We are not machines.

We are like them in some ways, though.

We have programming that informs our thoughts and beliefs. We have patterns that drive our behaviors. We execute certain actions in the same way over and over again in the form of our habits. We wear out when we’ve been running too hard or for too long. And we occasionally need to be unplugged to reset.

Last week, I participated in a few different events where the topic was simplicity. You could probably think of some area of your life that needs some simplifying. We’re busy. You’re busy. I’m busy. We’re all busy, busy, busy. Life moves fast. We’ve designed our lives for high performance, turbo mode, hustle and go, go, go. 

Bigger. Faster. Better. Harder. Longer. More. More. More.

Think about a baby. They roll over to crawl. They crawl to walk. They walk, and then they run. They jump. They climb. They run, jump, climb and would probably fly away in an instant if it weren’t for that pesky gravity holding their feet to the ground.

You and I do this, too. You work so hard to get to your goal, and when you get to it, there’s the next one in plain sight and just out of reach. So instead of resting and resetting, what happens? You forget about how far you just came, how hard you just pushed yourself, and tell yourself, just a little bit more and then I’ll celebrate, then I can relax for a while.

But do you?

Because if you’re anything like me, as soon as you get to that next milestone or goal marker, you’re already looking ahead to the one after it. You’re going so fast that you can hardly remember why you started running in the first place. 

What would it take for you to feel like you’ve arrived?

We’re human. And we tend to over-complicate things. We overthink, over-analyze, overextend, overwhelm, overwork and overcompensate. We are overachievers. Again, our programming doesn’t help us much here, because we’re programmed to equate our value with our productivity. We think we’re only worth as much as we can produce, whether it’s our income, our to-do list items or something else. 

If you consider yourself a “busy” person, it might be because reaction has become your habit. You may find yourself “putting out fires” at home, school or work because something is always more urgent than the work toward your own big-picture vision for yourself. If you’re anxious or overwhelmed, you may have lost sight of your own passion or purpose as you picked up projects, emotions or expectations that don’t actually belong to you. 

“If the ladder is not leaning against the right wall, every step we take just gets us to the wrong place faster.”

― Stephen R. Covey

So what can you do about all of this?

You need regular re-calibration, of course, just as a machine or high tech instrument does. You need tests, rests, resets and program updates. You need time to practice and to plan. You need clarity around your purpose, connection with your passion, and intentionally set goals and permission to entertain impossible dreams. If you keep running the old instructions to achieve new levels, you’ll lock up, overheat or break down. And I know you don’t want that.

What does re-calibration look like for humans?

It can look a lot of different ways. How it will look for you depends on how you’re operating now and what you want to do in the future. It can look like taking inspired action instead of reacting to the most urgent thing in your environment. It can look like clearing space or de-cluttering. It can look like planning ahead, tapping into your intuition. It can look like blocking time on your calendar for silence, meditation or prayer. It can look like regular maintenance. It might even look unproductive, or like you’re doing absolutely nothing. It gives you the opportunity to check in with your emotions, your personal values and your most outrageous vision. A lot of times, it will look like surrounding yourself with people who “get” you. People who understand what you want to do and why you want to do it. People who can help you put things into perspective. People who can help you dream even bigger and stop you on your way there to point out and celebrate how far you’ve already come.

If it’s been awhile since your last re-calibration, schedule a free conversation with me. I’m curious about where you’ve been and where you’d like to go. And if I can help you make sure your ladder is up against the right wall, I would love for us to work together.