Why You Actually Should Take the Easy Road
this past weekend, my husband and two friends, jef and ashley competed in the ironman boulder relay!
i spectated. i was great at it. so was marcos. we even had official shirts!
remember when i waddled around very pregnant during ravery’s full ironman about two years ago? it was grueling, for both of us.
when ryan finished his full ironman, i asked him about each event. he said, “i loved the swim. it was easiest for me. i hated the bike ride. i never want to do a 112 mile bike ride again. the run – meh.”
since this last race was a relay, ravery chose to do the swim portion. that’s the part that he likes the best and that he finds the ‘easiest.’ sidenote: he achieved his personal best in his swim – completing 1.2 mile swim in 32 minutes! for those of us non-swimmers, that’s stupid fast.
by easiest, i don’t mean that he doesn’t have to train or it doesn’t still push him, but rather that his body moves the easiest through water. that’s the part of the race that feels like his sweet spot.
our friend jef did the bike and ashley took on the run!
believe it or not, jef actually enjoys the biking part and ashley likes the run part but the swimming, not so much.
i share this anecdote to remind us to do more of what is ‘easy’ for us.
now wait a second…before you throw off all your clothes and go lay on the couch to watch netflix for the rest of your life because that feels easy, understand this:
when i talk about something being “easy,” i mean that you feel at ease doing it. you find it natural, undemanding, very little burden while doing it.
this doesn’t mean that it won’t still be challenging or that you won’t have to put effort in. in this context of easy, it means you generally feel at ease while doing this particular something, instead of feeling stress, anxiety, fear, hatred, and annoyance.
an example from my own life:
i’ve been doing the accounting since we started our business on 12/12/12. i literally bought the book “accounting for dummies” in order to try to wrap my head around it. i don’t like numbers. i’m not particularly good at math. i don’t dream in spreadsheets. i did the accounting because when you start a business, you do whatever you have to and wear a million hats at first.
i was having a conversation with my husband and we started talking about things we really love about running our business and things that drain us. i said that doing our books is a time-sucker of mine and i’m always anxious that i’m screwing up a key component of our business.
you know what he said?
“stop doing it. let’s hire someone. you should be spending time on things that make you happy.”
about six months ago, we hired an accountant. one of the best moves we’ve made in our business to date! by releasing my role of ‘accountant,’ it’s freed up more of my mental bandwidth to create more content and put on more workshops. all of things things are what i really love doing! i don’t really love numbers.
guess who loves numbers? OUR ACCOUNTANT.
listening comes easy to me. facilitating comes easy to me. encouraging others comes easy to me. writing comes easy to me. logistics come easy to me. singing songs to our daughter comes easy to me. writing heartfelt notes to people comes easy to me. being able to dance to the beat of a song comes easy to me.
again, when i say something comes ‘easy to me,’ i’m expressing that i am able to do these things with a sense of ease about them. i can still experience the stress of something going askew with an event or feeling depleted from giving out too much of my empathy but overall, these things are pleasant and fun for me!
while we can’t hire out everything in our lives that doesn’t come so easy to us, we can get creative about how to do more of what we love and less of what drains us.
what are some things that come easy to you? what are things that drain you? what are three things you can do right now to find better harmony between them?
ps. for some odd reason, you might not have received my last blog post via email if you typically subscribe. be sure to check it out here because it involves us hanging out with hawks and eagles!
Melinda
August 8, 2018 at 7:42 am
I HATED the swim part of the tri when I did one a few years back. In fact, I haven’t been in the water since, except the bath. Cycling is there to help train when I can’t/shouldn’t run. Running – that’s my thing. I love it. I’m slow as a turtle in molasses, but I love it. And it’s not easy. Getting out to run isn’t easy. It hurts, and I still love it.
It’s that sweet spot, it doesn’t mean that it’s easy, just that it’s playing to your strengths
chelsea
August 21, 2018 at 10:48 am
haha, glad you at least make exceptions for bathing, melinda ha! so glad you love the running (especially now that your heart is in tip top shape)! love hearing you say that running isn’t easy and you may be slow but you still love it. keep playing to those strengths!
Jennifer Haston
August 8, 2018 at 1:59 pm
what a great post! Why do we feel the need to do the hard part and muscle through because we feel we NEED to do it, Who says? You said, which means you can unsay it and then keep yourself honest and say, hey I don’t need this hassle, I can hand this off to someone who (gasp!) loves to do it. I can give this to someone who might love it, instead of SUFFERING in silence!
chelsea
August 21, 2018 at 10:49 am
totally agree, jennifer! why do we feel that way? let’s hand off the crap we don’t love and focus on what we DO love! no more suffering in silence
Charlene Maugeri
August 8, 2018 at 5:41 pm
Yes!! So much yes! I have been learning this in my own life. Something that doesn’t come easy to me is delegating. lol Not to mention, I haven’t made enough money in my “business” to hire anybody. But I’ve learned to let certain things go and focus more on things that come easy to me.
chelsea
August 21, 2018 at 10:50 am
i feel like i’m learning this even more right now in my life too, charlene. i’m with you. glad you’re finding the ability to let certain things go in your business and focus more on what makes you happier!
Audrey
August 13, 2018 at 7:37 pm
I love swimming. I don’t know about swimming +1 mile, though. Especially in 30 minutes! Haha! Go Mr. WS, Jef, & Ashley!!
I think that when you run a business (or facilitate the running of a business) it soon becomes blatantly clear what things you enjoy/what comes easy or natural and what doesn’t… I’m not naturally a sales person or a conversationalist. It was very very hard for me to feel confident in the booths at tradeshows. I REALLY dislike rubbing elbows with the bigwigs. I’m much better about chilling and having nice conversations with people now (now that I know our products inside and out), but I still leave the high stakes conversations to my husband and our coworker. Not because they’re smarter or better than me, but because my anxiety just doesn’t enjoy or naturally lend itself to those conversations. I looove making lists, filing, and taking care of the paperwork, though 🙂 The guys SUCK at charts and spreadsheets so it’s nice to have a niche- even when it’s not out front shaking hands!
chelsea
August 21, 2018 at 10:51 am
you are soooo right, audrey! running a business definitely makes those things much clearer when you’re in the thick of it! i’m not naturally a sales person either but i’m with you – give me all the organization and having authentic conversations! sounds like you are all the perfect combination over there at your business! yay!