If you find it difficult to say no, often feel resentful because there’s never time for you, or you struggle with setting clear boundaries regarding your time and energy – this video by Cheryl Richardson will show you ways to resign as General Manager of the Universe.
How to Resign as General Manager of the Universe – Transcript
Alright it started in the garage. My husband and I had just gotten home from dinner and we pulled the car into the garage got out of the car and I saw all the recycling in the rubbish that needed to go out that night.
So I said to him honey let’s do the rubbish in the recycling. He said, that’s okay, you go in the house, I’ll do it, it’s my job. I said no, you know what, there’s a lot of recycling and I’ll just help you do it.
He said no, you go in the house, I’ll do it it’s my job.
And I walked over towards the cardboard boxes that we had hanging around, I said to him yeah, but you know we need to cut down all of these boxes they have to be like this.
He said Cheryl, go in the house, it’s my job, let me do it.
And I made a move towards the boxes again and he said stop don’t you remember the dishwasher story in the art of extreme self-care. And I’ve told that story many times about rearranging the dishwasher. I know some of you do it too.
He said to me, Cheryl you’ve got to just learn to receive help, let people do their jobs. I know what I’m doing I promise you I’ll get all the boxes out of here. They might not be perfectly three feet by three feet but it’ll work.
And I sort of left the garage with my tail between my legs walking into the house shaking my head thinking my goodness am I ever going to change.
I teach self-care, I teach the importance of asking for and receiving help and here I am again doing the same darn thing.
So I look at what are the reasons why I don’t ask for help, that we don’t ask for help and receive it.
Clearly in that example you know I’m afraid that he’s not going to do it the right way, he’s not going to do it the way I want it to be done. He’s not going to clean the whole garage and he’s going to leave a few things behind and that won’t be okay.
So sometimes were are afraid that people aren’t going to do things the way that we want or that they won’t do them in the time frame that we want or that will appear weak or that, you know, it’ll just be frustrating that we’re setting ourselves up for disappointment or it’s just easier if I just do it, it’ll take two seconds and I’ll just do it or I’ll get that done in a minute.
Here’s the problem every minute adds up and before you know it hours go by, days go by, where you’re doing things other people ought to be doing.
So in order to resign as general manager of the universe, which I’m still in the process of doing obviously, it’s really important to start practicing in little ways.
If someone says to you here let me take that bag for you, say thank you so much I appreciate it.
If someone says I’d love to buy you lunch, you graciously say thank you I really appreciate that.
If you need help around the house or you need help at work, start being clear with people and ask for what you need before you get frustrated and resentful because that’ll never work when you come barging in demanding what you need.
But instead you might do things like start to create a list for family members. I did that with my husband and it worked like a charm.
You might ask co-workers to support you with certain projects that you’re working on ahead of time.
It’s all about practicing asking for help. And then receiving generously, receiving graciously.
You know one of my first coaches years ago said to me Cheryl receiving is an act of generosity, don’t rob people of the chance to give to you.
So remember that today, don’t rob people of the chance to give to you.
Look for ways that you can give people the gift of offering you the support that you need.
Look for ways that you can give them the gift of the experience of feeling what it’s like to be a generous soul.
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