You may disagree with me, but I think we do better when we have less to work with. Sounds a little depressing and utilitarian, but let me try and explain myself.
For me, my most major of constraints has been chronic illness. It can really put a dampener on doing things with finesse. When you're thinking about what to wear in the morning - you're thinking track pant level - not corporate wear. The thought of slapping more than a little moisturizer on your mug is vertigo inducing, foundation and lippie seem like heights insurmountable. Chronic illness can seem a reason not to do things at all - but I like to think of it as an invitation to do things a little differently.
I realized pretty quickly that if I was going to build my business while my wonky body had other ideas, something had to give. And what better thing to give up than cleaning (I hear an army of housewives and househusbands rejoice with me!). So now on a regular basis a beautiful friend of mine comes to clean. It lifts an enormous load from me, and as she says she 'gets a break from her kids' and er, cleaning her house?
This friend of mine is a genius when it comes to cleaning and organizing. She is our kiwi Marie Kondo. Cleaning is one of her many strengths and therefore a breeze. Her house is immaculate. The wooden floors swept clean and toy-less, dust and spilled orange juice are are evicted before they have a chance to meet the neighbors, her cushions sit neatly on her sofa in Pinterest level arrangements. She has a weekly date with her lounge for furniture re-arrangement, the date treated as sacred 'me' time akin to a fitness session at a swanky Pilates studio. She gets all 'zen' on it. Feng shui'ing that furniture until her man comes home from looking after the cows. Genuinely, her house is something to behold.
Then hallelujah of hallelujahs once a fortnight that sweet sweet friend brings her high level, high impact, cleaning energy to me. On that day she is my Berocca, my Organic Spiralina Powder, my 6 Gluten Free Weetbix. She is my energy, and it changes me. It brings me back my potential.
She operates from her genius zone - so that I have the energy to find mine.
And I gotta say, in this and in many other areas of my life the unexpected outcome of constraints is that by finding a creative way through the 'I can't do this' the outcome is so much more beautiful and symbiotic than if the constraint had not been there in the first place.
It's true in business too. The constraint of chronic illness keeping me from doing it all myself - has led me to 'meet the masters' - pattern makers, machinists, graphic designers and many more - who are inspiring balls of energy, skill and experience in their own little kingdoms. Over the next few weeks I hope to share with you a little about these incredible people whose superpowers are as varied as they are impressive. Prepare to be inspired!
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