What Are You Tolerating in Your Life?
In order to be successful it's critical that we become
clear about what we really want and why we want it.
we DON'T want.
We all have things in our life that, at
best, don't serve us. Many of these
things actually detract from the quality
and satisfaction of our lives. What
we’ve found to be helpful is to create a
toleration list.
By simply listing the things we don't
want, we begin the process of their
removal. I'm not advocating that we
dwell on these things—only identify them and begin
we're looking for. But we must also discern that which
we don't want as part of our experience.
Much time and energy is frittered away by small but
annoying things: a dent in our car, a window in the
house that doesn't shut easily, a towel rack that's bent,
a squeaky door, a button missing or a phone with an
unpleasant ring. They may not sound like much, but
added together they reduce our creativity, sap our
production ability, distract us from or intentions and
detract from our enjoyment of everyday living.
Identifying and writing these things down is the
genesis of their eradication.
I just looked at a toleration list my wife and I had
made a few months ago and was surprised to see how
many items had been handled—seemingly without
effort. One by one we knocked them off because
result we have a greater sense of accomplishment
and things run more smoothly.
Of course there are now other things
we've added to our list. We've also
found that our tolerance level has
been elevated. We no longer put up
with things we used to accept.
I highly recommend you start a list of
tolerations. Write down all the things
that don't work, don't look good—
that you don't like using, looking at or
having around. Go through your wardrobe and give
away what doesn’t work for you anymore—if it ever
did. Walk through your house and list things that are
broken, shabby or create clutter.
As you get rid of things, you're using the principle of
vacuum—making room for what you want by getting
that no longer serve you, there's no room for the
things that can.
And there's no need to make these items on our list
bad or wrong, either. Trash is simply stuff that was
once useful but no longer is. Handling the things on
your toleration list is just another way of taking out
the trash.
Start your toleration list today, begin to eliminate
each item and watch the quality of your life, your
creativity and your productivity soar.
Michael Angier is a resident of Silverthorn and founder and president of Success Networks International.
His books have been published internationally and he conducts boot camps and retreats to help business
owners transform their organizations.
www.SuccessNet.org BeYourBest@SuccessNet.org
Silverthorn, Traditions Newsletter pg. 9
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