Don't Suck it Up, Level Up!

I want to ask you today if you've ever been told that you need to “suck it up,” or if those are words you've ever told yourself.

I, personally, can think of those days at work after a long day of meetings and projects where I'm feeling kind of drained…but there's that one meeting left, or there's that one thing I have to finish in order to be done for the day. My inner dialogue is to “just suck it up, just gotta finish.” It's about getting that last thing checked off, so I can just go do something else. It's like I'm wishing away that moment.

If I'm going to be honest, I have those times at the end of my work day when I'm making that transition to go be a parent too. There's a lot of times I don't really feel like it, and it's a similar internal conversation, that I have to “just suck it up to get through until bedtime.”

But that's not the kind of person I want to be, or the kind of experience that I want to have. It doesn't lead to a very fun time for me, let alone everybody else.

The “suck it up” strategy – which can work to get things checked off – is never going to create change in our lives. This strategy creates a life that feels like the same life on repeat. In order to change your experience of life, you have to look at a new strategy – the “level up” strategy. Instead of sucking it up, you need to level up. Our lives will not level up unless WE level up.

The level up strategy is three steps – it’s very simple, but it's very hard! Most people won't do it! You may be tempted to put it to the side, ignoring it as too simple. But I want to challenge you to try it.

The first step of the Level Up strategy is pause. Pause and notice, what’s your level of energy? What's your dominant emotion? We have to make that pause, and that can be hard for those of us who are get-things-done focused. Taking that pause is the first step, and it's sometimes the hardest because you have to break yourself away from what's going on. Our emotions and our energy state are very changeable, they are simply a result of what we've been thinking over the recent past. But that first step is actually stopping. Ask yourself, where am I on a scale of 1 to 10?

After that moment of awareness, step two is to decide – what do I want it to be? What would I rather be experiencing right now? Do I want to be at a seven? Would I like to feel a little bit more hopeful, a little more enthusiastic?

Step number three is to make that happen, to act to make that shift come about. It can be done in under three minutes. It can often be as simple as playing a favorite song of yours. It might be doing a yoga pose. It might be taking a moment to make a cup of tea or coffee.

It can be done in just a few minutes – it’s a matter of actually stopping and doing it. You have the option of being that that person behind the slow car, being aggravated at the time it's taking for someone ahead of you to move. Or you can be in that same position behind the slow car, but having a good time! It doesn't get you there any faster just because you’re in a state of frustration. You're going into that last meeting or doing that last thing at work – you might as well do it in a way that is not only more enjoyable for you, but actually will have the effect of leveling up your life.

When you choose to level up, your life will level up with you. So, my challenge for you today is to take these three steps and implement them. It can be done in five minutes or less.

Thank you so much for your time and your attention today! Until next time, be your best and keep being evolutionary.