This whole journey is kind of a Happiness Project in itself (a personal development strategy she came up with) with the way I've organized it. So you'll find that I employ her methods often.
One of the things she did while organizing her first Happiness Project was to create a list of commandments to guide her as she worked through her goals. As I journaled about my writing year, I noticed that I was naturally sketching out rules for myself, and I realized that I should probably have some set guiding principles before I begin so that I never veer too far from my purpose.
And this is what I came up with.
1. Be Jenn.
2. This is a job, remember to treat it like one.
3. Set the mood + shut out distraction.
4. Stop to take care of yourself.
5. Stay annoyingly organized.
6. Be mom first. (Second only to Jenn.)
7. In writing: bravery + honesty first, creativity second, quality third.
8. Vibrations matter. High vibe people do high vibe work.
9. The only way through it is through it.
10. You already know the answer.
11. There will always be a weight until you do it.
This list will go with me everywhere. It's copied into my planner. It's written in my little quote notebook that travels around with me. I'm going to place it in the sidebar of this blog next. And from all of these repeated locations, it will guide me through the next 12 months of hard work and dedication.
That's the concise version, and maybe all that you're interested in. For the sake of remembering "my why", and in case you are curious, though...here's what each of my commandments mean to me.
1. Be Jenn.
This one is a straight rip-off from Gretchen, and over the years many people have taken her first commandment on as their own. It felt like a nice dedication - but also an extremely important reminder to not be afraid of being who I really am. I'm the only one that can offer the world what I have to offer, and for someone somewhere - that is a gift. I'm not as religious as I once was, yet it still moves me when I hear that it's an insult to God when we don't see our talents through because He expects us to use them. As Florence Scovell Shinn says in her book The Law of Destiny and How to Find It, "There is a terrible penalty to be paid for not using one's ability."
2. This is a job, remember to treat it like one.
One of my failings with writing and blogging and any other side-job that has something to do with those things is that I've never dedicated enough time, attention, or seriousness to the endeavor. I've never said, "these are my work hours, this is what is getting done, and nothing will stand in my way." I want to be flexible with my hours and my scheduling, but I want there to be enough planning and dedication that it feels like the same level of respect I'd give to a job that I'd interviewed to get and have someone to report to.
3. Set the mood + shut out distraction.
I'm very bad at letting phone dings and social media badges pull me away from a task at hand. I'm going to make sure my workspaces are clean, my phone is face down, and the mood is set (if I'm working at home). I think it would be a good idea to give my husband a clear way to contact me during my work hours, too, so that I know should only break in those instances. Or maybe a specific ring tone that I assign only to calls from him or from the school so I only look at my phone if I hear that ring tone.
4. Stop to take care of yourself.
I'm bad at this. I'm a Manifesting Generator, so when I settle on a task I tend to get "in the zone" so deep that I forget to stop and eat meals, drink water, or get up and stretch every now and then. I'm going to try and make a note on my work plans for quick stretches and glass refills, and always stick to my scheduled lunch time.
5. Stay annoyingly organized.
I enjoy the process of organizing, but I'm really bad at maintaining things once I've organized them. Some examples of this are: forgetting to use my planner daily after buying a pretty new one, not updating my blog calendar when post plans change, tossing things in drawers sloppily instead of putting them in the areas I've set up. I'm striving to be relentless about organization this year - both in my writing goals and around the house. If my home life is in order, it will help me keep my goals in order. Keep the pantry organized. Clear out the fridge. Update blog tabs. Use that pretty planner all day every day.
6. Be mom first. (Second only to Jenn.)
No matter what other jobs I take on in life - personal, paid, volunteer - the most important job I do in this life is raising my kids. I haven't worked full time since I've become a mom so that I could be the one to spend their days with them and to be involved in their school lives, and that comes before everything else until they're off on their own. Some days, life will ask me to be super-hands-on-mom to one (or all) of them instead of what I had planned for that day, and there should be no guilt or regret in that.
7. In writing: bravery + honesty first, creativity second, quality third.
A psychic once told me that if I speak honestly from my heart, it won't matter how "right" I am. We were discussing my writing and blogging dreams and I told her that a fear of sounding too authoritative held me back from being too brave or public because "Who am I to say things?" She encouraged me (both from herself and from spirit) and said that the most important thing is that I say things, not specifically what those things are. After brave honesty, to me, comes creativity. Wrapping things in beautiful or unexpected packages is the artistry I've always admired in writing. And while grammar and "correctness" are important when you're trying to publish something, if I focus on it too much I'll never get the messages out. It's more important that I form them into something worth correcting later on.
8. Vibrations matter. High vibe people do high vibe work.
If there's anything I've learned through my spiritual journey, it's that high vibrations produce the best results. A coach I follow on Instagram, Andrea Crowder always says (via one of her businesses), "Women who feel good, do good." Sometimes that will mean stopping to raise my vibes and feel good about ME and MY day before I can produce any worthy work.
9. The only way through it is through it.
I said this to my friend recently when she was going through a breakup, and she mentioned that it had become kind of a mantra for her. I realized that it could be applied to many things - refinishing a room, weight loss, writing a book. Sometimes you just have to dive in and get through it.
10. You already know the answer.
This one....is important. I have an emotional authority (Human Design lingo), which means that I feel an answer to all of life's questions in my body. Very often, I let my ego run away with fears and anxieties and I talk myself out of things or redirect to something safer. But often, when I just can't make something work and I ask myself why, I already know why...I'm just trying to ignore it. So this is a reminder to face things, to do them anyway (despite fear), and to not second (and third and fourth) guess a decision, because the truth is - I already know. (I ripped the page above out of a beautiful book and hung it on the wall of my office as a reminder.)
11. There will always be a weight until you do it.
Remember that psychic I mentioned up there? She said this one to me. She'd also said some version of "you already know the answer" when I asked her to pass along spiritual guidance about what I'm supposed to do with my life. She told me that the spirits around me (specifically my late Grandma) want me to know that I already know what to do and that until I finally do it, I will carry a weight around with me. And that is the whole point of this journey...to finally do it, to drop the weight, and to follow my heart.
One thing you might notice about my list vs Gretchen's is that I stopped at 11 and she has 12. Eleven is a powerful, spiritual angel number (as is 111 and 1111) representing an invitation to cross a new threshold and step into an open door. Two 1's together almost look like a doorway or a gateway themselves. It can also be seen as a sign from your guides that you are on the right path, and to intentionally step forward is to accept an invitation and continue on your way.
And maybe you'll find that a little bit odd or superstitious of me, but I always believe that when you work with your guides (and their little hints like number combinations, pennies left in your path, symbols strewn throughout your days), you'll always be more successful. Take a look at the times my posts publish or how often 3's and 5's work their way into my life. ;)
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