"Have to..." or "Get to..."?

Yesterday I watched Jenn Im’s video about her 5 mistakes as an entrepreneur. She discusses things like wearing her emotions on her sleeve, to getting too personal as a consequence of her people pleasing. 

The biggest takeaway for me was a tip from her #1 mistake: Focusing on the negative. 

She says: 

“When you [tell yourself] you HAVE TO do something, it strips the joy away from doing anything.” 

Her pro tip is this: 

Reprogram yourself!

Replace “I have to…” with “I get to”.

For example “I get to work on this project!”, “I get to take a break!”, “I get to edit my paper’s first draft” etc etc. 

I admit I’m very hard on myself, and that’s why this advice is so sticky. 

I find myself giving myself rules around when to post videos (I try weekly), but make it like a chore when I say “I have to film today”, or “I have to edit!”. 

But this extends to writing posts, exercising, practicing singing and on and on. 

The GENIUS behind this tip, is not that we’re lenient to the point we won’t do the activity - but to provide an element of fortune and gratitude to what we do! 

So we get to enjoy what we do! And we’re so damn lucky to have this privilege and freedom. It’s important to have these consistent reminders, to make what we do feel less at gun point, and more like an autonomous choice (which it is). 

OK, I think that’s enough of my wholesome rant. 

See you next time

Jo xx