The over-heavy pack pulled hard, down and back on my shoulders, shifting the load helped for a moment, then it crept back, relentless, heavy, cumbersome, burning – weighting me down.
My son and I had planned this trip for months and now here we were in one of the most majestic places on earth, but under this weight I just wanted to get to the end of the day.
The higher we went the steeper the slope and the slower I climbed – I could feel I was carrying way too much. Shoulders burning, back on fire, gasping for breath, heart pounding. Then the last step, the last reach and last ounce of energy I pulled myself to the top
– We made it.
Shrugging the packs off our shoulders we just breathed…
There we were, just my son and me, at the top of this remote mountain watching the sun go down, I’m marveling at the contrast between those last final steps – how it felt like I couldn’t go one more step, just wanting to get through it – and then the feeling of shrugging the pack, the unburdening, lightening the load and now just soaking in this feeling of freedom.
Then I thought,
“In this sense of Breathing Space, with the load I carry in work and life, how much true freedom do I really have?”
I was reminded that when I was doing and creating more of what I loved and deflecting or saying no to more of the things that pulled me away from that, I was as truly free as I have ever felt.
I wondered,
“How much unburdening, streamlining could I do in life and work and still be effective – or even more effective?
That night I started by changing one small thing:
I made space.
I shook everything out of my pack.
Shining a light on every item, I gave a quick intuitive score 1-10. 8’s and greater went into the pack, everything else stayed out.
– The sense of relief was extraordinary.
Wrapping up the extra gear I left a note for the next campers to take all they wanted.
The next morning as I bent down to pick up my pack I thought maybe I should take some of the stuff I was leaving behind – I have space – I smiled to myself as I didn’t. I breathed in the freedom of being in this place with my son and we headed down the mountain.
And there it was—another light bulb about the simple power of TRUEFREEDOM.
Test it.
It’s easy to have loaded your pack with all kinds of things that bog you down.
– it’s not your fault
We’ve been taught to carry a lot of baggage.
-Time to declutter.
1.Bring what’s important in to closer focus.
Using a 1-10 meter above, imagine holding it up to everything in your life and work. Give each a quick intuitive 1-10 score.
– Score everything.
10’s feel pretty certain, pretty good and right, don’t they?
Get a sense of that feeling, what a 10 feels like.
So 10’s are in.
So are 9’s, right?
What about an 8?
Yeah, 8’s are a little less, but still a good bet.
Now how about a 7?
-92.5% of everyone hesitates at a 7.
Seems what’s really important to us, what’s valuable, what lifts us us rather bogging us down, what get’s us where we want to go, what helps us to live our best life – literally who we are – are 8’s and greater.
-Move your new bubble to 8.
Play what I call “8’s or Greater.”
[It looks like this]
2. Streamline
Now, how can you declutter, scrape all the 7’s, 6’s, 5’s, 4’s.. off your plate?
Imagine deflecting them in the future.
Only 8’s or Greater are good enough to get you where you want to go, living your best life along the way.
3. Achieve bigger goals in shorter days.
How does life change?
Imagine life, work, full of clearer choices, winning more, working less… a life that’s you, who you’re meant to be, more fun, more happiness, more winning, saving time, saving steps, increasing speed, without it being a chore, almost perpetual motion pulling you forward into your most amazing future.
Get’s interesting doesn’t it?
-You have permission to dump everything that isn’t you and focus on what is.
But you be the judge.
Test it.
Hit reply and let me know what you’re thinking.
TRUEFREEDOM: Always within arm’s reach
Links.
See our adventure in the Montana Wilderness here: pictures, maps, resources…
Look into all the engines that fuel my TRUEFREEDOM, click here.
