By Susan Guillory
To kick off the new year, I signed up for Yoga with Adriene’s Revolution: 31 Days of Yoga video series. Frankly, I amazed myself. I made it to the mat every single day, despite being sick a few of them. I practiced when I was tired. I practiced when I was angry. And in the end, I learned a few things that I can apply to both life and business.
You don’t get better without practice.
Week 1 of yoga, I felt wobbly when holding a plank for an extended period, but by the end, I rocked that move. What did you feel like a newbie about in your business that you now totally own? Practice makes perfect. Don’t think you can get there without putting in the effort.
Sometimes simply showing up is enough.
Yoga instructor, Adriene, is big on saying: “just show up.” Sometimes you don’t feel like practicing yoga (coming into work), but simply doing so even if you don’t feel like it will still propel you forward. It’s kind of the “fake it ‘til you feel it” concept. Even if you’re burnt out and don’t have an ounce of energy to give to your business, just show up and see what happens.
Working on one thing may provide benefits elsewhere.
Have you ever had this happen? You’re focusing on improving one area of your business, and everything else around it starts to fall into place. It’s the Butterfly Effect. One small change can create dozens of ripples (benefits) all around you. I found that practicing yoga every day made my life as a whole much better balanced.
You can push yourself harder than you think.
We’ve all had thoughts of “No! I absolutely cannot do that.”
But if my yoga practice has taught me anything, I learned that’s just your brain talking, not your body. I remember looking at Crow Pose years ago and thinking, “Not on your life.” But now I can hold the pose, if only for a few seconds.
What are you putting mental blocks up about in your business? Try letting go of the negative self-speak and see what you actually are capable of.
Habits are easy to form.
Quite honestly, in the beginning, I thought I’d end up skipping a day or two of my practice. But as my days-in-a-row count mounted, it became a challenge I didn’t want to lose out on. Then it became a habit. Whereas I used to start working as soon as I brewed my coffee, I now found myself putting on yoga clothes and setting up in front of the TV first thing in the morning.
What habits do you wish you could adopt in your business? Challenge yourself to do them daily for 30 days. I’m willing to bet they stick after that!
It’s amazing where we can learn lessons that improve both our lives and our businesses, isn’t it? Namaste!