by Arianna | May 23, 2023 | action, Change
Let’s Talk About Essentialism
I have been practicing Essentialism for many years now, but didn’t know it had a name. You see, Essentialism is a mindset and approach that emphasizes focusing on the most important things and eliminating non-essential elements. It involves identifying and prioritizing what truly matters to you and making deliberate choices to allocate your time, energy, and resources accordingly.
By embracing essentialism, you can streamline your life, reduce stress, and create more meaningful and fulfilling experiences. It’s about simplifying and aligning your actions with your core values and goals.
So here are five things that I find interesting about Essentialism:
🌟 The Importance of Focusing on What You Can Control 🌟
When you constantly worry about things you cannot control, disappointment and frustration can quickly creep in. Instead, shift your focus to the things within your control and take action to improve them.
By doing so, you empower yourself to make positive changes and avoid unnecessary stress.
Remember, your energy is best spent on what you can influence!
✨ Overcoming the Fear of Missing Out (FOMO) ✨
FOMO can create anxiety and stress, but you have the power to overcome it.
Redirect your attention to your own life and pursuits.
Remind yourself that everyone has their own unique journey, and what truly matters is aligning with your own aspirations.
Don’t worry about missing out on what isn’t meant for you or what you can’t pursue.
Embrace your path, and incredible opportunities will unfold!
🔑 The Role of Essentialism in Decision-Making 🔑
Essentialism is a powerful approach to decision-making.
By focusing on what truly matters and eliminating the rest, you gain clarity and enhance your ability to make effective choices.
When faced with decisions, identify what is truly essential and what is not.
By removing non-essential elements, you free up your time and energy to invest in what brings you the most value and fulfillment.
🌱 Creating a Culture of Essentialism in Your Life 🌱
To foster a culture of essentialism in your life, start by establishing clear priorities.
Ensure that everyone understands what is truly important. Get your family, friends, and co-workers to understand your new priorities and boundaries.
Next, eliminate anything that does not align with those priorities.
This may involve scaling back projects at home or work and reevaluating work processes and home systems.
Finally, celebrate successes and learn from failures, creating an environment for yourself that encourages focus, productivity, and growth.
💫 The Benefits of Living an Essentialist Life 💫
Living an essentialist life can lead to a more meaningful and fulfilling existence.
By focusing on what truly matters to you and discarding the rest, you create space for what brings you joy and purpose.
With increased time and energy, you can fully invest in the people, activities, and goals that align with your values.
Embrace essentialism, and watch your stress diminish as your satisfaction and fulfillment soar!
If you want to talk more about the benefits of Essentialism, set up a self-discovery call with me. I coach utilizing these practices, they have changed my life, the life of my clients, and they can change yours too.
by Arianna | Mar 28, 2023 | action, Change, Journal Prompts
Change is inevitable
An old slogan for my business was, “Change is inevitable. Transformation is optional. Choose wisely.”
I used this because, yes, change is inevitable, but also because we can either resist it, and suffer the consequences, or we can allow it to transform us more and more into the person we want to be with every opportunity change brings.
If we’re going to be forced to change, then understanding how it works, seems like a good idea.
I remember teaching the Transtheoretical model years ago when I was doing some training for a former employer. The Transtheoretical Model, aka The Stages of Change, is one interpretation to how change occurs in our lives. Although there are many different takes on the different stages, five stages seem to occur in every explanation.
Stages of Change
The five agreed upon Stages of Change include:
1. Precontemplation – starting to have an awareness that something needs to change.
2. Contemplation – beginning to really think about what life might look like if a change is made, but resistant because, well, change can be hard.
3. Preparation – actually trying out the change, testing strategies, fortitude, mindset, but not yet actually making a change – although one is on the horizon in the next six months.
4. Action – making THE change and having sustained it for at least 30 days. This one is interesting because technically all of the stages of change include some form of action, but social scientists seem to agree on the 30 days of action being the “Action” stage.
5. Maintenance- one continues the action stage into an ongoing pattern or habit of transformation.
Limitations of the Stages of Change
Like all theories, the Transtheoretical Model has its limitations. The most glaring is that we are constantly changing although mostly subconsciously because we’re not really thinking about it. Another is that the process of change isn’t quite so linear and the timeframes for the stages can be quite arbitrary.
That being said, it’s interesting to look at a change through this lens. If you’re starting to recognize a bad habit (smoking, worrying, poor eating or drinking habits, lack of daily movement, whatever), it’s interesting to hold the possibility of change up to this model.
Processing through the Stages of Change
What would change look like for you in the precontemplation stage? Would you recognize it? How would you know if it’s something that needs to change or not?
What about during the contemplation stage? Do you like a good “pros and cons” list? Or do you like to weigh the good habits against the bad?
What does action really look like for you? Is 30 days enough for you to say that you are taking positive action?
Or maintenance, how do you prevent yourself from going backwards and returning to the former misaligned habit?
You don’t have to have this all figured out, because I can help you to take on change with courage and presence of mind.
Seek Help
See, if you’re really interested in changing something (a job, your relationship status, your mindset, the options are limitless), and yet you don’t know how you’ll go about it, or how you’ll continue, or how you’ll overcome the challenges along the way, that’s where I come in.
I’m happy to help you work through your change and turn it from a begrudgingly difficult task to an opportunity for transformation. If you’re interested in getting help for any kind of transformation, book your free Discovery Call today.
