The Power of Letting Go
Today I’m welcoming Allisa Jacobs to the writing team! Allisa makes and sells beautiful bags and purses for her Etsy shop Allisa Jacobs. She has also just published Rise and Shine- creating your path in a handmade world, a fabulous e-book for creative entrepreneurs.
To-do lists? check.
Business plan? completed.
Marketing Strategy? done.
I’m all about setting a goal and then busting out of the gate, hellbent on achieving it.
I love the process of achieving, celebrating what’s completed, and then setting off to accomplish something else.
But sometimes it doesn’t quite work like that.
Sometimes aspirations shift and motivation fades. Goals that once seemed significant now feel trivial. Where we were once certain our heart now tells us otherwise.
I’ve experienced this time and again throughout my business journey. Just when I set out to do something grand, life comes along and everything changes. I often struggle for awhile, trying to force it; mentally turning the square peg around and around, madly trying to make it fit into that stubborn round hole. But of course it doesn’t. Disappointment and a sense of failure set in.
But, I recently realized something very liberating. It’s ok to put goals up on the shelf for awhile, maybe forever. When we allow ourselves to let go of a dream, it frees us up to explore those things we should be doing now. All this goal-post shifting, while frustrating, is part of a bigger process of growing and improving.
I think as creative entrepreneurs we should embrace the idea that maybe some goals were never meant to be achieved. Maybe they were just part of a path to something else even more amazing.
-Allisa Jacobs
Photo credit: Both Allisa and I have searched long and hard to find the original credit for this photo but could not get much further than Pinterest. If you know any more details please let us know and I’ll change the credit link.
This seriously inspired and blessed me today……..EXACTLY what I needed to hear
So glad it helped you Sara!
So thrilled to be here as a monthly contributor! Hope this perspective on dreams is freeing for others on their journey. Thank you Isa for welcoming me here :)
So glad to have you here Allisa. You are really in tune with what our readers are going through and I love that!
I truly believe in this – after all, time goes so quickly, so the goal that has been put to one side for a while will soon be back on track.
I think people need to understand that circumstances do change and just because something is not ideal at the moment, it’s what needs to happen at that time for your goals to progress further.
This is something that I feel really relates to me and my goals for my business now – I just need to remember that the only thing constant is change and change is always a good thing!
Change is such a scary word to some people! I always used to resist change yet at the same time I’m excited by it. Such a contradiction! But yes, things change and there is more benefit in accepting it and moving on than resisting it again and again. It can be exhausting! I’m a true believer that what will be, will be. So work hard and if you face challenges and need to change track sometimes, it’s usually what was meant to be.
I love this! It’s so true…it’s often a bit wonky trying to figure out what to hold on to and what to let go, especially if before you know it, your identity has gotten all tangled up in the goal too.
Definitely Jen! It can be easy to fear letting go of goals because other people expect you to keep at them or like you said they have become a part of your identity. I’d love to hear how you deal with that!
Oh how true!
Things that once seemed so importatnt to my business are now distant memories because I suddenly had a feel for something else, and that was the right choice. I really agree with this, thank you so much for posting.
Katie
Thank you for your comment Katie. Small businesses can move so fast so when we have other things that also take up our time family, friends, another job our goals and dreams need to adapt and grow with the time we have available. I’m often frustrated by this at the time but then months later I realise it is what was meant to happen.