How Doing Less Leads to More

If there's been a common theme the past couple of months in my life it would be this: Less, less, less.

I'm typically kind of a more is more person. More To Do's, more events, more goals, more food (Lord knows I'm 9 months pregnant).

But the whispers I've been hearing lately are telling me to take the every day and do less with it. Less cleaning, less planning, less goal setting, less worrying, less trying to take control of every situation.

I believe it's because by doing less of the small things, less of the daily activities the world tells us we need to do, we leave room to do more of the things God has placed in our hearts.

It opens up a whole new realm of possibilities. Less cleaning leads to more time spent with family. Less worrying leads to more joy. Less negativity leads to more life-giving positivity. Less hanging on to the things we think are good leads to more freedom to choose the things that are great.

In the past month, I took some time to practice an exercise that I've found to be incredibly beneficial, so I'd like to share it with you.

Your 5 Things 

I sat down in silence and in prayerful consideration, and created a list of 5 things that are most important to me - The 5 things I want most out of life. 5 things that when I'm laying on my death bed, I can truly say that I went all-in and reached for those goals on a daily basis.

These weren't 5 things that I just whipped up out of nowhere. I had been mulling over them for some time, and I felt that these were 5 things that God had laid on my heart.

When you preform this exercise, I encourage you to do-so through a conversation with God. It's between the two of you that you'll want to set life goals.

I also encourage you not to do any Googling or Pinteresting on this topic. I for one, absolutely love good research. Unfortunately, my "good research" sometimes comes with world views I don't agree with and advice that leads me down the wrong road. It also has a tendency to leave me with ideas that other people are using, which leads me to comparison instead of finding my own goals.

Really take some time to decide on your 5 things. It might take a couple of days before you've got them ironed out. And, I'm guessing, as life continues, there may be changes - small tweaks - to your list.

But the first and most beneficial thing you can do, is iron out the life you feel God has created for you.

Now Let Everything Else Go 

Now that you've got your 5 things ironed out, make like your best inner Elsa and Let it go.

Let go of the little things that are holding you back and keeping you down. Let go of the lies this life tells us and grab hold to the hope that God has a better purpose, a better plan.

For example, one of the things on my list was that our next home (and any home thereafter) be set up for better entertaining. I want a large kitchen with an island where we can all congregate and a large outdoor area where we can put a patio table up and let the kids run. Notice I didn't mention anything else about the house. It doesn't matter if it's in small-town Nebraska, or big-city, Georgia. It doesn't matter if it's in the country or in town. All that matters is that our next home has a better set up for entertaining, which is something I'd like to do more of. I'll let God take the lead on the rest.

My point is, take some time to really detail what it is that's important to you, and then stop worrying about the rest. The rest will fall into place in it's own time. Focus on what the most important things are.

Check Your Daily Habits 

I don't know about anyone else, but I am really great at tricking myself into thinking I'm doing everything perfect. I want to live a healthy lifestyle, but then I eat fast food for lunch and wonder why I feel lousy and low on energy all afternoon. I argue and whine that I don't understand because I had a healthy breakfast and I convince myself that my lunch wasn't sooo bad... 

The honest truth that I have to keep reminding myself is this: If we want to really reach a goal, the best place to start is to check our daily habits. 

The number one thing on my list of 5 life goals is to be a professional writer. It's easy to get caught up in the quick-fixes and fun stuff that go along with writing. But if I truly want to be a professional writer, what I must do the most of (and on a daily basis), is actually write. Crazy, I know. But you'd be surprised how long it's taken me to figure this out. 

What's most important isn't always achieving the goal, but taking the time day in and day out to do the work that leads us one step closer to the end result. In order to really live the life that we love and trust that God has in store for us, we must give up the small, daily practices that are leading us away from where we want to be. 

Wrapping Up

When it comes down to it, what writing a list of 5 life goals has taught me is that focusing on what's most important, means letting go of the things that are less important. 

And letting go of the less important has left me feeling like I can breath a little. Like I don't have to have it all figured out, and I don't have to do everything perfectly. I only have to focus on the things that are life-giving to me.

So listen to the whispers that say Do Less, and find out what it is God wants for you in this life.