIND, most especially.

Wow. That did it.

Moving from a mindset of managing to mastering takes intention and some time because the managing habits are SO STRONG. God, I've been reinforcing those habits for my whole life.

This mastering thing requires me to really hone in on what I've been doing well and taking it to the next level. It helps me feel the way I wanted to be feeling the whole time I was treading water thinking I was doing it "right". 

How mastery feels

You know that feeling when you walk out onto the beach for the first time in a long time? Where you focus on the waves and smell that air and you sort of feel your body connect with all that energy? For a few moments you forget everything about your life and you just see that horizon and sky and water and smell the salt and that's all there is. 

That's how we are meant to feel. We can find it and make it a real thing, every day. I didn't used to think so, but I'm doing it and it's pretty awesome. It took a major mind shift that I probably wouldn't have been able to make without all the work I've done up to this point AND the time and space I created to breathe a bit. 

Mastering works better than managing. Mastering puts you in the driver's seat with a relaxed but confident grip on the wheel. It isn't about controlling (that's managing). It's about moving from aspiration to action, putting intentions into practice and moving with everything as it comes.

Sit with this today and see how it feels. Which are you doing right now? Managing or mastering?