Get to Work

It’s time to get to work.

Get to work!

I don’t mean get yourself to the office, to a desk to respond to email or tackle work projects. I mean that it’s time to stop worrying about everyone else and turn your focus inward.

Apparently 70 percent of your energy should be focused on yourself. 

This guideline was shared by Molly Flanagan on a podcast recently—it comes from her mentor. 70 percent of our energy focused on us.

This equation makes perfect sense!

Thirty percent of our energy should be focused on other things—such as supporting, helping, sharing advice or counsel, or taking care of other people. But that leaves 70 percent for us to be connected to ourselves—to our beliefs, values, perspectives, and identifying what we need to grow—and to ensure we are our most calibrated and tuned selves.

Imagine this equation that allows the bulk of our energy to be used in these ways.

Now, this does not mean that you spend 70 percent of your energy or time focusing on personal needs or selfish wants—that would be narcissistic. 

It means investing 70 percent of your energy on your life purpose. On things you need to do to be in a place of well-being so you are able to sustain yourself and your work. Spending more energy connecting with who you are, so you can be your most resourced, influential, and impactful self.

This means drawing the majority your energy inwards—pulling it from where it might be spinning out over what everyone else is doing or not doing. It means instead bringing the bulk of that energy back home. 

This is not about collapsing into the ego—it's about a deep connection with your highest Self. This 70 percent could help you attune to what your path of growth is. To better monitor your own behavior. To self-manage: meaning tackling limiting beliefs and unhealthy behaviors. To living your values more deeply as you engage with others and the world. 

Now, it is worth noting that if you have young kids at home, the equation probably feels more like 100 percent of your energy is spent on your kids and 0 percent on you.

That’s why parents can get burned out.

But parents with young kids can thrive in a deeper and more impactful family unit if they take time to care for who they are too. If they align their energy with their core being. 

It’s so easy to get caught up in someone else’s knitting though!

Particularly if you supervise people, or if you are in a relationship, or if you have adult  children or grandchildren, it’s easy to spend too much energy on whether those people are doing what they should be doing: If they are where they should be. If they are happy and content and fulfilled. If they are accomplishing the right tasks, moving in the best direction, or growing in ways that they need to.

I find sometimes coachees want to spend sessions talking about the things everyone else is doing or not doing that is causing them distress.

But I’ll then say, “We are here for you, and this coaching is about you—not them. What does this mean for you?”

Cultural worker and process facilitator Alfred De Pew said recently on an episode of Relationship Matters, “What if instead of worrying I just sat down to my own work?”

As in: If I am an artist, what if I just sit down and paint?

Or sit down and write?

Or do my woodworking, gardening, or play the piano?

Or go on that run or bike ride?

Or reflect on my own goals and plans?

Coming back to ourselves—and to our own work—is the best way to get our focus off of others. 

And—when we mind our own business—life immediately becomes more peaceful.

I know from my own work recovering from codependency that I am the happiest when I stop focusing on what I think others should be doing or not doing.

It’s where we can feel truly free. 

What does getting down to your own work look like for you?

What do you need to examine, question, reconsider, or reenergize in you?

And what might be possible if you focused 70 percent of your energy on yourself?

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