What do you do to make sure you work from JOY every day?  

My recent lesson:

I’m a task-oriented, goal-driven person.  Because of that, it’s very easy for me to get into “to-do list” mode (or as you’ve heard me call it: my SIS list).  Which means that each day, I wake up and immediately focus on the items I need to check off my list.   This isn’t a bad thing, per se.  It helps me stay focused and helps me move my business forward.  I feel accomplished, I feel productive…and that makes me feel good about myself!   But over the past few weeks, I was coming to dread my work.  I didn’t wake up with enthusiasm.  The to-do lists got longer and I was doing everything in my power to avoid my work.  Which made no sense to me…I truly love what I do, but I was feeling so overwhelmed under-accomplished.  I was frozen. I felt like a loser.   I questioned myself as an entrepreneur.  Am I even cut out for this stuff?     As I was crying to a friend, he asked me, “Katie, you’re an adventurous person.  You and Chris go on adventures all the time on the weekends.  Do you ever dread those?”   “Of course not!”  I stated.  “I love them!  I jump out of bed in the morning and I’m ready to go!”   And then he asked me the question that shook me.  You know, those questions that completely shift your perspective and make things clear?  Yeah…that one.

“So, what needs to happen in order for you to jump out of bed with that same enthusiasm every morning during the weekdays?”

Immediately, I knew.

• Connect with the WHY.  By focusing only on the to-do items, I lose track very easily on WHY I’m doing all this in the first place.  It gets muddled and forgotten in the endless list of stuff.
• Choose to PLAY!  Business is a game.  It’s an endless game of ups and downs and trying things out and failing and succeeding and crying and laughing and everything in between!  Living in the to-do list and being gratified only by accomplishments takes you completely out of the game.  You forget this is supposed to be FUN!
• Be Grateful. One of the things I immediately did after having this conversation with my friend was remind myself of the impact my business has had on others.  I read over emails, Facebook comments, tweets and reviews that reminded me that people are actually being affected positively by what I do!  And that immediately put me in a space of gratitude for what I do, the life I lead and the impact I’m able to have!

My friend ended our brilliant conversation with one single statement:

Choose to live from JOY and not from your to-do list.

And so, I’ve been waking up every morning, ready to jump out of bed get to work.  And, when I do that…I just end up being a big goofball, as you can see.  😉   So, I ask you…how do YOU live from JOY in your business every day?  What do you do to make sure you jump out of bed every morning and can’t wait to get to work?  Comment below!  I’d love to hear!